Bank of America to charge $5 debit card fee

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We use our debit card all the time, as it's very convenient for both budget tracking and speed of use. Each withdrawal is tagged with the business name and amount, which makes reconciling the account data with my version in my tracking software (Quicken or iBank) easy and almost automatic. It's also faster than writing a check, and more loss-resistant than cash.

With cash, there's also that "where'd the money go?" feeling when I can't readily account for the usage, and no fallback to any account tracking data.

OK, I suppose this makes me sound all obsessive-compulsive, but I really do prefer to track our spending in detail. It makes budgeting easier, among other things.

Now with the "Too Big To Fail" banks all planning on charging for the services they've pushed (by getting those PIN/swipe terminals installed, and charging for everything else already), I have motivation to look at other banks. It's pretty funny right now.

A couple of smaller banks (ones with total revenues less than BofA's CEO compensation used to be) have banners on their web sites, promoting that they don't charge for debit card usage. One of them is offering a free 'switch kit', a complete set of PDF forms for moving accounts, bill payments, and so on over to their bank.

Thanks, BofA. Looks like you are kindling competition in the marketplace. Making sure the 'little people' in your branch are properly demotivated with the 'For Sale or Lease' sign on the front of your branch probably helps, too. (Yeah. Good grief.)
 
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We charge everything and have never once, (nor will we ever), used our bank card(s) as a debit card..........we use the bank's money for up to a month, pay the balance off in full when due, and accumulate rebates.

A no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.
 
ziggy29 said:
I have banking accounts with both Charles Schwab and USAA, and both provide free checking, free debit card usage and rebate a reasonable amount of ATM fees per month.

Kick BofA to the curb.
Click to expand...

Everything that I do with Wells Fargo is free.
 
ziggy29 said:
I wish I could say I was surprised that this turned into a "credit card versus debit card" thread, but I'm not.....
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Well, pretty much that's what it was about. I applied for a credit card after my bank attached a fee to my Debit Card use. The best way out of the fees is a credit card.;)
 
ER Man said:
Everything that I do with Wells Fargo is free.
Click to expand...

Everything I did with BOA was free. Regardless of the fee that may be imposed with the debit card, I am committed to BOA for the online checking and bill pay. For the most part, I never write a check. All the bills are paid on line and it doesn't cost me a dime. Yet! As long as this remains free there is no reason for me to change. Sister and BIL just moved all their banking from BOA to BBT because BOA wouldn't give them a favorable rate on refinancing.
 
Bikerdude said:
I could never understand why anyone would use a debit card.:confused:
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Aldi only takes cash or debit. I got a debit card specifically so I could shop there without getting cash first. First time I ever had one.

Amusingly, now that I have it and can hit the ATM, getting cash for Aldi isn't such a big deal. I still use the card though.

Any bank that tries to charge me a fee is getting kicked to the curb. Heck, the last time I forgot to pay my credit card, I got Chase to refund the late fee AND the interest incurred from carrying my balance past the grace period.
 
I guess I'm lucky. My bank got bought out by a big megacorp a few years back, and since then it has had no fees and interest bearing checking. Not HUGE interest, mind you, but at least I'm getting a little something and no fees.
 
ziggy29 said:
I have banking accounts with both Charles Schwab and USAA, and both provide free checking, free debit card usage and rebate a reasonable amount of ATM fees per month.

Kick BofA to the curb.
Click to expand...
Does anyone know if I can have my SS direct-deposited to Schwab, Fidelity or Vanguard? (For future reference. Still laboring in the fields of mammon.)

IIRC, Schwab also does not charge special fees for using their cards overseas (currency exchange fees, ATM fees, etc.).
 
What happened to Buffett putting down $5 Billion? Not enough lol
 
I have been using Check card with Visa/MC logo since like the late 90's. Paper checks for last resort plus you can get rewards depending on the bank.
 
