Bank of America Not Giving Up on Charging New Fees

If you thought that Bank of America was going to quietly back down in its attempt to hang new fees on its customers, think again.

In 2011, Bank of America (and other banks, but Bank of America was the primary target of outraged customers) created a firestorm when they announced that they were going to institute a $5/month usage fee for its millions of debit card holders. The move came as a result of Bank of America needing to drum up new fees after sweeping regulations resulted in lower revenues from merchant swipe fees and bank overdraft charges, amongst other things.

Bank of America thought that they could recoup the lost revenues in the form of their proposed debit card fee, but the resulting firestorm caused them to eventually back down. It was widely assumed that Bank of America's executives would go back to the drawing board and return with some new fee proposals.

Sure enough, Bank of America is reportedly working on implementing new monthly fees for those with basic checking accounts. According to the Wall Street Journal, BofA may charge as much as $25 per month for an "Essentials" account. Pilot programs in Arizona, Georgia and Massachusetts have reportedly been experimenting with a monthly fee of between $6 and $9.

According to a memo that was reportedly distributed to Bank of America employees, customers could avoid the monthly payments by maintaining a minimum balance, using a Bank of America credit card or taking out a mortgage with the bank.

Will Bank of America customers stand for this latest attempt to increase revenues? Will the bank back down once again? What do you think?

Source: WSJ.com - Big Bank Weighs Fee Revamp

Filed under: General Knowledge