Beginning January One, Bank of America will be charging customers $5 a month to use their debit cards. Back in 2009, small businesses banded together to fight back against ever escalating fees levied by the banks. This was a monumental win for small businesses- these fees amounted to a $16Billion a year transfer of wealth from the nation’s businesses directly to Wall Street. Click here to see how small businesses beat back the big banks.
Bank of America in a cynical move announced that it would begin charging checking account customers $5 a month to use their debit cards, saying it was no longer profitable for the bank. In addition, Bank of America will still be getting 22 cents plus a fee to cover fraud costs from businesses per transaction. These costs are still higher than they pay in nearly every other western nation.
It’s time card holders join together to fight back against the unfair practices. The best thing to do is to move your accounts from Bank of America (or Chase or Wells Fargo) into a community bank or credit union. These banks not only crashed our economy, they illegally foreclose on homeowners, refuse to provide access to credit, and continue to write the laws that regulate them. We need to show them that we won’t stand for such corporate bad actors. Click here to see some of Bank of America’s bad practices.