J.W.
Obama did. You remember the regulations that were supposed to protect us from the mean old banks. Well they thought it would be best to regulate the transactions fees that the banks can charge merchants so they shifted them to the consumers. That would be your fee on your debit card.
The free checking accounts were only possible because those that abused their accounts were charged overdraft fees. They can no longer charge all those fees so they can't offer free checking unless there is another way to guarantee money coming in that they can invest or lend out. A paycheck is a guaranteed stream of money so they wave the fee if you direct deposit.
All of this is Dodd Frank and, oh what is that darn name, I don't want to google it but you can. :) Consumer protection blah blah blah
Denise dear all the banks paid the TARP money back except for Citigroup with interest. So what money needs to be recouped? Perhaps instead of looking at what they claim the regulations would do take a good look at the unintended consequences. This post would be one of them. Another big one is a flight to payday loans which charge around 400% interest, thank god our brilliant president saved us from 30%