Operation Choke Point was an initiative of the United States Department of Justice beginning in 2013 which investigated banks in the United States and the business they did with firearm dealers, payday lenders, and other companies believed to be at a high risk for fraud and money laundering. This operation, disclosed in an August 2013 Wall Street Journal story, was officially ended in August 2017, and the FDIC settled multiple lawsuits by promising to Congress additional training for its examiners and to cease issuing "informal" and "unwritten suggestions" to banks. Details Some merchant categories that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) had listed until July 2014 as being associated with high-risk activity include (until the FDIC revised the original policy in July 2014): Results In April 2014, Four Oaks Bank settled with the Department of Justice for engaging in the types of activities that Operation Choke Point was intended to stop. According to the complaint (dated January 8, 2014): "As of today, approximately 97 percent of TPPP-TX's merchants for which Four Oaks Bank permits debits to consumers' accounts are Internet payday lenders. A payday loan typically is a short-term, high interest loan that is not secured (made without collateral) and that has a repayment date coinciding with or close to the borrower's next payday. Most payday loans are for $250 to $700. Annualized interest rates for Internet payday loans frequently range from 400 percent to 1,800 percent or more far in excess of most states' usury laws." On April 17, 2014, Kevin Wack of American Banker reported that Fifth Third Bank and Capital One had terminated their accounts with payday lenders amid alleged increased scrutiny by federal regulators. Wack notes that "in a recent submission to a congressional committee, the Financial Service Centers of America, a trade group that represents check cashers and payday lenders, listed several banks that it says have terminated their relationships with at least one of its member companies in recent months. Besides Capital One and Fifth Third, banks on the list include Bank of America, PNC Financial Services Group, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp." The Financial Service Centers of America (a trade group that represents payday lenders and other consumer businesses) recently commissioned a survey of its members about bank discontinuance. The survey, conducted by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, found that "14 of the 61 banking relationships reported by survey participants have been terminated since