The Associated Press recently reported that Bank of America is planning to start charging customers a $5 monthly fee for using a debit card.
The debit card fee will start early next year for customers who use their cards for purchases. Customers won’t be charged for using their cards at an automatic teller machine (ATM).
If you’re not a Bank of America customer, don’t get smug. Chase and Wells Fargo are testing a $3 debit card fee in some markets too. These two banks haven’t decided whether or when they’ll make the fee permanent. But it’s more than likely they’ll put some fee structure in place.
And generally once the big banks make the move, the smaller community banks will follow. So watch for an announcement from your own bank and be aware if debit card charges are in your future.
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President Obama condemned Bank of America in a meeting with George Stephanopoulos earlier this week. The president was displeased about the financial institution billing customers a charge to use debit cards. “You don’t have some inherent right to get a certain amount of profit,” the president said. “You have to treat (customers) fairly and transparently.†Americans, echoing the president’s feeling, have been embracing credit unions in record numbers.