Despite public data showing that nearly 96% of Americans live within a few miles of a bank or credit union branch, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today falsely blamed bank branch closures for cash-back fees charged by major retailers.
Sampling eight large retailers, the CFPB found that three—Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Kroger—charge fees of up to $3.50 for shoppers to withdraw cash back at the point of sale, totaling $90 million in cash back fees. However, the CFPB attributed these fees to banks and credit unions for closing branches and allegedly failing “to adequately supply cash throughout the country in an affordable manner,” leaving consumers in rural and underserved areas no choice to seek cash-back options from local stores or out-of-network ATMs.
But publicly available data from banking regulators show that despite bank consolidation the median U.S. community has 10 branch locations within two miles, with 11 branches in urban census tracts and four branches in rural census tracts. These data do not encompass ATMs, which further expand the availability of cash. The American Bankers Association will continue to push back on false narratives that seek to criticize the banking industry for the actions of other industries outside its control.
