Bank of America Repeals Debit Card Fee
Many Bank of America customers were outraged when the bank decided to implement a $5 usage fee on debit cards. Although many people decided to vent about it, the bank was rigid on its terms for a while. After a brutal uprising from its customers, Bank of America has decided to change its mind. This decision comes shortly after regulators have started calling for banking reform policies.
Outrage Over Bank of America’s Planned Fee
Bank of America proposed a plan to create a debit card fee that would be implemented in 2012. This fee would be implemented each month. Almost immediately, customers started protesting the idea. They said that they should not have to pay for the right to use their own money.
Almost immediately, customers started rebelling against Bank of America’s plans.
In an article she posted on the Guardian, Molly Katchpole also decided to take a stand. Katchpole created a petition and started promoting it through social media networks. Katchpole claims her petition was an important part in the movement to repeal the debit card fee. Although it is difficult to establish the role she played, many people admire her for taking the initiative to make a difference.
Katchpole is an activist with Change.org. The petition her group launched ended up receiving over 300,000 signatures. These petitioners came from all over the country.
More likely, the real message came from the many customers started leaving their bank to go to credit unions. According to a Reuters post, over 600,000 consumers have joined credit unions since the end of September. These credit unions are now thriving, even after Bank of America and its competitors have agreed to drop the debit card fee.
In his post in the Washington Post, Alexander Petri says the petition probably had almost no influence on Bank of America’s decision to overturn the fee probably. Petri points out that more than 20,000 customers were willing to close their accounts over this fee.
For what it is worth, Bank of America has officially declared they have ended their $5 debit card fee on Tuesday November 1. The bank decided to give up their fee after customers reported how furious they were. Many other banks were also considering offering a debit card fee, but Bank of America was the last one to give up on the idea.
Bank of America is unable to confirm whether or not it permanently lost any business to the credit unions. Its deposit data will not be available until after the New Year.
Many customers are very pleased over the fact Bank of America has repealed the debit card fee. The question many people are asking now is what damage this has done to Bank of America and the others that tried to charge the fees in the first place. There’s still the possibility that many of them are not going to go back to those accounts, which may cause long-term damage to the banks. Of course, that may be what the banks need to remember not to try using those kinds of fees again.