2. Do you use a small community bank or financial institution?
Yes No
Though community banks, credit unions and other small financial institutions cannot be blamed for the financial crisis, it is these Main Street institutions that suffer a disproportionate amount of the pain from Dodd-Frank. Jim MacPhee, CEO of Kalamazoo County State Bank, expressed his frustration at the growing red tape burden during a Financial Services Committee hearing: "We weren't part of the subprime (mortgage) meltdown. Why throw more regulations at us?"

To understand the burdens these small institutions face, look no further than the size of the legislation -- 2,300 pages of jumbled legalese that could only be produced in Washington, D.C. "There are some banks that don't have enough employees to read the bill. If you assigned everyone a chapter, it would never get read," pointed out Guy Williams, Chairman of Gulf Coast Bank & Trust.

Though not every provision in the bill impacts small institutions, the daunting task is figuring out what provisions do. As noted by Leslie Andersen, President of Nebraska's Bank of Bennington: "Big banks have whole departments that focus on compliance. Small banks can't afford to do that."

That point is echoed by Mitch Stebal, an employee at Busey bank in Champaign, IL.

"Just the size and scope of it - [companies] will have to spend so much money to make sure they're aware of what's going on."

Who is ultimately left paying for these new expenses? You, not Wall Street.
Did you know that those who do are affected by Dodd-Frank?

Though community banks, credit unions and other small financial institutions cannot be blamed for the financial crisis, it is these Main Street institutions that suffer a disproportionate amount of the pain from Dodd-Frank. Jim MacPhee, CEO of Kalamazoo County State Bank, expressed his frustration at the growing red tape burden during a Financial Services Committee hearing: "We weren't part of the subprime (mortgage) meltdown. Why throw more regulations at us?"

To understand the burdens these small institutions face, look no further than the size of the legislation -- 2,300 pages of jumbled legalese that could only be produced in Washington, D.C. "There are some banks that don't have enough employees to read the bill. If you assigned everyone a chapter, it would never get read," pointed out Guy Williams, Chairman of Gulf Coast Bank & Trust.

Though not every provision in the bill impacts small institutions, the daunting task is figuring out what provisions do. As noted by Leslie Andersen, President of Nebraska's Bank of Bennington: "Big banks have whole departments that focus on compliance. Small banks can't afford to do that."

That point is echoed by Mitch Stebal, an employee at Busey bank in Champaign, IL.

"Just the size and scope of it - [companies] will have to spend so much money to make sure they're aware of what's going on."

Who is ultimately left paying for these new expenses? You, not Wall Street.