Negotiations between industry, consumer groups and universities on U.S. rules for banking services aimed at college students have stalled over a Department of Education proposal to ban most account fees, Bloomberg News reported today. Financial companies say that if the proposal is adopted it could upend the multimillion-dollar marketing deals between universities and firms including Wells Fargo & Co., U.S. Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares Inc. Advocacy groups maintain that the banks are deliberately painting a worst-case scenario. The Education Department is writing the regulation under a negotiated rulemaking. According to a draft distributed by the department, the rule would protect students from “any costs” associated with opening, maintaining or closing a “sponsored account,” and would guarantee them at least four free withdrawals a month from any cash machine in the state.
