Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, who recently told bank employees he is “incensed” about widespread criticism of BofA, probably isn’t a happy man today, either. That’s because the bank had to announce that it is dropping its plan for a monthly debit-card fee.
The bank cited customer gripes and a "changing competitive marketplace" for the change of plans. It’s a “changing competitive marketplace,” all right; another way to phrase that could have been, “Considering the last three years, consumers generally view huge banks as predatory scum,” so it’s probably a good idea for BofA to pull in its horns for awhile.
The announcement that BofA is changing its tune came a day after SunTrust and Regions Bank dropped their own plans for a debit-card fee, and four days after Wells Fargo did the same.
What we’re waiting for now is to find out how BofA will try to make up the money it will lose by ditching the debit-card fee. The fee, of course, was introduced as a way to make up for projected losses from Congress putting new caps on retailers' debit fees. If past history is any indication, BofA and the other Big Boys of Banking will gouge the dough out of their regular (non-rich) customers one way or another.
Of course, it’s that kind of standard corporate attitude which is causing many Americans to reconsider whether to even deal with mega-banks anymore.
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