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Alan Diaz / AP
A customer uses a Bank of America ATM in Hialeah, Fla., this month. Bank of America Corp. is scrapping its plans to charge a $5 monthly debit card fee after a roar of customer outrage.
The big backlash against debit card fees appears to have paid off, but consumers may not want to pop the Champagne corks quite yet.
Bank of America said Tuesday it would drop its widely criticized plan to add a $5 monthly debit card fee after many of its rivals dropped similar plans, many of which were in the testing phase.
"We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," David Darnell, co-chief operating officer for B of A, said in a statement.
But experts say the industry's retreat means that banks will look for other, more subtle ways to make up for the money they’ve lost because of recent regulatory changes.
“Yeah, this is a victory for consumers, but heads up: We’re going to be seeing some type of other fees,” said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of the credit card information website lowcards.com.
Consumers may already be seeing some new fees sneak up on them if they’re not watching their accounts closely, especially concerning minimum balances.
“Now more so than ever (you need to) read those letters you get from your banks. … Those thick booklets with 20 pages? Read through those,” said Alex Matjanec, co-founder of MyBankTracker.com, which provides consumers with information about banks.
The backpeddling came after many consumers — already pinched by the weak economy — grew furious about the idea of being charged to use their own money to get groceries or buy gas. Many threatened to move to credit unions or community banks that wouldn’t charge such fees.
A movement even sprouted up for people to move accounts en masse this Saturday, dubbed "Bank Transfer Day."
Hardekopf said the proposed debit card fee seemed especially jarring because consumers felt like they were being forced to pay a fee to spend their own money. He said consumers tend to be more willing to accept credit card fees because they understand they are essentially being given a loan in that case.
“This was completely different. You were getting charged a fee for accessing your money,” Hardekopf said.
Still, credit card companies don’t have nearly as much leeway as they used to, either. In recent years, regulators have moved to limit some ways in which credit card companies can charge customers extra fees or raise rates.
That, combined with recent federal rules limiting the fees big banks are paid when you use your debit card, have prompted banks to look for other ways to make money.
Norma Garcia, manager of the financial services program with Consumers Union, noted that it’s rare for banks to back down on plans because consumers complain. Still, she also expects that banks will try other, less wide-ranging, measures.
“This is a victory today, but it doesn’t mean that they need to let down their guard,” Garcia said.
Garcia said consumers should pay especially close attention to whether banks are changing rules about minimum balances, and tacking on fees for people who fall below a certain level each month.
“I would be really nervous about that because if you go below the minimum balance, that could actually end up costing you more in the long run than the $5 debit card fee,” Garcia said.
Matjanec said there are plenty of ways that banks can make changes that could lead to you paying far more than a $5 monthly debit fee.
He said consumers should watch for changes in account types, which can inadvertently put you in a type of account that leaves you more vulnerable to heftier fees.
In general, he noted, a lot of people will open an account early in life and then not really pay attention to whether it’s still the right type of account for them.
“If you were willing to change your bank because of your debit card fee, then you should look at, ‘Is this bank good for you?’” Matjanec said.
Related: Bank of America drops planned debit-card fee
Bank of America Tuesday abandoned its controversial plans to charge customers $5 a month for using their debit card to make purchases. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
Leave a Comment:
There should never be a cost to access your money. Checks that are presented electronically are no different than a debit card. Credit cards are different; you are using their money.
Yeah, the banks WILL look for other ways to grab your money; you can count on it.
But even credit cards, where you are using their money, should be controlled more. Isn't 30% or more in interest enough? I know, banks will say that they need to charge that much interest because of the people who default. In my opinion, that's the banks problem. I don't remember seeing any law that the bank must give credit cards to people at high risk of default. Ther bank needs to be responsible for their own decision to give anyone who is breathing a card. Bottom line, if a bank gives multi-million dollar bonuses, they should not be allowed to charge ANY fees.
So, they should just perform their services for free? Who pays the employees? with what? I think the Banks should just let go of all their employees.. that should take care of those multi-million dollar bonuses..
If you want free access to your money, that's easy - don't give it to someone else to hold. But, if you give it to me to hold - you better believe I'm going to charge you a fee. When a bank holds someones money they are providing a service - what's wrong with them getting compensated for that service?
Also, unlike things such as medical services, using a bank is completely optional. You always have the option of paying cash. I'm guessing getting credit will be more difficult (not sure though), but paying cash is a valid option.
Paul,
The reason why you are being charged 30 percent now, is in part because of Gvmnt regulation.
The latest regulations stated, that banks could not charge high risk people huge rates, and give good rates to qualified people. SO now everyone gets charged out the ass. I remember my credit card going from a 12 percent rate to a 29.9 percent rate a mth after congress passed Obamas protection bill. This entire 5.00 useage fee, was because of that same plan. The banks are now limited on how much they can charge the Point of Sale to swipe the card.
