WEST COVINA, Calif. — The Service Employees International Union planned a Town Hall-style meeting at press time featuring Representative Joe Baca (D-Calif.), local community leaders, and consumers who feel lending and fee policies of Bank of America and other big banks are deceitful and damaging to the U.S. economy.

Bank of America Bad for America is a project of the union, which states on its Web site (www.bankofamericabadforamerica.org) that policies such as universal default and risk-based re-pricing unfairly target working families.

Ultimately, the group is working toward bank reform legislation which would further restrict interest rates and fees, require big banks to meet higher Community Reinvestment Act standards, grant the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general more enforcement power over big banks, and more strictly enforce Federal Reserve restrictions that limit an institution to 10% of national deposits. The union claims Bank of America is testing that limit as a result of its 2007 acquisition of Chicago-based LaSalle Bank.