Bank of America to charge $5 debit card fee

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bikerdude I could never understand why anyone would use a debit card.

Are you serious? What would you rather do, carry $500 cash in your wallet or carry a debit card? Other than putting everything on a credit card, debit cards work like cash in the wallet. I carry about $100 cash and use the debit card for everything up to $50. Then I change to the credit card. Looks like I'll be changing my habits. I'll keep my debit card but will only use it to withdraw cash from the bank ATM and to make check deposits at the ATM. I never go inside the bank.

[Bikerdude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JOHNNIE36 Are you serious? What would you rather do, carry $500 cash in your wallet or carry a debit card? Other than putting everything on a credit card, debit cards work like cash in the wallet. I carry about $100 cash and use the debit card for everything up to $50. Then I change to the credit card. Looks like I'll be changing my habits. I'll keep my debit card but will only use it to withdraw cash from the bank ATM and to make check deposits at the ATM. I never go inside the bank.

See last post on page 1. We mostly agree.

[steelyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkinwood For people who can control their spending & pay in full each month, I think using a debit card for payment is not a good deal. There are fewer consumer protections with debit cards than with credit cards. In any case, the only way to teach these big banks that we're not their piggy-banks, is to move your account to a bank that treats you fairly. Community banks & Credit Unions usually have much better terms.

I couldn't agree more with this. I have been using a local credit union since the mid-80s, have used their ATM card within their own network and am charged $5/yr, nothing more (at least so far!).

[scrabbler1]

I rarely use my ATM card as a debit card, maybe once or twice a year. So I will have to use my credit card instead. Not a big deal, but yet another way BofA is whittling away the upsides of being one of their customers.

[Trex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterBlaster The latest trend....More fees to use your own money. Bank of America to charge $5 debit card fee - Yahoo! Finance=

The evil empire is showing it's "True Colors".....I hate them,(BofA), but I can't get away from them, (because of my Home Equity Loan). If I could find another bank that would give me 2.99%, I would move over to them.

[M Paquette]

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.)

[Nemo2]

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]

I wish I could say I was surprised that this turned into a "credit card versus debit card" thread, but I'm not.....

[ER Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 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.

Everything that I do with Wells Fargo is free.

[73ss454]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 I wish I could say I was surprised that this turned into a "credit card versus debit card" thread, but I'm not.....

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.

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ER Man Everything that I do with Wells Fargo is free.

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.

[pimpmyretirement]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bikerdude I could never understand why anyone would use a debit card.

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.

[W2R]

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.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 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.

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.).

[ER Man]

What happened to Buffett putting down $5 Billion? Not enough lol

[ER Man]

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.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy Does anyone know if I can have my SS direct-deposited to Schwab, Fidelity or Vanguard?

Social Security Online - Frequently Asked Questions About Direct Deposit says "bank, savings and loan or credit union".

[M Paquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ER Man Everything that I do with Wells Fargo is free.

Guess what large bank is currently studying the idea of implementing a debit card fee, and testing a $3 monthly fee in selected lucky markets?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/bu...-card-fee.html

[JakeBrake]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73ss454 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.

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.

[martyp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bikerdude I could never understand why anyone would use a debit card.

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.