GROUPS URGE ALBANY TO PASS “NY PUBLIC BANKING ACT” THIS SESSION

Westchester, NY – Today, racial and economic justice groups from the NYS Community Equity Agenda coalition released a new analysis estimating that banks have exacted more than $1.6 billion in fees from New Yorkers since New York declared a state of emergency last March, and nearly $50 million in Westchester County. They stressed that banks’ overdraft fees, in particular, target low-income and Black and brown New Yorkers and push people out of mainstream banking. Banks exacted $1 billion in overdraft fees alone statewide since the start of the pandemic, according to the groups’ analysis.