Do not blame the banks, blame the Gvmnt for putting rules in place that should not be there.
I have to agree with Ron above. In my case, my wife and I each have a free checking account, Visa credit cards which we use for convenience only (no balance) and Visa debit cards used for ATM access. We also have a savings account, a home equity line (no balance) and a reduced fee security box. All of these services are provided by Bank of America.
The evil bankers at BOA are probably losing money on us!
After that win, I got my magnifying glasses for any mail I get from the Banks!!!
They sure do know ways to get your hard earned $...when you are not paying attention!!!
One more sneak attack, and big banks will be history.. Consumers are not as stupid as they used to be.
Now we got facebook, internet, tweeter, word of mouth, pigeons...anything to save the buck, even my dog skip's been checking my account online for any suspicious activities...right Skip?
"Woof"
Atta boy...
Jeremy, the banks pay lobbiests to buy Congress so I think both banks and Congress are to blame. Crony capitalism at its best.
Ron-1861300
Actually, when you let the bank hold you're money, you are giving them a loan. They should be paying you interest on it since they can loan it out to other people and charge them interest. Saying that banks should charge you to hold your money is absurd. It's like saying that the bank should pay you to accept a loan from them.
"Sickpuppy2"
Thanks for setting the other Ron-1861300 straight and saving me the effort........he does not seem to understand that Banks make money with YOUR money...........they do not just leave the money in a mayonnaise jar in the vault out back!
A lot of business require you to use direct deposit to get your pay, and a lot of banks charge you to cash your paycheck if you do not have an account with them, even if the check is from their bank. So the "you don't have to use a bank, use cash" isn't true anymore.
Sorry Jeremy, I disagree with you on blaming regulation. Regulation is a convenient excuse to deflect blame. There are very good reasons that these regulations were put in place...and if you pay off you balance each month, you wouldn't have to worry about the 30% interest rate ( I should point out my credit card never went up more than a few percentage point...)
As for working for free...well, banks make 4% or more off of the money I have placed in their coffers for safe keeping while paying out almost next to nothing in interest. That is not bad for essentially doing nothing. Having a right to make profit is not a license to steal.
They have a hard on for rape, any rape, and they have us in their sights.
Duhhh, did you think a slap on their P** P** would stop them?
Wow, jcook and ron, how much are the banks paying for you to pimp yourself out for them.
I'm with Paul on this one. Banks are a for-profit business, I get that, but if they are paying out these ridiculous bonuses then obviously they aren't anywhere close to being in the red to justify this endless searching for ways to screw their customers out of money. Just because they got away with bending over merchants and card users for years does not in any way justify them trying to keep those profit margins going with all this new shaking down of their customers.
With the number of credit unions around the country there really is no reason to bank with these greedy backstabbing SOB's anymore. Close your accounts with the big banks, show them they need us more than we need them!
I could understand a fee for people who have debit cards and do not use them, since then the bank gets no fees but still must maintain the account. Maintaining the account does cost the bank money and if a person is not using the card I could understand the bank wanting to charge a dormant account fee to cover their costs. Having a fee for people who are using the card and generating the interchange fees never made sense to me. I do not have a debit card and do not like them. If someone gets a hold of your debit card they can drain your account. So long as you reported the theft of the card and the fraudulent activity promptly you would eventually get your money back, but it can take time. In the interim you would be left without the money. With a credit card, your bank account is safe and so long as you pay off the balance every month you do not get hit with any interest. In fact you gain interest by keeping the money in the bank for the month until the bill is due. That said, I still use good old fashioned cash for most of my purchases. If I have the money in my pocket, I know I can afford to buy something. I only use credit cards for big purchases where I do not want to carry all that cash around and for travel where you really have no choice.
They're instituting new fees "to make up for regulatory changes"?! PUH-LEEZ. THEY MADE $5 BILLION IN PROFIT LAST YEAR.
Ain't nothing wrong with the 1% that a guillotine can't cure.
I got nickeled and dimed again this month. I'm changing to a credit union by the end of next month.
I've stopped the fees, but they won't reverse what they already charged. I got some spiel about how the fees pay for services that their customers enjoy. I enjoy not getting charged fees.
@Ron n Jcook - Both of you are forgetting the interest THEY earn on lending out YOUR money.....
. "When a bank holds someones money they are providing a service - what's wrong with them getting compensated for that service?"
What's wrong with it? That's easy, they are already using your money as loans, giving you very little to nothing in interest for using it, while charging those they lend it, high interest rates. They make a fortune at the expense of those who have money in their bank. It would be the same as them giving you five dollars(in interest)for the use of your money, then taking that five away from you for your use of a debit card to access your own account. In other words, they want the use of your money free and clear so they can profit from it.
"So, they should just perform their services for free? Who pays the employees?'
They are already making money from you for just having your money in their bank. They do, from the profits they get from using your money. Believe me, it won't break them.
