Another reason to hate BOA

[Jesda]

So your sleep number starts with $?

It's a combination mattress

[Bubba1]

I think the reason people are so upset is because there is such a dynamic difference in our society between those who are doing well and those who aren't. Those who aren't will constantly ridicule those who are as "thieves after the poor man's money". If the economy wasn't in the toilet and people were still making money hand-over-fist, customers would chalk up the $5 increase as a cost-of-doing-business charge and pay it without question. As it stands now, people are fighting and clawing for every dime they can get. For those people, that extra $5 a month, especially over time, could end up being significant.

This really is not a have vs have not argument. there's no gun to the head that says you must pay for your purchases by debit card and thus pay the fee. it's more of a monthly charge for the minor convenience of using a debit card for purchases. Big difference.

Let me give you an example. There are several bridges crossing the Delaware River between Trenton NJ and Morrisville, PA. One is a limited access highway bridge with a one way $1 toll. %he others bridges are free but have traffic lights, which means they generally take longer to cross than the highway bridge. Instead of pointing out the affordability to lower income people if they use that one bridge daily to escape NJ. If the toll creates a financial burden, they can EASILY cross one of 3 other free bridges to the same small town. Is it a tad less convenient than the toll bridge? Sure. the issue is that there are plenty of alternatives to get across the river without paying a toll.

With BOA, you can easily avoid that fee in many ways. so if the cost of the fee is a problem to low income folks, It may not be quite as convenient, but it's not difficult to avoid.

If you want to vent at anyone, it should be at the government regulators who hurt the consumer more than the banks with this regulation change. The regulations reduced Bank revenue, and the banks are doing what anyone else would do in the same situation: they find way to replace that lost revenue.

[AppleBonker]

My only rebuttal to this ^ would be that they should maybe try to find new products or ways to improve existing products. I'd be much happier paying more for some added benefit rather than paying more for the same services. It seems that the cost of most things (cable/internet/cellular/banking/et al) are going up but I'm not actually getting anything new with that cost.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

I'm going to add my $.02 considering I have a BOA checking/savings account. I am extremely pissed off about this because I use my check-card regularly. I don't carry money on me for 2 reasons, 1) I live in an area that isn't very safe to begin with, and work in an industry where on occasion I may have to collect money from customers when I make a delivery or go to repo one of our machines. I'm not trying to get jacked and have my own personal cash stolen, if you get my card and rack up charges the bank can give me that money back, cash not so much. 2) BOA doesn't have ATM's anywhere around me except in their branch locations. Plus every time I use my check card BOA gives me cash back and deposits it into my savings account, which is a nice little feature that has helped me out numerous times in the past. Despite having had issues with NSF fees and maintenance fees that never should of been charged (of which I got the money back each time that I went in and b****, plus some oops we F'd up, sorry for the inconvenience here's $20)

I don't have a checkbook, I only have cash when I absolutely need it, and my credit prevents me from having a real credit card, so the debit check-card is my only option. Unless credit unions have the same cashback on all purchases option that BOA (and PNC just started) I'm not interested. Yes I'm pissed about this new fee, but Wells Fargo and TD bank (when it was Commerce bank) have royally F'd me over with NSF fees in the past, and BOA (despite doing the same thing by paying for the least expensive charge before the most expensive charge) has always reimbursed me for their F up. Plus I'm waiting for the settlement on the class action lawsuit against them to come in.

For me to change banks is a major inconvenience because not only do I have to change my DD information (which leads to me not getting paid on time) but I also have to change all my EFT information since my cell phone, storage, car insurance, netflix, and XBL billing is all done online.

Oh and all those bills that are going up (cable, cellphone, insurance etc... ) are going up because of taxes, the amount of the physical bill stays the same, the taxes and fees are what keep going up.

[skydragoness]

TD Bank started charging $2 for each debit card sale. Banks are already charging merchants/retailers ridiculous percentages for running Visa/MC (which is why you see some small businesses with minimums for running cards) or they may ask you to use your pin# instead. Now the banks are hitting consumers with fees for using their pin for point of sale transactions to further encourage them to use the "credit" side of their check card. HA! It's such a racket. It sucks for consumers but for retailers--especially small businesses--they are getting hurt the worst by this!

Like TMS said, just got to carry cash around (which I do sometimes but not always); I plan to switch to my mom's credit union bank this month.

[Jesda]

For me to change banks is a major inconvenience because not only do I have to change my DD information (which leads to me not getting paid on time) but I also have to change all my EFT information since my cell phone, storage, car insurance, netflix, and XBL billing is all done online.

Oh and all those bills that are going up (cable, cellphone, insurance etc... ) are going up because of taxes, the amount of the physical bill stays the same, the taxes and fees are what keep going up.

That's what they're hoping, that you won't think its worth the trouble.

