Bank of America Stops Checking Fees, Increases Others

New York - After a countrywide outrage about its five-dollar debit fee Bank of America has decided to drop it.

Placing the blame on a new federal regulation introduced by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Bank of America introduced the five-dollar debit fee in September.  The regulation places a cap on how much banks can charge when someone swipes their debit card to make a purchase.

In the past the uproar over it stopped other banks like JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo from testing the same practice last week, followed by Suntrust Bank and Regions Financial Corp. on Monday.

Spokeswoman for Bank of America Anne Pace did not say whether there was an increase in account closures but other banks definitely have and answered by calling the police to arrest their customers.

Some people are not willing to let this move stop them from closing their accounts anyway.  The movement US Uncut called on people earlier this year to withdraw their money from large corporate banks and put them into community ones as well, which pay more attention to their customers.

One of them is Molly Katchpole, who is responsible for the online petition requesting Bank of America to drop the debit fees.

"When I heard about the fee, it was the last straw for me," she said.  "I'm living paycheck to paycheck and one more fee was just too much."

Others however decided to stay with the bank since it changed its decision.  Diane Abela  is one of them.

"I had a feeling if there was big outcry, they wouldn't go through with it." She said she would've canceled her account if the bank had followed through.  "I'm unemployed and $5 makes a big difference.  When you're working on a budget every week, it's the last thing you need."

Don't think it means it isn't considering other avenues.  Bank of  America raised the monthly fee on its basic account from $8.95 to $12 last spring.  The company is also testing a new menu of checking accounts in three states, Arizona, Georgia, and Massachusetts.  These start with fees ranging from six dollars to $25.  Pace stated so far it's "seeing good results" and the bank is planning to go ahead with the plan next year.  Alongside this, BoA also started a five dollar fee to replace debit cards as well as charge $20 for overnight delivery.  In the past both services were free.

Bank of America customers aren't the only ones to do such practices despite the backlash against the debit card fees.  Chase doubled its fee on basic checking accounts from six to twelve dollars per month but says it will end a test in Georgia that offered a basic checking account charging $15 per month.  Wells Fargo, much like other banks, ended its debit rewards program earlier this year after getting rid of its no-strings attached free checking account last year.