BOFA to charge $5 a month for check card use

[racrguy]

I wonder where Barry banks.

The treasury.

[Denny]

I don't know a single person outside of people on the internet blogs doing that. Even then it is people talking a big game. Even if they do, that is how it is supposed to work in a free market. If enough people leave then B of A will have to do away with the fee or reduce it and accept lower profits.

I do.

[Denny]

I wonder where Barry banks.

[onemeangixxer7502]

I opened a usaa account yesterday, Ill keep one of my boa accounts but not use the debit. I have to have a bank branch that's all over the country.

[Broncojohnny]

Yes Barry, banks (and every other business) do have a right to make a certain amount of profit.

They have a right to earn as much profit as they can. And their customers have a right to go somewhere else if that profit is excessive.

Which industry will Obama deem to be out of control next?

It is even more bizarre when you consider that B of A had no subprime mortgages, didn't want TARP money and was forced by the government to take TARP money. Then was sweet talked into buying Countrywide. Hmmm...what is going on here? Is B of A out of control or is the government out of control?

And people wonder why unemployment is still 9.1%. It isn't rocket science.

[EW]

Yes Barry, banks (and every other business) do have a right to make a certain amount of profit.

[Broncojohnny]

Instead of B of A being free to charge a fee and deal with the consequences in a capitalist market, THIS below is what we have. People wonder why no one is hiring? People wonder why there is uncertainty. Take a look at what this piece of shit has to say about how this country should work. B of A jacking up fees should not concern people, they should change banks if they don't like it. What this asshole is saying should alarm every American, even the ones who hate every bank, this will be the downfall of this country:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44770831

Obama Blasts Bank of America's Debit Fee
Published: Tuesday, 4 Oct 2011 | 9:39 AM ET
Text Size
By: John Carney
Senior Editor, CNBC.com


Barack Obama
CNBC.com
Barack Obama blasted Bank of America's [BAC 5.24 -0.29 (-5.24%) ] plan to charge $5 a month for debit card purchases.

“This is exactly why we need this Consumer Finance Protection Bureau that we set up that is ready to go," Obama said. "This is exactly why we need somebody who's sole job it is to prevent this kind of stuff from happening. ... You can stop it because if you say to the banks, ‘You don't have some inherent right just to – you know, get a certain amount of profit. If your customers – are being mistreated. That you have to treat them fairly and transparently.”

The President said this in an interview with ABC. Ben White of Politico's Morning Money drew attention to his remarks.

The quote startled bankers because it seemed to imply that the CFPB would be micro-managing banks.

In some ways, the Bank of America fee is the most transparent imaginable. Bank customers will pay for it directly, and the fee has garnered so much publicity that it is hard to imagine that many customers will be taken off-guard.

On the other hand, the only way that this fee will generate substantial revenue is if customers are caught unaware or unable to pay by alternative means. So it may well be a good test-case for CFPB paternalism.

Nonetheless, the bankers are outraged. With Bank of America shares trading at lows not seen since the depths of financial crisis, many believe that Obama should not be hammering banks.

[mstng86]

Interesting thing going on with the website. It has had issues almost immediately after this was announced.

I have to think something is up.

[Broncojohnny]

More like the talk of many people pulling their accounts and closing out their BofA CCs.

I don't know a single person outside of people on the internet blogs doing that. Even then it is people talking a big game. Even if they do, that is how it is supposed to work in a free market. If enough people leave then B of A will have to do away with the fee or reduce it and accept lower profits.

[Bassics]

You mean predatory like when you pay late they add a fee that you agreed to when you signed up for the card? Fees should be paid by customers not merchants. Reward programs should be paid by the bank offering them not the merchants. Customers that pay on time and as agreed should have lower fees and rates than people who do not pay as agreed.

Some of that was fixed in the consumers' favor. One trick that was very prevalent was to get a customer all set up for monthly payment right before the end of the billing period, and then change their due date to an earlier date, and immediately rape them with fees and interest. Not today.

BUt absolutely some people bitch about a fee just because they didn't think to look and see that that fee has been deducted every month since they opened the card, or they exceeded an introductory period, or whatever. Yes, this is a shift of costs, and like you I agree the fees for account maintenace are either a customer's responsibility to meet or else the bank's responsibility to waive as a promotional offer. Merchants should not be saddled with collecting fees for something that they have no control over.

[Denny]

I think you are confusing their stock price with their actual performance as a bank.

More like the talk of many people pulling their accounts and closing out their BofA CCs.

[EW]

You should all consider that a lot of predatory fees were completely shut down with the CCA.

Overall i think the consumer got a little protection. In the end, like all regulation, it will present its challenges and shifts in the corporate paradigm.

This particular issue is due to a part of the infrastructure that is being shifted to the consumer. That will change eventually as it becomes a new way of undercutting competition, by absorbing the infrastructure costs and reducing them simultaneously.

It will eventually lead to much more convenient use of unused technology. The ability to implant a microchip in someone, and immediately apply their government ration of grocery subsidies, unemployment and underemployment subsidies, inability to work because you are too lazy subsidies and everything else will be real-time, and when you go to get a pack of government smokes you will just wave your hand in front of the scanner and your account will be billed, no fees!

The future looks so bright we should all be wearing blindfolds...

You mean predatory like when you pay late they add a fee that you agreed to when you signed up for the card? Fees should be paid by customers not merchants. Reward programs should be paid by the bank offering them not the merchants. Customers that pay on time and as agreed should have lower fees and rates than people who do not pay as agreed.

[Bassics]

I love it when people bitch about the banks charging over draft fees. It's their own damn fault. My sister works at a bank and says some people will pay hundreds of dollars a month in over draft fees. They are that bad managing their money.

If she told you that in the last 18 months or so she is exaggerating considerably.

Or else her bank is about to have some serious problems with the SEC, and they work on volume of the catch, not the size of the fish...

edit: I just thought of a scenario where that could be the case, and you are correct, it would take someone REALLY crappy at finance to end up in this situation.

[Broncojohnny]

I wonder how willing they will be to work off a lower pay-off for a BofA or Countrywide loan about now.

I think you are confusing their stock price with their actual performance as a bank.

[Denny]

I wonder how willing they will be to work off a lower pay-off for a BofA or Countrywide loan about now.