Ron-1861300 - you must be in the banking business. Seriously, like everything else, shop around. Usually the smaller, lesser known banks will have the best service and rates. I know they are getting fewer and fewer, but credit unions have always been good for me.
Have we all forgotten our Economics 1A class? This is the power of the "dollar vote". The numbers aren't in yet, but it appears a lot of people walked away from Bank of America. The other megabanks watched for the reaction. You will note, they learned at B of A's expense.
The dollar vote is our most powerful weapon. Use it, damn it. The banks have brought this country to the brink of collapse, and we still aren't out of the woods.
Cast your dollar votes with your local credit union and/or your local bank. That is the smart way to use your money. To hell with the big banks. They most assuredly are not your friend.
Banks don't think their business should cost them anything. If they have a cost, they pass it on to us. They only want to take money out, not put any in. If they have a cost, they figure, why should they pay it?
Most businesses invest in their infrastructure, and make a profit from the use of their products. Banks want to make a profit from other people's money, without it costing them anything.
Ron said:
Banks used to make their money by loaning money to other individuals and businesses. They would charge them interest on the loan and pay you interest for using your money. Now it seems they charge a fee to hold the money. Who makes loans anymore??
you put your money in a bank. you are issued a plastic card ( debit card) in which to access it when you wish. Who do you think makes the card? who do you think pays for the materials to pay for the card itself? who do you think answers the phone when you call up because you forgot your pin again or you lost your card? who do you think works on the equipment at the bank that processes the payments? who do you think supervises and runs spot checks to verify accuracy? who do you think does all this?
and for those who say its your money and you are "loaning" it to the bank.. most people ( remember 99% are not among the rich) do not keep much money in their checking accounts that isnt rotating. I know with mine i have a mean deposit of just under 2k per month and am usually close to the wire every month after paying bills and food. so they certainly arent making any money off of me, personally. But i do use my card and each time i do the bank is paid by the store ( which again doesnt have to accept plastic). But now the government has decided to reduce what the bank is allowed to charge per transaction.
The banks will just now go ahead and up their maximum required amount in order to charge these same people.. because after all if the money isnt in the account, they cant use it to make more money that way... and they will stop giving most everyone a debit card and start limiting it ( which they can do). They will lower maximum amounts that you can take out per day. And in the end, because people dont get the whole business.. they will end up paying more for less.. its already in evidence in todays world.
Oh? So they aren't making nearly enough by trading those dollars in the open market while providing an interest on savings that doesn't even match inflation? Nor being able to make fractal bank loans off of the deposits by a ratio of almost 3-to-1 thanks to relaxed FDIC and Fed reserve requirements?
Please also keep in mind that FDIC member banks can borrow from the Fed and the inter-bank rate for almost nothing since the Fed brought its rate down to near zero. Do you know where I could borrow from the Fed for 0% interest?
I think you grossly under-estimate just how many different avenues that banks can make money off of the money that you lend them when you make a deposit into savings or open a checking account.
But I'm not going to disagree with you necessarily. Banks are acting like this because there is not sufficient competition in the market place. Too many banks went under, many many others are now consolidated into giant monoliths that cast very great shadows over the market, and these few remaining behemoths are much better at controlling prices in the market as they can all tacitly agree that they'd rather not undercut the others' practices, lest they lose the same...it's called profit destruction, and it's why gas prices take forever to drop when oil does, and why airlines watch each other to see whether they are increasing or decreasing "baggage fees".
What we need to do is raise the Fed Rate slowly to match inflation. If the money supply starts to dry up, besides taking the fear of inflation out of the currency markets, it will make banks large and small become infinitely more competitive to attract deposits, and this kind of competition will force them to offer an interest rate on savings that entices consumers to make deposits.
Too bad this ain't gonna happen as long as big business wants cheap debt and to keep the middle class corralled into the pen that they've got us in. Yeehaaw!
They still make loans, just at 30%+ interest. They don't need deposits as badly anymore because they can borrow from the Fed's overnight rate to shore up any liquidity issues for next to nothing in interest payments.
Thank goodness that my SSI payments are going to keeping the current "rape & pillage" banking business model propped up!
I completely understand the "If you want to buy a big ticket item, save the money and pay cash"....it worked for my husband and I while we were raising our children. We did have a car payment through my credit union....but they don't report to the big 3 credit bureaus.
And then we had the opportunity to buy a home. It took a lot of hoop jumping, but eventually we succeeded.....and the major difficulty was that we had NO credit because we paid for everything in cash.
As for banking...we bank with a small local bank.....because of direct deposit, we have free checking. The bank always gave us the option to "opt in" to the overdraft protection....and we chose not to.
But even our small local bank is changing. If we want to receive a monthly statement in the mail....it's $1.00.
I bank with the Chicago Community Bank group
Not one fee ever. I opted out. Never happier. F the man.
