Bank of America to charge $5 debit fee

[DYLAN150]

I think the banks are banking on the fact that 5 bucks isn't much money to alot of people. Isn't that about the price of two coffee's at starbucks? Of course when you have 10 million customers times 5 bucks, well that's a nice amount.

[shark66]

@ Freddy & Iam: I think every bank & CU is going to be following suit very shortly....unfortunately.

Watch what happens when people decide to take their money OUT of the banks - I fear another "crash" and lock-out happening like so many years ago.

What was that curse...may you live in interesting times, or something along those lines...

Boy we were cursed and then some...

Good luck to us all.

[Freddy03]

@ Freddy & Iam: I think every bank & CU is going to be following suit very shortly....unfortunately.

Watch what happens when people decide to take their money OUT of the banks - I fear another "crash" and lock-out happening like so many years ago.

I agree -

[IamOld]

@ Freddy & Iam: I think every bank & CU is going to be following suit very shortly....unfortunately.

Watch what happens when people decide to take their money OUT of the banks - I fear another "crash" and lock-out happening like so many years ago.

Right Pandora...now if more than say...just 10-20% of the people want their $$ out and/or the total withdrawals exceed say 10-20%...banks don't have the $$...that's when we'll have a huge run on the banks and sadly FDR is nowhere to be found.

So yet again, the "capitalists" are destroying themselves and taking us along for the ride.

[Pandora]

@ Freddy & Iam: I think every bank & CU is going to be following suit very shortly....unfortunately.

Watch what happens when people decide to take their money OUT of the banks - I fear another "crash" and lock-out happening like so many years ago.

[IamOld]

Regions will soon be charging $4 for debit card use.

Same with SunTrust. - $5

[Freddy03]

Regions will soon be charging $4 for debit card use.

[Pandora]

Pandora here represents the success banks and retailers have had in getting people to quit using checks or cash to pay for their purchases. ....

Pandora, Durbin's amendment does not apply to smaller banks or CUs. Move your account to one of these institutions and you may avoid the fallout,as noted by IamOld.

Your post is great...except for the first part re: why we use our debit card I could care less what "advertisements" are directed to - I use my debit card because its my money first and foremost, and I dont carry alot of cash on me, nor do we have a credit card / pre-paid debit card. Havent had a credit card since early 2008 and then it was only 1. I've always used my debit card regardless of what bank I was with since the inception of the debit visa/mc came about; before that it was strictly an ATM card. There is no "rewards program" with our account & we have never opted in for any in the 25+ years I've had a checking account - its straight forward. We do write checks and pay cash for many things, but I shop online and prefer not to pay the monthly fees associated with a pre-paid debit card. There should be NO FEES associated with debit purchases, period. The only reason they are assessed is because of greed on behalf of Visa as well as greed on the banking industry side; too often that fee was assessed in order to fund "reward programs".

As to the last part - where we live, its a very small place - so local banks are limited. We had 3 local banks at one time, two have now been bought out by larger ones within the past year, so that leaves BOA or Wells Fargo (which was 1 of the prev. local banks). We have 1 credit union that affiliates with our local college (UVA) and our other "big" CU for the state, we are members of but cannot use (they're the reason we filed Ch. 13 - strip a 2nd). We're going to end up stuck with BOA at this rate as the lone surviving local bank is in the process of being purchased again (for the third time) and does not offer direct deposit which is required for SSD. So we are limited severely at this point; the banking industry has people by the short hairs and they know it - much like the gas/oil/electric industries.

Too big to fail my eye -

*sighs* how true..how true...

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

— Thomas Jefferson

[banca rotta]

This is yet more example of runaway..."capitalism" screwing the population.

Iamold, just so we are all on the same page I posted this recently to help inform all of us the difference between right & left, democracy vs. a republic and capitalism.

Yes this is "runaway capitalism screwing the population" but it is NOT free market capitalism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQgcqnm9eRU&feature=related

BTW I just heard citi will be following BOA in charging fees and this is a result of Dodd/Frank and signed into law by Obama just a Bush gave us TARP for his Goldman sucks criminal gang.

