Bank of America Debit Fees
- Thread starter Gryffindorian
- Start date
I'm absolutely not surprised by this. Doesn't BofA charge three dollars if you make a withdrawal from a non-BofA cash machine? Don't they also (along with other US banks) not pay any interest on savings unless you have a minimum balance exceeding one-thousand dollars?
Don't they already charge you for the privilege of having a checking account if you don't maintain a minimum balance?
B of A along with Wells Fargo has to be one of the most nickel-and-dime banks I ever dealt with. I got so tired of the fees from both of them I went without a bank account for nearly a year.
Don't they already charge you for the privilege of having a checking account if you don't maintain a minimum balance?
B of A along with Wells Fargo has to be one of the most nickel-and-dime banks I ever dealt with. I got so tired of the fees from both of them I went without a bank account for nearly a year.
Almost every large bank does to some extent. The small ones not likely to have branches everywhere typically do not (and refund any withdrawal fees the owning bank imposes).
This varies widely by bank and account type. Some checking accounts never pay interest. The common factor is that except at some very small banks and credit unions, the interest rates are generally so low as to be pointless. At least right now.
This is becoming more common, but it still varies by account type and bank.
All of that is manageable. You can avoid those fees easily enough without doing anything inconvenient.
This debit card thing is an entirely different story.
The new fees are being charged because the federal government imposed limits on the merchant fees banks can charge at the point of sale, so they're trying to make up the difference on the other end.
I use a credit union and pretty much the only reason I stay with them is because they don't charge stupid fees for every little thing. They're all the way in Indiana and have no locations here (New Jersey), but their service is excellent and going with a traditional bank is just not something I am interested in, despite Chase constantly hounding me to open an account (I have a mortgage with them.)
I use a credit union and pretty much the only reason I stay with them is because they don't charge stupid fees for every little thing. They're all the way in Indiana and have no locations here (New Jersey), but their service is excellent and going with a traditional bank is just not something I am interested in, despite Chase constantly hounding me to open an account (I have a mortgage with them.)
A reason I avoid using cash machines in the States whenever possible.
Oh, I know that about checking accounts, but I noticed a lot of banks won't even pay interest on savings accounts and even then it's hardly worthwhile: %.5?
Really? Last I looked into it getting your pay direct deposited was no longer a valid method since everyone has that. Outside of somehow maintaining a minimum balance of US$1000-1500 I couldn't see a way to do it with a major bank. This was seven or eight years ago last time I checked, but I'd think it would get worse before it gets better. Charging for debit cards just seems like a natural evolution.
This is just evidence of a lack of competition among American banks. In the UK they can't even get away with charging a fee for non-member ATM use because no one bank has enough of them to get away with it; customers would leave in droves and there's enough machines in most markets it wouldn't have any impact.
BofA and Wells have the overwhelming majority of cash points in some markets like San Francisco. When SF County was mulling a ban on non-member fees in the 90s the two of them only had to threaten to remove them from the STARS/PLUS networks (and thereby close them to use by non-members) to get that idea dropped.
I was with Citibank for several years until they decided to start charging me $7 per month for my checking account. I switched and went with a credit union and I'm very happy. Not only to I get free checking (totally free with no fees of any kind), but I earn interest, and there's no minimum balance if I have direct deposit. Without direct deposit, it's still free, but there's no interest.
(I seem to remember that you're in the bay area, Gryffindorian. I use TechCU. They have branches all over the bay area and agreements with other credit unions nationwide to use their atms for free.)
(I seem to remember that you're in the bay area, Gryffindorian. I use TechCU. They have branches all over the bay area and agreements with other credit unions nationwide to use their atms for free.)
I've never had to pay for anything other than reordering checks/check books. They have millions of ATMs everywhere, so I don't have to use any out-of-network ATMs. And as Lindley indicated, the charges depend on what type of account one has.
VP, my employer has its own credit union, but I haven't tried opening an account with them because I've used BofA all these years. I really like the prolific ATMs they have when I need instant cash. One time I was in Vegas, and I was able to withdraw money from a BoA ATM at the garage of Caesars Palace. I dislike using out-of-network machines because of the surcharges I get from them in addition to my own bank.
VP, my employer has its own credit union, but I haven't tried opening an account with them because I've used BofA all these years. I really like the prolific ATMs they have when I need instant cash. One time I was in Vegas, and I was able to withdraw money from a BoA ATM at the garage of Caesars Palace. I dislike using out-of-network machines because of the surcharges I get from them in addition to my own bank.
Wow, US banks screw you over.
Maybe it's because debit (as opposed to credit) is so much more common here, but few banks would get away with any of that shit here. Very few banks still charge for withdrawals from others' cash machines (certainly none of the big contenders) and there won't be a fee unless you get something other than banking with it like travel insurance. And they will all pay interest from your first £1. It just won't be much interest right now
I was surprised by how low the fees were when I was in Europe, using my debit card to pull money from ATMs. Even counting the currency conversion fees and all that, I was only getting charged 1-2% in fees.
Join a credit union. I feel that they are in EVERY WAY better than banks.
B of A doesn't charge a monthly checking fee if you make all transactions online, by debit card, by ATM, or old-fashioned paper check -- and don't use teller service. No minimum balance required.
At least the $5.00-per-month debit card fee is just over half what I was paying in account fees before I switched to E-banking. Face it, they've got you by the short curly hairs. What's the alternative -- keeping your money in your mattress?
Banks charge ridiculous amounts for check reorders. You can order checks directly from the printer for one-quarter what the bank charges you.
Here's an article on why B of A will probably gain by imposing this $5 debit card fee:
http://tinyurl.com/3rcraox
http://tinyurl.com/3rcraox
Is BofA doing this for 'check cards' (that work like credit cards) or is it just for pure debit cards (ATM-only)?
It's not so much that the US banks screw their customers; it's that the UK banks cross-subsidise their retail business using their corporate and investment banking operations. This is one of the areas the recent Vickers report (the Independent Commission on Banking) was investigating. A lot of the media's focus was on whether the retail deposit side of the business subsidised the i-banking side by acting as implicit extra collateral. But the subsidy is two-way, with the cashflow generated by i-banking allowing virtually free retail banking in the UK in a way that just doesn't happen in e.g. the USA, as this thread illustrates.
If the two sides of the business are ring-fenced, that puts a real strain on free retail banking. Add in the impact of the loss of other retail income streams such as PPI, high overdraft fees, high CC fees, due to increasing regulation of these "optional" fees and I wouldn't be surprised to see the free retail banking accounts in the UK start to come under pressure. I don't think they will disappear, but I do think an increasing number of bank account charges will begin to manifest themselves in subtle ways.
And Bank Of America has been doing so well, too... 