Why is anyone still with B of A? Are you stupid or something? Drop them and go with a credit union that doesnt charge you for the air you breath just walking into the bank.
Jeremy; if you are being charged 29.9% by B of A - then you were late on a payment. My B of A is 16.24 and 19.24 on cash advances. Once I get my wife a different accidental death (actually going to normal life ins) insurance policy, we are dropping B of A thanks to a $25 fee they keep trying to charge us about every 9 months for maintenance - we never agreed to a change in our accounts - they just changed it without asking.
My Credit Union only charges 13.50% tops for any credit card transaction - I only use it to fly and it's always paid in full within 3 months.
Who knew the USA was so unstable - the future is looking very bleak indeed.
I have a high yield savings account with a bank with which I also have a credit card. They have $80,000 of my money that they use and they pay me around 1% interest for the use of my money. I have $1,000 of their money (credit card balance) for which I pay them 8.99% to use. Doesn't seem right, does it? That's where their bonus money comes from.
Banks are a business. Deal with this FACT. They do not exist to make accessing your money for no charge. If you want free money, then put it under your mattress! The fee structures that banks charge are highly regulated. When one group whined, then Congress stepped in and changed the rules. Banks were left with a narrower window where they could charge fees. Consumers always have the choice to move their money where they want. Now that consumers have protested the debit card fees, you know damned well you will pay for other "free" services - whether it is online bill pay or using a bank teller. You will bitch and moan, but banks will not continue to exist if they can't charge for services. Of course it might end up that in order to get anything for free, you'll need $10k in that account.
Whine away.
I would like to switch to banking with USAA or UF credit union but I have 5-6 auto deposits and withdrawals set up and it would take hours of office work to switch it all over to a new bank. My accounts are not being charged now. but I don't like BOA's involvement in foreclosures. That needs to be cleaned up fairly. Come on BOA, you responded to not instigating a $5.00 per mo. debit card fee. Now make right with your foreclosure fiasco and truly serve the customers you claim to.
I find it unbelievable that anyone thinks the banks are "doing you a favor" by controlling your funds with minimal charges. They pay you a measly .025 percent as they lend your money to others as high as 25%. They take enormous chances on gambling your funds at great losses. Never fear, FDIC is here. FDIC will insure your losses as long as a company like Enron doesn't lose their asses. YOU are never too big to fail, but YOU will pick up the pieces as Uncle Sam passes the bill on to you and I. God bless America and all of the mighty corporations that our government now calls people with equal rights. Righting slavery for blacks is still a work in progress after 200 years. Declaring that a mighty corporation has equal rights took less then 30 years. May God help America.
Heartlight3: Hey Einstein, instead of bitching about how you're being ripped off, why not take $1000 from your $80,000 account and pay off your credit card balance? You'll instantly raise your return on that $1000 from 1% to 8.99%. It's not rocket science.
I don't think you realize that the banks make most of their money on people that barely have enough money in their accounts. Last time I checked, they make more $$ on late fees and other BS fees than interest rates from loans.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2006-11-19-bank-usat_x.htm
So yeah, those customers with little money in their accounts are their big money makers.
Beware of Wells Fargo they are charging $3.00 monthly fee's for saving accounts, I know I just got charged for two savings accounts yesterday, how's that one, they are out of their minds to expect the consumers to pay to have their money in their Bank these banks are going way to far to pick the consumers pockets ...
had-enough-470242...Here's a few tips:
Don't make late payments
Don't write checks when there isn't enough in your account to cover them.
Live within your means.
Rick-3608408....Here's a tip:
Keep your money between the mattress and boxspring.....burglars never look there...
By the look of some of these posts, we have people from the banking industry here. Who else is going to defend these fees, except those who benefit from them? The banks have made billions in profits every year before they thought up these fees, so I think they'll still be able to do just fine without them.
And if they don't think they can, a mass exodus from every bank that charges fees to use your own money, is in order. The banks have already gotten a bad rap from the bailouts, and doing something like this, or sneaking in other fees instead, will be just one more (very heavy) straw on the camel's back.
laser-692950 wrote:
Banks make plenty of money charging people anywhere from 8%-30% in credit card interest and other loans, using DEPOSITOR'S money. Banks have done just fine all these years doing this and by making other investments, again with DEPOSITOR'S money. If there are no DEPOSITORS, there isn't a bank. So if billions in profit isn't enough, banks will soon see far less if they enact these fees, as DEPOSITORS seek other options.
To defend these actions makes me think you must be connected to the banks somehow.
Yes banks are Big Business, but they are businesses founded on your money. They take your deposits, combine them with cash that they borrow from the fed and loan it out in the way of auto loans, mortgages, and supposedly small businesses. During that period your money exists as electronic data...not as actual cash even thoough that is what you gave them. They would love to elimentate you taking money out but they can't, so have to keep cash on hand. What they can do is levy fees for their service to you, even though if everyone pulled out of a bank..(called a run on a bank) they would have to close doors. remember back in 2008? The paper (data) that the banks held in bad debt, closed their doors and the FDIC had to step in to insure we did not lose our money as people. Search for Banks Closures 2008
The majority of a banks income comes not from your deposits (though they use that money) but from interest and lending. They lend to each other, to Big Business and on Cars and Mortgages.