73ss454 said:
I just went through the same thing last week with Regions Bank. They came up with a monthly fee of $4 for debit card use and you must have a minimum of $1500 in each account or there is another $13 fee. I went up to the bank and spoke with one of the Reps.. He told me the best way to beat the fee is to use a credit card instead of Debit. So I signed up for a credit card and set it so it's automatically paid each month. The biggest pain is to change all the payments with the vendors that I pay each month. That takes the longest time to go through and change.

One other way to look at it is if you use your checking account to pay other bills online you don't have to pay the postage. That alone should cover the $4 a month.

Everyone is trying to figure out new ways to take our money, including the government.
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Our local Gannett newspaper had an article about the new fees at Regions. Per the article, regional banks with assets of less than $10B were not affected by the new rules. One of the local banks in that category said they had no plans to add any new fees. We'll see how long that lasts.

My mother banked at a local bank for over 60 years that was eventually bought by Regions. When my mother died, one of the few happy moments of settling my mother's estate was closing her account at Regions. I have not darkened Region's door since then.
 
Bikerdude said:
I could never understand why anyone would use a debit card.:confused:
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I started using my debit card because I could pay for things without taking the time to sign a receipt for a credit transaction. I will probably start using my credit card more rather than pay a debit card fee. Especially, now that I apparently don't have to sign credit receipts for anything under $25.
 
I guess I am the only one ....who does not use an ATM card or Debit card. I still write checks, use cash or my 1 credit card I've had the last 35 years. Works for me...and I don't feel inconvenienced at all. But as a woman, I carry a purse... can carry more stuff than what can fit in a back pocket.
 
You can use your Smart phone to pay bills too. I rather have a built in chip inside my finger so I can scan that.
 
ER Man said:
You can use your Smart phone to pay bills too. I rather have a built in chip inside my finger so I can scan that.
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I'm sure I don't have a smart phone, but I could possibly have a finger-chip. I'll have to check that. Like some others here, I'm puzzled about what use anyone would have for a BOA debit card. I do have a debit card, but it's only to use the ATM machine of my local bank. BOA doesn't have ATM machines hereabouts, so far as I know. Is that an East coast thing?
 
Boa should have the Visa/MC logo on check card. ATM Card with no visa/mc logo? That sounds like the mid ninties.

GregLee said:
I'm sure I don't have a smart phone, but I could possibly have a finger-chip. I'll have to check that. Like some others here, I'm puzzled about what use anyone would have for a BOA debit card. I do have a debit card, but it's only to use the ATM machine of my local bank. BOA doesn't have ATM machines hereabouts, so far as I know. Is that an East coast thing?
Click to expand...
 
Ed_The_Gypsy said:
Does anyone know if I can have my SS direct-deposited to Schwab, Fidelity or Vanguard? (For future reference. Still laboring in the fields of mammon.)

IIRC, Schwab also does not charge special fees for using their cards overseas (currency exchange fees, ATM fees, etc.).
Click to expand...

DW's SS payment goes to our Fidelity account each month--no problems.
Shows up a deposit from US Treasury.
Nwsteve
 
Im confused.
Ive got a BofA card that can be used either as credit OR debit.
I use it only as credit- and the payment is automatically and immediately made from my account. So, it effectively acts like debit card even when used as a credit card.
Is this use as a credit card subject to the new 5$ fee??
 
We've never had a debit card simply because the consumer protections are so much better with a cc. I learned about that in the Fraud Section.

For other transactions we still use either checks or (gasp!) cash. Hey, it works.
 
Something just crossed my mind about using my BOA debit card. As I recall, I can use my bank card as a debit or credit. As a credit card, the money still comes out of checking the instant I use it, but you have to sign for it like any other credit card. I for one don't like getting credit card bills at the end of the month except for gas purchases, and larger $ purchases. I hate to think of buying groceries on the credit card. I'll either have to change my thinking on that and start charging everything or just use my debit card as a credit card by not puttting in a pin number. Maybe I'll have to change and get into the "rewards" frame of mind.
 
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