Bank Of America To Start Charging Debit Card Fees

Bank of america to charge $5 debit card fee

BofA has come up with a novel way to earn people’s trust after battling one PR disaster after another for the fraud perpetuated by the bank over the past few years.

BofA has decided to charge a nominal monthly fee of $5 every month you use BofA’s debit card.

This will be on top of any other fees your account might have. Remember BofA was bailed out with $45 billion of taxpayer money out of which $5.8 billion was used up to pay executive bonuses. Without admitting guilt, BofA paid $33 million in fines to the SEC for this transgression.

Recently BofA saw its shares soar after Warren Buffett loaned an additional $5 billion to BofA. Soon after BofA announced it plans to layoff 30,000 of its employees in a bid to raise cash.

BofA is also the largest bank in terms of deposits, so this will affect a lot of people. And BofA is not alone. Wells Fargo and Chase are also contemplating a debit card fee.

Alternatives
If you are a BofA customer thinking of switching to another bank, this would be a good time to bail. If you joined BofA for free ATMs, you’ll be glad to know that banks such as Ally and USAA provide fee less ATM access. Neither of these banks have a debit card fee. There aren’t any special requirements to join and can be done very easily online.

Or explore local community banks and credit unions. Credit Unions are structured differently and operate as not-for-profit entities with the prime goal of serving its members rather than profit maximization. When you join a credit union you become a member.

USAA, DCU, PenFed are all fine institutions.

On Switching
If you have a direct deposit arrangement with your employer, open your new bank account, fill in the direct deposit modification form, wait till you actually see the money in the new account before closing your BofA account.

Make sure you redirect all auto pays to your new account before cancelling your BofA account.

Looking at BofA’s troubles, I predict this is just the beginning of a long list of fees Bank of America has up its sleeve. The good news is you don’t have to humor BofA.

Continue reading here: DCU now offers free Equifax FICO credit score

Was this article helpful?

0 0