There is a really good explaination for how banks make money on HowStuffWorks (dot) com
and please remember banks have been laying OFF people since the 90's as people were directed to using ATM's and became more comfortable with using debit cards. If you recall one of the reasons they pushed us ( what they told us) to using debit cards was to keep our accounts safe by not having checks get lost, forged or stolen. What it really meant was the layoff of Tellers, and check processors was financially more feasable for them, the money got into their data books faster and they could float it immediately before you would be accessing it.
wells fargo,charges for a printout of your balance at an atm
i am sure it cost a dollar for a 3 inch piece of paper
Bank of America charges me $2 whenever I use an ATM that isn't theirs... that is an addition to whichever fee the ATM itself charges me for using a card that doesn't belong to the ATM's bank. Ridiculous, joining a credit union this weekend for sure.
If you don't like it, switch banks.
By the way, the actual piece of paper isn't the cost - the cost is developing and maintaining the system that allows the paper to print.
Wells Fargo doesn't charge me for that.......
(And yes, I'm a customer)
@Ron-1861300
Ron, I've been a programmer for maybe 24 years now, at least. Those programs that track your account balance are some of the earliest pieces of programming to have been devised. It's like saying they need the money to do R&D on developing and maintaining the wheel.
Comp science students typically write this kind of program in a second year college term. Not exactly bleeding edge technology.
Charging a dollar is nickle and diming, you know it, I know it. Why be an apologist for it?
Ghost-: Totally agree. I wrote some banking software for a bank a few years ago and parsing a bank transaction was ridiculous (characters 1 to 10 is the social, 11 to 15 is the date of birth, etc.) There's rigorous checking on the server but I could see how hackers can manipulate the system.
And in terms of money to make all this run, it's called "Indian IT" and costs about $20 a hour.
@Ghost - I write financial institution software. It's quite a bit more than you realize and I guarantee you couldn't do it even after your 24 years of programming. And the crap is changing all the time. You do realize that every compliance item to come out of Congress, the Fed, OTC, FTC, et.al. has to be put into the software. It's fun. And the ATM networks are all different and use different flavors of the ISO8583 specification so you have to handle each one of them. Not to mention PCI compliance once you get into Debit/Credit card processing, unless you don't want to handle Visa or MC but then I guess you'd be out of business since you have to offer at least one of those cards to keep your customers.
With all of that said, yeah, they still make tons of cash in the big banks but most of that money is made by taking your money and investing it in stocks and bonds. Right now, bigger than the transaction fees that they lost due to new regulation, is they're trying to make up for their stocks and bonds tanking due to the EU crisis and weak economy.
Really, someone with 24 years of programming can't write financial institution software? So how come you can? Do you have 25?
All of the compliance items that come out of Congress, the Fed, OTC, the FTC et al are very well-defined. And because they are very well-defined, they can be easily put into software.
You do have a point, in that it is not as easy as balancing a checkbook, but it is a one-time charge, and even if they have to pay a 1000 programmers to do it year over year, that's $100M of cost per year. Which is less than 33c per person in the US. The costs you mention cannot be used to justify these fees.
@Byron - I will agree with Anilof...If Ghost does not have experience writing that type of software, then yes, even with 24 years of experience in other fields it is unlikely he/she could effectively write that type of software.
As an analogy, consider a heart surgeon...excellent in his field...could he do brain surgery??? [or vice versa]
I have been running a software development company for the last 27+ years, and I can attest to the fact that different domains have radically different requirements, and it is rare that a person who excels in one vertical market can immediately become effective [i.e. jump right in and write production quality code].
@Anilof
I don't write financial applications, I write healthcare applications. Believe me when I say I'm fully understanding of meeting DOH, CMS, other regulatory bodies as well as insurance regulations, requirements, and guidelines.
If you can write an insurance authorization tracking system for multiple healthcare insurances, there is nothing in the financial industry that touches that level of complexity and nuance. The difference being that you are working with ISOs, we are working with companies that have zero standards, change requirements often and almost whimsically.
I know what I posted was an oversimplification but that was on purpose to make a point. As another posted stated that even having a compliance/R&D dept,unit,entity doesn't come close to justify the expense given to the end user.
You really do need to look out for the 'change in account type' scam. Last year, BOA renamed all of their account types (essentially that is all it was), and by default switched everyone to a lower account type, even if they were qualified for the renamed higher level account. You had to contact them and tell them that you wanted to stay in the renamed higher-level account, else they just started charging account fees. I got absolutely no written notice of these changes, and I had every single statement they had sent me to prove it. My local branch took care of fixing everything - the manager was 'shocked'?
