Letter: Banks not to blame in Michigan

The following Op-Ed appeared in the Detroit News January 20 issue.


Brian O'Connor's comments in his column, "Bankers, politicians gave us plenty of reasons to be angry in 2011," clearly demonstrate a frustration.

However, he need not align himself with a populous percentage point or resort to copycat name calling to try to understand the facts of the current economic problems we are facing.

Facts:

The loss of 1 million manufacturing jobs over more than a decade has decimated the Michigan economy. The outsourcing and demise of these jobs was not caused by the banking industry.

A full 94 percent of the high-risk mortgages, which were at the heart of the mortgage meltdown, originated outside the banking industry.

That means banks did not make those mortgage loans. They were made by non banks at the urging of Government Sponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

All the new federal laws on banking and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau add nothing to the examination of these sectors — nothing.

U.S. Treasury — taxpayers, profited nearly $19 billion from banks using the TARP program.

The overwhelming majority of customers do not overdraw their accounts and never pay an overdraft fee. They are responsible and don't spend money they do not have.

For those who do, voluntary overdraft protection programs are vastly more beneficial to customers than notifying merchants that an account is overdrawn and the purchase must be refused.

Please note, willfully overdrawing an account is still illegal.

The banking industry in Michigan suffered the same economic hits as the rest of our state. Our banks struggled as their customers struggled and banks helped many of these customers through very challenging times.

Savings are secure and banks loan money to customers every day at very reasonable rates. Our industry is sound and, like the Michigan economy, on the mend. We have the most effective and most affordable financial services in the world.

Banks provide convenient, safe, and reliable financial services and payment options and consumers have many, many competitive choices for these services from more than 150 banks in Michigan.

Dennis Koons, president and CEO, Michigan Bankers Association, Lansing