Lawmakers finally making sense

Last week, Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) introduced H.R. 4637, which is aimed at getting rid of the dual fee notification of Regulation E required for ATMs. Representative David Scott (D-GA) is an original co-sponsor of the bill and also serves on the House Financial Services committee.

Currently, ATMs are required to not only inform the cardholder of a fee surcharge on the ATM’s screen, but are also required to have a sticker on the outside of the machine to notify cardholders they will be charged a surcharge fee for making a withdrawal.  The redundant fee notice posting is unnecessary, and this legislation would eliminate the need to have a fee notice sticker on the outside of the ATM.

This legislation is one critical step in helping the ATM industry rid the threat of frivolous lawsuits due to fee notices. It also alleviates the headache to merchants, who constantly have to make sure the fee notice sticker hasn’t been removed from their ATM machine.

These lawsuits increase our operating costs and cause us to pull locations. They also scare merchants into the idea of not having an ATM in their location.

As a merchant, please help our lawmakers understand the importance of this legislation by contacting them. Stress how these redundant fee notice postings and the threat of frivolous lawsuits affect your business. Also, let them know how the current law affects your consumers.