You really should move away from a BOA very carefully, you never know when a snake will strike.
Before PNC ate up National City, I opened an account for my son there who was going to travel with the circus. We'd always used a credit union, but thought it would save on ATM fees to use a bank with ATMs all over the country. We carefully chose the "free" checking account for him with no minimum balance, and signed on the dotted line.
First statement we get, there's a $15 service fee for going below the minimum balance! To call the local branch that was 100 yards from my house, I had to go through the national phone tree which wasted a good 10 minutes of my time. I learned that they had signed him up for an interest bearing checking account which had a $1500 minimum balance requirement. I assured them that there was no way I would've agreed to sign a 19-year-old kid making less that $300 a week for such an account! Looking back, I believe that was no accident. I think banks bank on people, especially young people, to not pay attention to their statements.
most credit unions are in a nationwide circle where you can get money out of regional credit unions affiliated with no fee. You really should just check with your credit union and find out as your son can probably actually had less fees just staying with the credit union.
If his travels in the circus take him overseas as long as his debit card has visa or mastercard logo he'll be fine. I spent 4 years living in Japan and transferred money to and from USA with my local credit union. I also used postal and 7-11 ATMs in japan with my Indiana credit union card with no problems. Also once when I had a question about my account I called from Japan to USA and got a real life human back home in Indiana on the phone easily and was able to sort out the problem in 20 minutes on the other side of the globe.
People that think only a "giant conglo-bank" can do anything that isn't local to their area need to actually go into a credit union and talk to them about it. You'll be surprised.
Bloggit, that's interesting, because B of A moved me to "platinum" or some such thing, and their call center called me to find out how I liked the new changes -- new rewards, lack of fees, etc. Then one day I got a $35 monthly charge on one of my "premium" checking accounts. Just that one, but I have 4 other checking accounts with them, plus a few savings accounts, a brokerage account, and a mortgage. I had to call and complain about this big fee on this one account. They were very apologetic, immediately removed the fee and said they updated their records so this fee would not be charged again.
My guess is that they had some kind of corporate-wide revenue initiative, with permission granted for managers to waive fees for anyone who complained. If some people are too dumb or lazy to complain, B of A gets that extra revenue.
It's not enough to make me switch --- been with B of A for 20 years and always had good service and good rates. But it's enough to make me think that I need to be vigilant, because these days it seems like things get implemented at B of A without adequate thought or analysis of the consequences to the business...like they're on autopilot or something.
Always glad to hear from people like you that are accustomed to wearing chastity belts to keep from being raped by business associates that are highly paid to serve your own interest. It's kinda like writing a mugger a check for only delivering a glancing blow to the head instead of giving you a concussion as he goes thru your pockets. My goodness, you must express your appreciation for the long and painful walk home instead of the 911 call that would necessitate an EMS vehicle to take you to the nearest E.R. Lucky you!
Does anyone proof read anything at MSNBC?
A typo is not such a big deal..the story stands.
Sank Sees sure seem suppsetting.
Bank of America is and always will be A PIG that DOESN'T FLY STRAIGHT! I will rejoice when it finally shutters its doors and windows.... 100% LIABLE for PREDATORY LENDING!
@Fed Up...You are so correct. Of all of the banks, Bank of America is with out a doubt, the most crooked and ruthless! Becareful, everyone that deals with this company. This is not to say the others are not, just that BofA is the worst!!
I find it interesting that Scotia Bank in Canada gives cash back for using their debit card.
M&I Bank, does too. But only if you select credit instead of debit for each transaction.
So does USAA.
Those are from the interchange fees when you use it as a credit card. Those fees have been capped by new legislation so you may or may not see a change to your program. Keep an eye out.
The difference is Scotia Bank is not a crooked, ineptly run P.O.S. bank.
I find it interesting that Scotia Bank in Canada gives cash back for using it's debit card.
They will never stop trying to screw you. Dump them and move to a credit union or small regional bank. They are and will remain thieves.
And if they buy out your mortgage, get ready to send them a copy of your homeowners insurance policy, which they will claim they do not have, and then they will buy a policy for you at 300% of the cost of your policy, and jack up your monthly escrow.
That's if they haven't sold off your mortgage and can actually produce your deed...
In my opinion, every bank customer should close their accounts and move to a member-based Credit Union. This industry should be a SERVICE industry rather than a for-profit industry. These organizations should solely exist to managed our money and service loans, period. Because they do not exist without our money in their coffers further suggests that WE should be co-members with those institutions! This country would be far better off (for the common man), if we changed the entire industry to service-based!
@Levair1968, NC.....you are absolutely correct.
Absolutely! It's a simple concept, folks.
Banks are for-profit (BIG profit!) corporations operated by owners for the benefit of shareholders, that try to pick YOUR pocket to put money in THEIR pocket.
