Debit card fee upsets some BofA customers

CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None —
There was no shortage of customers at the Bank of America branch on South Boulevard Friday, or of opinions about the bank's plans to begin charging a $5 monthly fee for using a debit card.

"I don't know what to say about the banks," Bank of America customer Jeff Edwards said. "Every time we get a break, they want to take it back."

Bank of America said it's instituting the new debit card fee to make up for billions it will lose because of a new federal regulation that cuts the transaction fee it gets from retailers in half.

Economist Dr. Harry Bowen with Queens University said Bank of America has to make it up somewhere.

"In reality, there's never anything called free checking," Bowen said.

The fees won't apply to ATM withdrawals, and Bowen said affluent customers with $20,000 or more in the bank will likely be exempted from the new fees.  He said others can avoid them, too, if they're willing to sacrifice convenience.

"They will alter their behavior -- use more checks, carry more cash," Bowen said. "They'll think twice about just using their debit card for every day transactions."

Many economists think other banks will quickly follow Bank of America's lead.

And at the Better Business Bureau, Tom Bartholomy thinks some customers who are already struggling financially will be hurt most.

"It's not just, 'Well, I'm not going to pay $5 a month just to use my debit card,'" he said. "They're saying, 'I can't afford to pay $5 a month.'"

And that could drive some customers out of banks altogether.

WSOC