TCF Financial Corp. is saying "no thanks" to money from the federal government.
The Wayzata-based bank says there are too many strings under the program.
TCF is asking permission from federal regulators to return more than $361 million it received less than four months ago. TCF says it has enough funds to pay back the money and won't have to issue more shares.
Chief executive Bill Cooper says Congress has "changed the deal" by placing restrictions on dividends, employee bonuses and executive compensation. Cooper returned from retirement last summer to run the bank and doesn't earn a salary or bonus, but he says the restrictions affect other TCF employees.
TCF joins at least two other institutions around the country that have pulled out of the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)