First, a hearty “fuck you!” to Bank of America.
Second, will the banks actually force the U.S. to move back to a cash-based society with this kind of thing?
Dammit! Forgot the link!
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/09/debit_cards_from_bank_of_ameri.html
two words
Credit Union
Well what did you expect would happen when a whole bunch of new regulations were implemented on how the banks could make money? Did you think they would just roll over and be happy with less? Of course not, they find new ways to make money. You limit the amount they can make on debit card transaction fees, they start charging the consumer extra for using the debit card instead.
I don’t think it will really make any difference, as far as moving back to cash goes. $5 is really not that much, if all banks started charging it I’d (grudgingly) pay it because it’s worth the convenience and is probably cheaper then the gas I’d spend driving to the ATM all the time.
Third: Why do people continue to do personal consumer level banking at Bank of America, Chase, or Wells Fargo? For fuck’s sake, all three have proven that they would butt-fuck you just for the fun of it, why do people pay them for the privilege?
It has been said before, but maybe some people just don’t get it: credit unions and small banks. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that I can’t do at my credit union that I could do at one of the big banks. Yes, my credit union is small and does not have many atms. I plan ahead, or use one of the extensive network of affiliated credit unions and their atms. Hell, whenever I get a random rebate check or such, I don’t even deposit it at my credit union. I got to one that has shared branching with my union. No hassle, no fees. I pay my bills online, and get charged no fees.
Jeez, its like people order a milkshake, but get a shitshake. When told hey, I got a regular milkshake over there, they just shrug their shoulders and say what ya going to do.
I figure it’s one more sign of BOAs distress, frankly. And it’s significant.
You can take as an indicator of whether it will work whether the other big boys also implement it. It’ll only take one of them to start advertising ‘Free Debit Cards’ and the whole thing will come tumbling down.
I use Chase because I’m a technology-based consumer. Small banks and credit unions are just not innovating nor providing their customers/members with the types of services I need.
That being said, I’d second badlyburnttoast’s comments: Welcome to the world of consequences. The public threw a major titty-fit because when they spent more money than they had in their accounts the bank charged them a fee and it was just wrong! boo-hoo As a result of the recent regulation, particularly Dodd-Frank, traditional revenue sources for bank’s have been cut substantially. As a result, they are looking for ways to replace that revenue. Charging for debit cards is just the tip of the iceberg. Have you enjoyed that free internet banking and bill pay? Like your bank’s mobile banking application also provided to you free? Those things were also paid for by revenues that are now gone and bank’s will find ways to monetize those services.
Oh, and you are a fool if you think credit unions are immune from the same regulatory pressures on revenue.
MeanJoe
Yeah, but why go way over there when you can get a fresh creamy shitshake on every corner?
Done. The last few charges will cycle through the BOA card and then we’re free of the fuckers.
Well, since the link and the OP are from Oregon I’d like to add that the local news yesterday was that Bank of America will be closing their branch in Astoria and leaving only an ATM. If you want to go to the bank you need to drive to Seaside. I would doubt if many customers choose to do this since BofA is not inspiring customer loyalty as part of it’s business plan.
I predict that Bank of America will cease to exist under the current name and be purchase and absorbed by another entity within a period of 5 years or less. They were heavily subsidized by the last ‘stimulus’ and are still collapsing inward, and screwing their customers is not the path to salvation.
Precisely. When regulations were passed to allow financially reckless people to escape fines for their foolishness, what did those who supported this those regulations think was going to happen?
I haven’t bounced a check in 20-odd years, and now I’m going to be penalized for it because financial idiots who can’t/won’t perform basic 3rd-grade math skills didn’t like the fact that they were being penalized for dicking off in the third grade. And, unfortunately, the number of people who can maintain a bank balance is clearly overwhelmed by the number of people being hit with 35+ fines because of their inability to maintain a bank balance above .01.
:eagerly anticipates (not really) hash of one-off anecdotes and dontcha-care-about-da-poor replies:
I’m a credit union member. This is what I get.
I get free ATM at any of my credit union’s branches, PLUS at any of the thousands of affiliated credit unions across the country, PLUS I can perform in-person transactions at any affiliated credit union in the country AT NO CHARGE.
My credit union is based in NJ, I live in Pennsylvania. I haven’t been to one of its branches in over 5 years. No problem.
I get free online banking and free online bill pay.
I have a credit card with an interest rate less than 10%, and it hasn’t changed in the decade I’ve been a member.
I get free checks and free check writing.
I get overdraft protection.
I have direct deposit.
If I wanted to, I could get a mortgage, car, home equity, or personal loan.
So what does your bank offer that my credit union doesn’t?
It amazes me that people still bank at BOA, or Wells Fargo for that matter. Find a CR or a nice little community bank and be happy you don’t have to deal with either institution.
To both of you - the objections weren’t to charging overdraft fees, but to setting up a system which encourage people to fall into this trap. The system defaulted to letting people do overdrafts, and didn’t alert someone making one, so one could get charged even when he had enough money to pay cash and avoid it. If you remember, they also arranged charges so that the biggest one got paid first, so a lot of small ones which might have been affordable got hit with the fee.
I personally don’t care, since in another example of how the well to do do better I have a mortgage and enough money in my Wells Fargo accounts that I qualify as a high class customer and have never been charged anything. I also can afford to have enough money in my checking account to not ever have overdrafts, not that I use my debit card much. Why do so, when Discover gives me money back?
I used to bank with Chase, but saw that Charles Schwab offered better service in every way. I went into Chase and asked for all my money. The manager brought me into his office and asked what he could do to keep my business. I told him exactly what Schwab offered and that if he could match that, I’d stay. He said no way,so I left with my money. Simple as that. I’m extremely happy with Schwab.
Schwab’s deal on ATMs/checking: free checking, they charge no ATM fees, and they pay competitors’ ATM fees.
In both situations you described, people were still over-drafting their accounts. What does it really matter how the accounts were balanced by the bank or if they weren’t given an “alert” of some sort (as if, “I think I have $100 in my account, perhaps I shouldn’t spend $97 of it at one go” isn’t enough of an alert)… they were still over-drafting their account.
Yes, which is why no one has ever argued that the people being charged excessive fees were blameless or that overdraft fees should be illegal. There’s nothing wrong with setting a limit on how badly you can ream someone for an overdraft. The fact that doing so significantly affected banks bottom lines is a sign of how toxic their consumer banking business model had become.
The difference is the amount of fees charged by the banks allowing the smaller charges to go into overdraft, as opposed to paying them first.
Say I have $100 and I write 5 checks: $10, $10, $10, $10, $50 and purchase gas on my debit card for $40, forgetting in to record that in my checkbook and don’t put the extra $40 bucks in the bank. My fault.
The bank would pay the $50 and allow the other 3 checks to be covered by the over-draft, racking up fees for at least $75. As opposed to allowing the 4 checks to clear and only charging me $25 in fees for the one that would have needed to be covered.
So while, yes I would have over-drafted anyway, in the first scenario the bank is consciously using the over-draft system as way to make money.
True.
Of course, that never once to me, because I didn’t write any checks that would have caused me to exceed my balance. So regardless of how favorable the overdraft scheme was to the bank, it was possible to avoid it by not ever spending money you didn’t have.
Because there is a BoA ATM on every block. Plus if you actually have money, there are no fees.
Which they do. At least to the point where the consulting firm I worked for was pitching them proposals to analyze the revenue impact changing the overdraft fee regulations would have.