Because debit card fees make me crabby.
I imagine the past few weeks haven’t been the best for Bank of America’s public relations team, after BofA announced that it was going to charge customers $5 a month to use their debit cards.
Oh, the outcry! The petitions! The bad press!
(I’ll bet the media team at Netflix could commiserate.)
The kind of hilarious part about all the hubbub was that Bank of America wasn’t the only bank contemplating charging fees to access your own cash. A handful of other banks were testing fees in various markets around the country.
Evidently, no more. Last Friday, Chase and Wells Fargo decided to nix the debit card fees they’d been testing in a few places. And on Monday, Regions Financial Corp and Suntrust dropped the fees they’d already put in place—and said they’ll be reimbursing customers.
Then, yesterday, the big kaboom. Bank of America is ditching its debit card fee as well.
Triumph! The little guy wins!
At least, for now. Banks will surely think of another way to charge higher fees, now that they’re collecting so much less revenue otherwise. But it’s nice to know that publicly airing our dissatisfaction can make a difference, especially when it comes to egregious fees.
Keep voting with your feet, folks. If you don’t like the way your bank is doing things, find another bank. It actually works.
(Photo from Big Max Power on Flickr.)
