Bank of America cancels debit card fees

Bank of America announced today it has planned to drop its $5 monthly fee for debit card use, Reuters reports.

This latest move was spurred by the negative customer feedback Bank of America, received after its debit-card fee announcement.

"We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," David Darnell, the bank's co-chief operating officer, Reuters reports.

Read more at GlobalPost: Big banks avoiding debit card fees

Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the country, dropped the fee also in response to its competition. The move follows a week of similar decisions by other banks who planned to charge customers debit card fees. Yesterday, Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. and Alabama-based Regions Financial Corp. said Monday they will stop charging customers for debit-card transactions, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last week Wells Fargo & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. dropped their customer fees as well.

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Banks made announcements of charging debit card fees in response to tougher government regulations on banks, enforced by the Dodd-Frank Act, a Wall Street reform passed by the president in July. Banks are looking for alternative revenue sources after the Dodd-Frank Act mandated limits on debit card transaction fees were passed last month, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports.

Banks changing their tune about debit card fees could save them from a loss in customers. An online survey conducted last month by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling showed that 3 percent of 2,404 respondents would continue using their current debit card “as usual” if a fee weren’t imposed and 62 percent would find a bank that doesn’t charge a fee, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports.

Read more at GlobalPost: Bank of America to start charging debit card users $5 a month