Make it your agenda to find another bank.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Trust me I am looking for another bank since I use my card damn near daily. Might look @ PNC Bank since they seem to offer the same Cashback rewards on all Debit Check-card purchases.

[themadscientist]

Look for a credit union. Mine has treated me well for a long time and I hear similar positive feelings from other credit union users.

[skydragoness]

Look for a credit union. Mine has treated me well for a long time and I hear similar positive feelings from other credit union users.

That's what I'm doing!

[Ace2cool]

I'm part of Navy Federal, and they treat their members awesome. If any of you have any family in the military, try and see if you can jump in on a NFCU account.

[allenms240]

So...Just stop using my debit card and I won't get charged $5, or is this something I have to cancel?

[Encryptshun]

Look for a credit union. Mine has treated me well for a long time and I hear similar positive feelings from other credit union users.

That's what I'm doing!

I like the idea of a credit union, but the problem (at least up here) is that of access to your money. Most of them don't have any sort of ATM network and their branch locations are also few and far between. I don't want to drive 45 minutes just to get to my bank. And they charge just as much if not more for out-of-network ATM transactions as big banks do.

On a side note, I've been a customer of two credit unions, a savings and loan, and five local banks during my years. Every single one of them, during the time I was a customer, got gobbled up by a huge franchise bank. Weird statistics are weird.

[Bubba1]

So...Just stop using my debit card and I won't get charged $5, or is this something I have to cancel?

No, the fee being discussed only applies to Bank of america debit card holders who use their debit card to make purchases during a given month. Has nothing to do with debit card transactions at Bof A ATM's.

[dre1507]

My sister does what TMS does. The bank is simply for DD. All the money is then withdrawn and kept safe. I'm starting to like the idea of cash more and more now.

[IanS]

My sister does what TMS does. The bank is simply for DD. All the money is then withdrawn and kept safe. I'm starting to like the idea of cash more and more now.

It might work for some people, but I know I dont feel comfortable having thousands of dollars stuffed around my house.

[gwoods]

My understanding is this only will go against BASIC ACCOUNTS and the basic accounts don't have a minimum balance or any bells and whistles attached to them. The charge is $5 per month with unlimited transactions per month.

There is a cost in running a back when most of us are living check to check and not carrying a balance the bank can't cover that cost by loaning out OUR money to our neighbors.

Switch to a credit union, I use both.
Upgrade your BOA account to a non basic account.

When I refied into a 15 year mortgage back in September of 2006 after seeing the signs that the ARMS were going to stop existing I picked Countrywide based on previous experiences. I was so sad to see them be bought by BOA. BOA has the worst customer service in the industry, however they have an ATM on every corner and the online banking is pretty cake.

My credit union has 2 locations in Phoenix that I am aware of neither near my house.

[dre1507]

My sister does what TMS does. The bank is simply for DD. All the money is then withdrawn and kept safe. I'm starting to like the idea of cash more and more now.

It might work for some people, but I know I dont feel comfortable having thousands of dollars stuffed around my house.

Good point, I must admit, but yes, I am on of those who don't mind keeping money at home. I don't like lugging around tons of cash, but I don't mind having enough to take care of small, at-the-moment, emergencies.

[themadscientist]

I don't have the problem of needing to hide thousands of dollars anymore. By the time I pay all my bills after payday I need an installment plan to go large at BK. Home "ownership" sure saps your cash flow. Nothing like living homeless inside your home.

[bigbadberry3]

BofA website has crashed 3 times in the last 4 days....weird coincidence....

[themadscientist]

karma?

[Razi]

aliens.

[gijoe392003]

Credit unions are starting this too. Mine, AZ Central Credit Union, just charged me $5 for using my debit too much. They want me to start using my debit as credit at least 10 times a month or they will charge me. Complete and utter crap.

[AppleBonker]

I still don't see why (other than having horrendous credit) one would choose a debit card over a true credit card...

[Razi]

BofA website has crashed 3 times in the last 4 days....weird coincidence....

Looks like it's due to a DOS attack.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/05/technol ... a_website/

[Jesda]

I use my Paypal debit card for business. 1.5% cash back every month, and the account earns some interest.

[AppleBonker]

I wonder how well paypal would reimburse you for fraudulent charges to that account. It's typically much more problematic with bank accounts than credit accounts as the thief is spending your money rather than the lender's.

[nissangirl74]

Just in case you hadn't heard, BOA backed down. They will not be implementing the fee.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/0 ... 69425.html

"We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," Bank of America co-COO David Darnell said in a written statement. "Our customers' voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so."

+1 for the people

[Razi]

Maybe they'll raise fees elsewhere to compensate?

[nissangirl74]

I'm sure they will, it just won't be as blatant.

[Encryptshun]

^Exactly.