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Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

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Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#11

Post by jcampbell1 »

PStamatiou wrote: post #7

Don't they already do this? If I don't have at least $1500 in my account each month I get charged. So I have this account I never use anymore save for some tiny charges, that I don't want to cancel due to credit score that has to have that much money in it at all times.

A checking account doesn't affect your credit score. If you have a line of credit (e.g. overdraft protection), that would be reported, but I can't imagine that would affect your credit score much as the limit on personal lines of credit are small (typically around $500).

Cancel the account if you are not using it.

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#12

Post by PStamatiou »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #11
PStamatiou wrote: post #7

Don't they already do this? If I don't have at least $1500 in my account each month I get charged. So I have this account I never use anymore save for some tiny charges, that I don't want to cancel due to credit score that has to have that much money in it at all times.

A checking account doesn't affect your credit score. If you have a line of credit (e.g. overdraft protection), that would be reported, but I can't imagine that would affect your credit score much as the limit on personal lines of credit are small (typically around $500). Cancel the account if you are not using it.

Good to know!

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#13

Post by michaelchisari »

navyrain wrote: post #5

I fail to see why anyone selects a big bank like BofA/WellsFargo/Chase for their personal accounts, when they are known to have a plethora of fees and dubious ethics, and there are almost always better options in regional credit unions. What am I missing?

I switched to a credit union after the recent banking scandals, and I couldn't be happier.

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#14

Post by seanalltogether »

"The formula sets the cap at 21 cents, plus .05 percent of the transaction amount, plus another penny in certain cases, for fraud-control measures."

I understand that running to the government for solutions is rarely a good thing, but in this case, shouldn't "digital currency transactions" be something that the federal government maintains as a free utility to society? Isn't something like this just as important as printing currency?

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#15

Post by AretNCarlsen »

untog wrote: post #4

I think the thing that really annoys me about these kind of moves is that they're clearly targeting the less fortunate out there. If I want to avoid the $5 that's easy- I'll just switch to my credit card. But people who don't have enough credit to get a credit card now get punished twice. I read a fascinating passage in The Big Short (an excellent book on the financial crisis by Michael Lewis) that told the story of…

This particular situation is more nuanced than the usual profit-from-the-poor story. Every bank and credit union receives these fees, and in the case of not-for-profit credit unions, the interchange fees truly support[ed] "free checking" accounts. Whereas merchants can lower their prices to pass the money back to the consumers (but won't), banks, conversely, have nowhere to recoup their losses except to charge the debit card users. I would rather see an honest fee like this than watch as overdraft penalties are raised to cover the lost revenue.

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#16

Post by [deleted] »

untog wrote: post #4

I think the thing that really annoys me about these kind of moves is that they're clearly targeting the less fortunate out there. If I want to avoid the $5 that's easy- I'll just switch to my credit card. But people who don't have enough credit to get a credit card now get punished twice. I read a fascinating passage in The Big Short (an excellent book on the financial crisis by Michael Lewis) that told the story of…

[deleted]

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#17

Post by natesm »

Well, I'm switching (I don't have a credit card). What is a good alternative? I know everyone loves USAA, but none of my family has any relation to the military. BoA is "great" because it is everywhere, is there actually anything as wide spread in the (northeast) US?

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#18

Post by bittermang »

natesm wrote: post #17

Well, I'm switching (I don't have a credit card). What is a good alternative? I know everyone loves USAA, but none of my family has any relation to the military. BoA is "great" because it is everywhere , is there actually anything as wide spread in the (northeast) US?

I don't even care about widespread. I'll take anybody with a descent website.

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#19

Post by krevis »

navyrain wrote: post #5

I fail to see why anyone selects a big bank like BofA/WellsFargo/Chase for their personal accounts, when they are known to have a plethora of fees and dubious ethics, and there are almost always better options in regional credit unions. What am I missing?

Inertia. 20 years ago, at the start of college, I got a free checking account at a smallish local bank. Which got bought by a bigger regional bank, which got bought by another bank, which merged into BofA. I had no particular reason to switch until BofA started charging ridiculous fees.

Re: Bank of America to charge monthly fee to debit card users

#20

Post by smhinsey »

natesm wrote: post #17

Well, I'm switching (I don't have a credit card). What is a good alternative? I know everyone loves USAA, but none of my family has any relation to the military. BoA is "great" because it is everywhere , is there actually anything as wide spread in the (northeast) US?

I don't think it's true of all of their products, such as insurance, but I believe the general public can sign up for USAA banking. This was true a few years ago when I was looking for a new bank, but I ended up going elsewhere for unrelated reasons.
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