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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

#51

Post by pyre »

Lewisham wrote: post #26
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 really like Ally. I was a little hesitant about them based on their GM past, but now I've switched I'd never go back to a brick and mortar. People always ask me the same questions: Q: How do I get money out if there are no ATMs? A: I use any ATM, Ally refunds the fee, so even those sleazy but oh-so-convienent ATMs are great. Q: What if there's a problem? A: When is the last time you saw your bank manager? I never s…

For a while international wire transfers required being in a physical bank at BoA, but they've recently (last couple of years) added it to their 'ebanking' site. The frustrating part of this was that their system operated on Central Standard Time... which sucks on the west coast because you have a very short window to do the transfer in (between bank opening in PST timezone and 2pm CST (aka noon PST)... and the BoA closest to me opened at 10am PST...).

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

#52

Post by pyre »

cpeterso wrote: post #48
untog wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ATM locations, mostly. Chase has an ATM on every street corner in NYC (OK, an exaggeration, but only just). I know plenty of credit unions refund a certain number of ATM fees, but you can't do thinks like check deposits at them any more.

Some banks and credit unions are adding "online checking depositing": you upload a photo of the check to their website. They OCR the photo and process the check. No signature endorsement necessary. Also, a good way to avoid ATM fees is to get "cash back" when using a debit card at the grocery store.

Might not be the case anymore, but I remember hearing in the late 90's that some banks would charge you fees for getting "cash back" with your debit card at a merchant. This is probably bank-dependent though.

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

#53

Post by mahyarm »

patio11 wrote: post #36
seanalltogether wrote: post #14

"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 p…

So you know cash has processing fees associated with it, right? Really. They're totally orthogonal to the cost of physically creating paper or metal currency, and they're mostly subsidized by merchants. Cash management is a hard problem. WalMart spends about 3 million every year moving pennies around -- that actual coin type. Every time a salon owner has to spend time driving to the bank or money leaves a cash regist…

Why do banks in the USA charge so much for generic P2P wire transfers between accounts? It's cheaper and quicker to give someone a check in the USA in a face to face situation vs. a simple wire transfer to their bank account. Wire transfers would be cheaper for the bank since they wouldn't have to process paper checks. ACH is kind of there, but that's not open to the general public.

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

#54

Post by blhack »

bilbo0s wrote: post #40
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…

There is actually something more fundamentally troubling about this new fee ... it drives Americans to use more credit. It was pointed out to me recently that this tendency towards credit that is really 'built-in' to the rules in our society, would probably end up doing us in one day. Sometimes you don't even think about it. I recall once, shortly after the onset of the financial unpleasantness that began in 2008, I…

>it drives Americans to use more credit.

Oh it does not. $5/mo is just a way for BoA to disincentive people from using their debit card.

It means more transactions get pushed through VISA network, more fees for visa, and probably a kickback for BoA.

My check card can also be processed as credit, and it usually is. This isn't because I'm buying things on credit, it's just that that's how it is being processed. The money still comes directly out of my checking account.

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

#55

Post by ejdyksen »

untog wrote: post #8
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?

ATM locations, mostly. Chase has an ATM on every street corner in NYC (OK, an exaggeration, but only just). I know plenty of credit unions refund a certain number of ATM fees, but you can't do thinks like check deposits at them any more.

I have a credit union account (First Tech CU), and I regularly deposit checks at a different CU's ATM (BECU has fancy ATMs that scan checks, so I prefer them).

In fact, any CO-OP Network ATM works just as well as my own CU's ATM (no fees, deposits, etc). They have locations nationwide, as most credit unions are members.

Edit: also included in that list: most ATMs at 7-Eleven.

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

#56

Post by jcampbell1 »

Lewisham wrote: post #26
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 really like Ally. I was a little hesitant about them based on their GM past, but now I've switched I'd never go back to a brick and mortar. People always ask me the same questions: Q: How do I get money out if there are no ATMs? A: I use any ATM, Ally refunds the fee, so even those sleazy but oh-so-convienent ATMs are great. Q: What if there's a problem? A: When is the last time you saw your bank manager? I never s…

If you have high balances, you should consider "bank of internet". The name sounds like a joke, but they are similar to Ally in terms of services, but offer money market rates on the checking account. I use them, and don't need a savings/money market account, so it really simplifies things.

They also don't charge foreign exchange fees, and their method for computing atm fees is the amount mod $5. When I was living in china, I actually made money every time I withdrew from the ATM, because the USD amount would be $83, and I would get $3 refund for non-existant ATM fees.

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

#58

Post by sliverstorm »

Suan wrote: post #50
bilbo0s wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is actually something more fundamentally troubling about this new fee ... it drives Americans to use more credit. It was pointed out to me recently that this tendency towards credit that is really 'built-in' to the rules in our society, would probably end up doing us in one day. Sometimes you don't even think about it. I recall once, shortly after the onset of the financial unpleasantness that began in 2008, I…

Reminds me of something I tweeted a while ago: "Something's wrong when its easier to earn credit card cash back than interest on savings..." http://twitter.com/#!/suanyeo/status/106413797811568640

Maybe from the mile-high view, but the reason cash rewards work is because the credit card company is essentially sharing part of the fee they extracted from the vendor with the customer. Fundamentally different than interest on savings.

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

#59

Post by mahyarm »

cpeterso wrote: post #48
untog wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ATM locations, mostly. Chase has an ATM on every street corner in NYC (OK, an exaggeration, but only just). I know plenty of credit unions refund a certain number of ATM fees, but you can't do thinks like check deposits at them any more.

Some banks and credit unions are adding "online checking depositing": you upload a photo of the check to their website. They OCR the photo and process the check. No signature endorsement necessary. Also, a good way to avoid ATM fees is to get "cash back" when using a debit card at the grocery store.

They put cash limits on the checks usually, which neuters the functionality. And you still can't deposit cash.

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

#60

Post by mahyarm »

nhangen wrote: post #24

BankSimple is rejoicing right now. I have a mortgage and 3 separate accounts with BoA, but they still treat me like a 2nd class customer. This could push me over the edge.

It really depends on the branch/employee. I've dealt with idiots, and really great retail bankers at BoA. The stanford mall branch is pretty good in Palo Alto.
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