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 is front and center in a national news piece 

that questions the multimillion-dollar agreements between universities and banks.

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is 

to see whether they're unfair to students. The suspicion is that the big banks are heavy-handed with overdraft charges, for example, and that universities gain financially by steering students to the accounts.

It's not the first time the feds have looked into universities' deals. In 2009, Congress cracked down on royalties paid by credit card companies for access to students.

Rohit Chopra, an assistant director at the agency, told ABC:

In the case of the University of Minnesota, ABC states that the school receives $34 for every student who opens up an account as part of an agreement worth more than $1 million a year.

It interviews 21-year-old student body President Mike Schmit, who said a friend of his was penalized multiple times -- at $37 a pop -- every time he overdrew his account. (That's something that cash-strapped students often do, the story states. But a TCF spokesman told ABC such overdrafts are quite uncommon.)

U spokesman Chuck Tombarge told me the story was overblown. He pointed me 

to this statement and FAQ by the university.

The TCF account is still "one of the best banking options" available to students in terms of no-fee services, he said.

Far fewer students have TCF accounts than the story reports -- about 50 percent, instead of 85 percent, he said. Students are not required to get a TCF account linked to their U Card and must opt in to get one. The U also has U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo ATMs on campus, and has a U.S. Bank branch on the West Bank.

All of the money the U gets in the deal, he said, goes to students in the form of scholarships and student programs.

Tombarge said the U does receive money if students sign up,  but it's not quite the $34-per-head "bounty" portrayed by ABC. He said the U gets a minimum of $1 million per year. But if the number of student, faculty and staff accounts multiplied by $34 exceeds that $1 million, the U keeps the difference.

The first time the U received that bonus since it the contract began in 1995, he said, was this past January -- and it amounted to $415.

He said U officials sent information to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before the story ran, and offered to answer questions, but federal officials haven't contacted them.

News of the TCF agreement with the U isn't anything new.

 -- including TCF's exclusive right to offer checking accounts accessible with the university's photo ID card -- after TCF notified more than 20 Iranian students that it would close their accounts. The 

while reporting on the bureau's national inquiry

You can read  the "U Card" agreement itself below. The main details from a summary provided by the U:

Education News

On Campus Blog

Alex Friedrich

Author

The University of Minnesota is front and center in a national news piece that questions the multimillion-dollar agreements between universities and banks. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking into the deals to see whether they’re unfair to students. The suspicion is that the big banks are heavy-handed with overdraft charges, for example, and 

The University of Minnesota is front and center in a national news piece that questions the multimillion-dollar agreements between universities and banks. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking into the deals to see whether they’re unfair to students. The suspicion is that the big banks are heavy-handed with overdraft charges, for example, and Read more →


University of Minnesota’s deal with TCF Bank questioned

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