Payments/Credit/Debit

WASHINGTON — A former chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors under the Clinton Administration likened the proposed cap on debit interchange to “pushing paper mail over email.”

The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs are among baseball’s most storied rivals. Now the newspapers in their cities are facing off on a key issue: debit interchange.

Education-focused financial services company Sallie Mae announced Monday that it will begin offering no-fee student checking accounts into which colleges and universities can directly disburse financial aid and tuition refunds owed to students.

Pushing back against what he says is one of the most expensive lobbying efforts by big banks, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said today that credit unions and small banks were being used by larger financial institutions.

The credit unions in Puerto Rico have opted to use Cardtronics, the biggest independent ATM deployer in the country, to manage their ATM programs, the company said.

Credit unions and other opponents of the Federal Reserves proposed rule capping debit interchange fees received good news last week when bills to delay the rules implementation were introduced in the Senate and House.