[sunshinepa]

I saw this article before it was posted here......my first thought was WOW, sure glad they were one of my creditors in BK and I got to stick it to em!!!! I am sure other banks will jump on the bandwagon too. Sure glad my bank is locally owned and hope they don't follow the biggies.

[IamOld]

I would add that we could use the Post Office (don't laugh) and have them go into non-profit savings - this is/was done in many other countries...also, ND has its own state bank where the state keeps its own money - it USED to offer individual accounts...perhaps it should do so again...

[20FT5]

this is such BS - I use my debit card for everything. Its MY frigging money and I already had to do direct deposit to avoid their $15 or whatever it is monthly fee.

Looks like I'll be pulling out every damn bit of $ we have and put it into a pre-paid debit card to use for paying bills, gas, groceries, etc.

At the very least I'd like to be asked my name before being screwed - grrrrrrrr.

Pandora here represents the success banks and retailers have had in getting people to quit using checks or cash to pay for their purchases. Think about those catchy VISA commercials where the poor schlub who wants to pay with cash is looked upon with disdain. Unbeknown to most card users, they pay an interchange fee to their bank for this convenience that is collected by the retailer. The average fee is around $.44 per transaction. All was well-card users enjoyed reward programs, free checking and other perks that were funded by interchange fees of approximately $6.6 billion annually.

Retailers love debit cards because they can hire idiots who unable to make change for a $5 bill and don't have to worry about theft from the cash register. But retailers hate having to pay the interchange fee.

Then Illinois Senator Dick Durbin decided to punish the banks by dictating a sharply lower cap on these so called interchange fees. Hmmmm, maybe the fact that Walgreen's is headquartered in his home state had something to do with his idea. Lower interchange=lower cost for the retailer. Dick's "Durbin Amendment" was added to The DODD-FRANK WALL STREET. REFORM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION (sic) ACT. Step back and think about how absurd the "logic" behind Dick's amendment was.

The law was passed when banks are on their a**es and have just been bailed out. Was the thought process like this?
1. Banks in trouble>
2. banks need to be bailed out with $trillions>
3. must cut bank revenues and profits to prevent repeat of 1 ....what?????

Sure Dick, banks will just kiss billion$ goodbye and there will be no impact on the banks or their customers. Dick's proposed interchange caps were raised by the Federal Reserve in the end because they had enough brains to realize that the whole debit card system would require wrenching changes that they felt were not in the best interest of consumers or banks. Dick's law kicks into effect tomorrow and is the impetus for the actions announced by BofA and other banks. Now I am no friend of banks.

I am in BK because of the stupidity, stubbornness and intransigence of a bank. Since they are not lending anybody any money, they earn next to nothing on their assets so they have to depend on fees.

As I write this I am thinking that maybe Dick's amendment will motivate them to start lending again. Then I think about the bank we are dealing with and come back to my senses.

Pandora, Durbin's amendment does not apply to smaller banks or CUs. Move your account to one of these institutions and you may avoid the fallout,as noted by IamOld.

[IamOld]

Anyone could have seen this coming. Fedgov placed limits on what banks could charge for per transaction fees, so they upped their fees in other places. This is what happens when the government tries to mandate what the price should be for a service instead of letting the market decide.

With the utmost respect, I have to disagree with our esteemed contributor...I am indeed old enough to remember that before the industry was deregulated, savings and loans paid 5.25% interest on savings accounts, and you did indeed have free checking, no gimmicks, etc...where I grew up, we literally had 16 banks withing a three block radius...now there are four there...

[MSbklawyer]

Anyone could have seen this coming. Fedgov placed limits on what banks could charge for per transaction fees, so they upped their fees in other places. This is what happens when the government tries to mandate what the price should be for a service instead of letting the market decide.

[iswmle]

BofA to assess fees for debit card use

http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Bank+of+America+Corporation

Damn it! Don't they know I went through a BK, am working on my credit, and need to save every penny I have? I haven't used my debit card in months, I have moved over to just relying on my credit card, but I can see a point where I may need to use my debit card for something. What BofA is doing is like they are putting on a $60 annual fee for my debit card. And I get no rewards? Absurd!!

Now I really have to find a new bank.