Banks starting to charge monthly for debit card usage.

Kwesi · #1 09-29-2011, 02:07 PM

Bank of America to charge $5 debit card fee - Boston.com

This is bull. Plain and simple

. Might be another reason for me to get a credit card though.

MatticusMania · #2 09-29-2011, 02:16 PM

I agree, it is bull.

The article said Chase (my bank) is already charging $3 a month to use debit cards in some markets. Must not be my market, as I wouldnt be using it. I bet its not long before they stop charging that fee.

I called the bank to complain when they converted their "Free Checking Accounts" which I have, to some other stupid name, charging $10 a month if certain conditions werent met. The main condition was having a $500 direct deposit once a month. I told them I have four $495 direct deposits a month and that I was going to switch banks. They said sorry, there was nothing they could do. Oddly enough, I havent been charged that $10 since then...

Phalex · #3 09-29-2011, 04:28 PM

God! I LOOOOOVE my credit union. I think banks are brought to you by the same folks that crashed the economy. They have lots and lots of money of their own, and they don't give 2 poops about yours.

I own shares in my credit union, and vote on the people that run it. It aint perfect, but I own a chunk of it.

Banks are so totally 20th century.

MJ5150 · #4 09-29-2011, 04:47 PM

I don't like US Bank. They have our mortgage now and it bugs me.

-Mike

fjadams · #5 09-29-2011, 04:54 PM

I have a hard time deciding if BOA or USB is worse. Both need their CEO to spend some time in a lower income district, just making do with what is available.

**jmattbassplaya** · #6 09-29-2011, 04:57 PM

Seems like the banks REALLY want to go out of business these days.

hover · #7 09-29-2011, 05:00 PM

Local credit union here. always been good to me, AND upped my checking overdraft limit coverage (not that I've ever used it) for free this past quarter.

Love that.

Pilgrim · #8 09-29-2011, 05:14 PM

The banks are addicted to fees - they make billions on them - and since they can't make any money on interest by investing, they're jacking up fees.

I am never shy about telling a bank that I will move my account based on fees.

MJ5150 · #9 09-29-2011, 05:26 PM

What's wrong with people trying to make some money anyway? I charge my employer a fee everyday just to talk to me and use my skills.

-Mike

**jmattbassplaya** · #10 09-29-2011, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ5150

What's wrong with people trying to make some money anyway? I charge my employer a fee everyday just to talk to me and use my skills.

-Mike

Because they already make enough money off of investing and loaning out our money as it is. Now they want to charge us for using our own money, which they are already making money off of? I don't think so.

Pilgrim · #11 09-29-2011, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ5150

What's wrong with people trying to make some money anyway? I charge my employer a fee everyday just to talk to me and use my skills.

-Mike

That's a fair question, Mike. I also have no problem with companies making reasonable profits. However, as I said in my earlier post, they are addicted to fees - and IMO it's as bad as the airlines using fees to plug holes in their faulty business plans.

My own opinion is that large national that banks are already making large profits while failing to do their part to refinance mortgages or help deal with the economic slowdown. Adding new fees seems excessive.

banks also have tried hard to encourage people to use debit cards, with a lot of success. But as soon as they got people to move that way, they are adding fees. There is a very detectable element of bait and switch going on - they bait you into a new service, then raise the charges.

MakiSupaStar · #12 09-29-2011, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phalex

God! I LOOOOOVE my credit union. I think banks are brought to you by the same folks that crashed the economy. They have lots and lots of money of their own, and they don't give 2 poops about yours.

I own shares in my credit union, and vote on the people that run it. It aint perfect, but I own a chunk of it.

Banks are so totally 20th century.

This is exactly how I feel.

ADbassman · #13 09-29-2011, 07:10 PM

This is all in response to the Dodd-Frank Act's Durbin amendment which caps fees on merchant transactions, as well as other credit card and banking laws recently imposed to reduce the number of fees. Banks are losing revenue and they're trying to find new ways to generate it. Are they going about it the right way? Probably not. I think moves like this are only going to alienate their clients and drive them away. Companies are getting good at that nowadays.

LiquidMidnight · #14 09-29-2011, 07:16 PM

I love banks' attitudes: "You do us a favor by giving us your money to store, which we make money off of through investment, but we're going to charge you for the favor that you do us."

For the record, I'm very happy with the bank I've been using for the past three years. It's a small, independent bank. I've had pretty good luck with small independents. I know it's sort of a false dichotomy to think that big, national banks = evil and small, independent banks = good; but I'm not planning on going to a large bank any time soon.

Big_Daddy · #15 09-29-2011, 08:18 PM

In Canada, you've got options to choose from. For example with my bank, you pay 12.50$ a month, and you get unlimited debit transactions. 8.50$ a month, and you get 25 free transactions. You pay 1.50$ for each transaction over the 25. et cetera, et cetera.

m0nst3r · #16 09-29-2011, 08:25 PM

Yea, it's pretty stupid that banks are doing this. I actually work for one of these banks, and it's going to be a pain in the ass to explain everything to all the customers when they ask me about it. Definitely not looking forward to that. :-\

Datsgor · #17 09-29-2011, 08:26 PM

Been with my credit union 25 years....I can't imagine any other way of doing banking. Long live credit unions!

RosieB · #18 09-29-2011, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kwesi

Bank of America to charge $5 debit card fee - Boston.com

This is bull. Plain and simple

. Might be another reason for me to get a credit card though.

Get off your butt and get the darn credit card already!

Unrepresented · #19 09-29-2011, 08:42 PM

I kicked netflix to the curb for getting greedy with a service I thought was fairly priced. Banks, take heed.

guy n. cognito · #20 09-29-2011, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADbassman

This is all in response to the Dodd-Frank Act's Durbin amendment which caps fees on merchant transactions, as well as other credit card and banking laws recently imposed to reduce the number of fees. Banks are losing revenue and they're trying to find new ways to generate it. Are they going about it the right way? Probably not. I think moves like this are only going to alienate their clients and drive them away. Companies are getting good at that nowadays.

Yep. These two senators made two grave errors in judgement:

They assumed that retailers would reduce prices to consumers once the fees were reduced, and
They assumed that banks would just take it, and not find a way to earn additional revenue

It's odd that you never see a thread complaining that retailers haven't lived up to their end of the bargain, but I'm guessing that most people don't really understand the issue.

Be prepared for ALL banks to ultimately add fees. This is an issue that affects all banks. Some may be slow to adopt, but they will ultimately have no choice.