Are debit card fees for customers necessary?

For millions of Americans, debit cards have become a free and easy way to make their purchases. Last week, Bank of America announced that starting next year, it will charge its customers $5 a month to use debit cards.  Other banks have begun to follow suit –  Wells Fargo and Chase are charging $3 monthly debit card fees, while SunTrust is also charging $5. President Obama has expressed his distaste with this decision, saying “My hope is that you’re going to see a bunch of banks say to themselves, ‘You know what? This is actually not good business practice.'” Richard Hunt,  president of the Consumer Bankers Association, a trade group representing the country’s leading retail banks, defends the banks’ decision to levy new fees on their customers.