Looking back two years ago finds Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan advising the House Banking Committee that the Fed can no longer justify the $81,720 price tag of its "Annual Report to the Congress on Retail Fees and Services of Depository Institutions." According to Greenspan the study is no longer needed because most consumers can get fee information over the Internet and a host of other places besides a survey. Consumer advocates meanwhile believe there is much more at stake than money and a reduction of paperwork if the fee study is eliminated. "It's not about $80,000. I've seen the Fed's garage. All they would have to do is sell one limo to make up that money," said Ed Mierzwinski of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "I think they get too caught up in thinking all they do is monetary policy. But they are required to do more. These big merged banks have to be monitored and the survey is even more important today than when it first began. Also in that issue, CU Shopper unveiled its first "member-only" online shopping network -CUShopper.com. "Credit unions are the best deal out there", said CU Shopper founder/Chairman Adam Wicks Walker. CUShopper has since gone out of business, and there is pending legislation that will not only keep the Fed fee study alive, but for the first time have it include CUs.

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