Bank Of America Adding Debit Card Fees to Customers – “Are They Idiots?” Say Customers

In what many are describing the business blunder of the year, Bank of America has announced that it will begin charging its customers a $5.00 monthly debit card fee. Customers have voiced their outrage and many are already looking elsewhere for their banking services.

Already struggling financially, BOA said that this new debt card fee will help them make up for the federally mandated reduction in transaction fees which banks earn on credit card and debit card transactions. On average banks earn about $.41 per transaction. This fee which is a cost of doing business for the merchant where you shop will be reduced to about $.21 per transaction.

The federal government is forcing the change saying that the new fees more accurately represent the cost with nominal profit margin for the banks, and that the current fees are no appropriate. Bank of America says that it cannot operate at the reduced rates.

The new $60 annual debit card fee would reportedly represent an additional $3 billion per year for Bank of America.

In just another example of corporate green run wild BOA clearly has forgotten that customers are what make a business run, and when you keep taking from your customers, whose money you already use to make billions in profits, your customers will leave you.

Much like the airlines which continue to take away features and comforts, while adding additional fees, eventually they find themselves with customer leaving in droves for their competition.

I for one will not be waiting for the start of the new year to take my banking business elsewhere. With no reductions in salaries and bonuses for bank executives, and instead digging further into the pockets of loyal customers, Bank of America has just lost this customer of the last 15 years – and I am sure many more.