This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
News Bank of America Cancels $5 Debit Fee
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 10:44 AM
In advance of the national Bank Transfer Day on November 5th, Bank of America is calling off its plans for a $5 a month fee to use your debit card. Only the bank's low-income customers would have been affected: To skip the fee, you needed $20,000 in all your BofA accounts.
The Wall Street Journal calls the change a "dramatic retreat" which "represents a rare concession to customer sensitivities over fees." Over the weekend, several other banks backed off of planned fee hikes, noting consumer backlash. So all this Occupy rabble-rousing is doing something, at least.
But Bank of America stepping back on its $5 fee isn't that dramatic—it brings its customers back to the status quo at BofA, which means overdraft fees and often no interest checking. Hopefully customers don't just sit back and say, "Hey! Thanks for no longer actively slapping us in the face! This dull, throbbing pain is much better." Just today, federal regulators opened a hotline for people affected by Bank of America and other national banks' faulty foreclosures—they're discussing a possible $25 billion settlement.
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