Credit Unions are not-for-profit corporations owned by their members (YOU) and operated for the benefit of their members (YOU, if you will only join!), that try to keep YOUR money in YOUR pocket.
What's so difficult to understand about that??? Move your money to a credit union!
Yes all.Put your money into a credit union,it was the best move my wife and I ever made. Do it Nov 5th!Make the greedy for profit banks scared.The tide needs to turn.
I agree for the most part here. But what do the people that are boxed out of being able to go to a credit union based off of foolishness from their youth that violates a policy held by the credit union? For example, you have an issue with an overdraft and have an account closed and now can only open say a savings account without access to a debit card.
I feel personally that if the bank is going to be party to charging people say 5% on a loan that the people that have interest bearing accounts should be paid in similar fashion.
Big banks and other cheating businesses need to be brought down. We sure as heck don't need them and they are too big to exist. let them fail and die.
Oh brother.....
The best way is still to use local credit unions. They now have all the services that the "big" banks offer but they are ran by reasonable people that do not look to make as much profit as they can with the least amount of effort.
Screw B of A!!!
Screw them all. Move to a credit union. They have pissed me off one too many times.
They did back down. Some of my friends were waiting to see and no charges for debit card.Interesting considering so many employees are getting laid off,but i was told there is alot more auto tellers so they don't have to have as many bank tellers.Feel kinda sorry for the tellers.
Yes, I do feel sorry for the tellers, but my money is in a couple of credit unions (that actually employs more human tellers than any of the banks in my area and don't charge to use them!) and it's going to stay there.
If we support credit unions they will grow and hire more tellers, probably into better jobs than they had at their old crummy banks!
I'm one of the BofA employees terminated this week after having cut up debit cards thrown in my face, like I had a say in it. So there goes my buying power, supporting our community, and soon I will be on the dole trying to stay afloat in this economy ....another american family bites the dust.
"We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,"
Translation: Since customers know their pockets are being picked and are screaming bloody murder about it, we decided to remove our filching hands...for now.
What do you expect from those who controle your government and already freely pick your pockets ? Aren't you glad your representative bailled them out for you ?
yeh Obama bailed them out. I think he may have thought the banks would conduct business then rather than just hold on to their newly acquired capitol. The bail out should should have had requirements attached to pass on the $ to relieve the foreclosure crises and loan $ to small business.
Yet another colossal oops! by a large corporation in charging extra fees for the same service i.e (Netflix). These people are so far removed from the rest of society. They are in their mansions laughing and thinking "they won't know, they won't care. Well for one, I am tired of being charged more for less. The joke is on you Bank of America. I hope you choke like Netflix.
No, you imposed the fee and then rescinded when tens of thousands of customers closed their accounts and there was a national uproar that made you look like the predators you are.
If you are angry at your bank I have two words for you: credit union
Not only do these Big Banks need to be broken up, The Glass-Steagal Act needs to be reinstated and Investment Banks need to be separated from regular Banks once again so they can't Gamble with other peoples savings anymore. We also need to go back to State Banks and bring back a STET Tax (Securities Turnover Excise Tax) to pay for the mess we are in now.
These Big Banks don't even Compete anymore. One tries a new fee and if the others see that they are getting away with it, they all follow suit. This is Anti-competitive and collusive. You can't even get a decent interest rate on your regular savings anymore unless you tie your money up for years.
It's not like these guys have done enough damage already. Their greed knows no limits.
Break em up and bring back competition, then Banks will become the Servants of society once again and not it's Master.
I think the Spanish American War was payed for with a STET Tax.
subtle = sneaky
subtle = sneaky-weasels
Bend over and grab your ankles. You know they will design some way to generate more money.
Don/t forget the lube that can hurt, I know from experience
My employer is a global company, that uses Bank Of America, also known as "Less See How We Can Fleece America" LSHWCFA. I went there to cash an expense re-imbursement check. It was for a piddly amount, less than 10.00. I was told that they were going to charge me $6.00 to cash the check! Now keep in mind this was a a check drawn on an account in that same bank. So, they were picking my pocket to cash a check drawn on that same bank. Was the check worthless? No, this is a GLOBAL company. I was asked if I would like to start an account there. I replied, "No thank you, you have shown me yet another reason to use a credit union!". I went across the street, cashed the check, at the credit union and started an account there. Boy is it nice not to have fees on top of fees on top of maintence charges!
Had the same experience at Chase. They, too, wanted $6 to cash a check that was less than $14. It was drawn on my father's account. I was shocked. I worked as a teller for Lincoln First Bank (which became a Chase bank) in the early '80's. Back then, checks that were drawn on a Lincoln/Chase account were considered the best as we could check the account balance and put a hold on the funds. Further, if we were concerned about the legitimacy of the check, we could use the signature card to validate the signature.
As for not having an account and just using cash, that's not feasible anymore. Most employers will only use direct deposit for wages. If you could get a check, you still need a bank to cash it. If you have none, you have to pay the bank that it is drawn on to give you your money!
put your money into a local credit union
Thomas Jefferson
Our fathers knew history would continue to repeat itself.
This is exactly what has evolved here. Banks have always found ways to nickle and dime its customer...sadly they are also making much more profits off YOUR MONEY..Its called "fractional reserve banking" which originated from the Federal Reserve..who are the masters of loaning 10 times more money then they actually have in their reserves! Dont believe me, do your research!! ****END THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND THE CENTRAL BANKING SYSTEM THEY ARE AS CORRUPT AS IT GETS!! AS A FAMOUS PERSON ONCE SAID, "POWER CAN CORRUPT, BUT ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY."
"The devious planners of the revised bill titled "The Federal Reserve Act" to mask its real nature. It will create a system controlled by private international bankers who will control the nations money supply. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve Board, composed of twelve districts and one chairman, will in fact control the nations financial resources and available credit, all by mortgaging the federal government through borrowing."
-Frank Vanderlip, President of Kuhn Loebs National City Bank of New York
We just discovered BOA is charging us $9 because we went over a monthly limit on how many times we could transfer money from our savings to our checking. They charge $9 for every transfer over the monthly limit they set. That, in addition to the $25 monthly fee they are now charging, topped with the $1 they charge us for every single debit card transaction. They will shortly not be taking those fees from us any longer, because we will no longer be customers.
Congratulations! Your eyes are open now! Feels good, doesn't it?
A fee for too many transfers between your own accounts? Wow, Bank of America really *has* gotten creative with their fees.
I wonder what they'll think up next???
Probably charging you for depositing your money. You don't think giving them money is free, do you?
put your money into a local credit union, general higher interest rates and not a lot of added charges
My only experience with BOA was in Vietnam. I was leaving the country and tried to get a $1,000 cashier's check from the teller. He told me I didn't have that much in the account. I knew that there was at least ten thousand dollars in there. Went inside to some sort of officer who told me that the Army had screwed up and HE was going to generously let me have the check. Then he said-"see, the Army screws up and we let you have it anyway" I told him I knew who made the screwup and it wasn't the Army. Left with the check in my pocket and when I got back home, closed the account. They sent me a check finally for considerably more than a grand they said I didn't have.
I now receive money from various sources and have accounts in a bank as well as a CU. I did have accounts in several other banks and closed them. The one I have in a bank now would create havoc in my finances if Iclosed it at present, so I am waiting for certain things to change and then will shut them down(hopefully) by taking my trade to the CU I am presently enrolled in.
Less than one per cent on a five year CD!!! And they hae the oney for that period of time!!!
Why were there regulatory changes, if they are going to be allowed to make up the loss with new fees? What good did the changes do?
It happened with the phone company, too. MCI sued ATT so that they could get into the long distance business. When ATT was forced into competion, long distance charges did go down. However, ATT had been subsidizing local phone accounts with the long distance. Suddenly, the cost of everyone's home phone went through the roof. The Feds said something like, "Ooops, we didn't intend that to happen, just long distance to go down."
Decades later, everyone has a cell phone, and people are getting gouged that way. (use a prepaid, it's cheaper.)
Find a better bank or savings and loan or credit union.
imagine millions of americans,most of whom own credit/debit cards,along with their money in greed inc. banks
all of which adds up to billions of$$ at any given momemt,taking into the picture that banks are a worldwide
24/7 business,a business,in reality,is using your money to make them,vs us,more money.boggles the mind to just imagine exactly what 'they' are doing with your hard earned money.? to buy a new car,a 3%apr sounds
good to the average person but in reality,you are paying on a twelve month basis rather than a conventional loan,where your interest is charged by the monthly balance vs the apr rate which,in the end
is robbery...apr rate should be outlawed. fellow americans,wake up & go a month w/o plastic.i haven't even
approached the robbery of a lonterm house mortgage. feel insulted for being looked upon as being ignorant.? get in the game...say no to banks.
Our entire financial system is corrupt to the bone. Our big banks with trillions in assets have been getting billions in 0% loans to play the market. Goldman Sachs and outers have been driving up the price of gas and food on our hurting people by manipulating the commodoties market.
Why should anyone pay a bank 600k or more for a 200k house when the rax payer backs the loan?
All government guaranteed loans should be made directly for a small interest. This would reduce house notes by half or more and leave trillions on the hands og our people instead of thieving banks.
Banks, wall street, hedge funds, insurance companies and the commodities exchange share several things in common.They all produce nothing and take mountains. They own our government and make most of their loot at a low 15% capital gains tax. All these pigs have a liscense to steal and they do, big time.
A 1/2% charge on all stock, comodities and dirivative trades would pur us in surplus and affect mostly giant day traders and money minipulators.
We are in desperate need of a government and a financial system that serves instead of rapes our people.