Debit card fees causes a huge backlash for the banks

The debit card fees have caused a huge backlash for banks. Today, Molly Katchpole who is a customer at Bank of America will present a petition with 125,000 signatures to the bank and close her account. She will cut up her debit card in full view of media persons and spectators.

There are a number of local residents who are likely to follow this trend and they too would be closing their checking accounts with the bank as there are many who are opposed to the debit card fees that are being charged by the national bank chains.

Hank Williams a resident of Murfreesboro and the Regions Bank customer states that this is extremely unfair and is upset by the fees on debit cards.

Every Regions Bank customer would be charged $4 per month for using their debit cards on non-ATM transactions.

The disclosure was made by Bank of America recently that it plans to charge customers a $5 fee every month to use their debit cards to make purchases. Bank of America would be charging a fee for the PIN and Signature debit card transactions, stated the banks spokeswoman Anne Pace.

Another bank that has plans to charge customers a monthly fee on debit card purchases is the SunTrust Bank. The bank has already intimated its customers that it would be charging a $5 monthly fee and this new fee will be applicable to the existing accounts beginning this November.

Some others such as Wells Fargo and Chase have been testing the $3 monthly fee on some of their markets.

Customers think that the banks are acting greedy by charging extra fees over and above what they are already charging. They feel that this is equivalent to a highway robbery and most people have opposed the fee.

However, banks have given different reasons for the new fees. They state that the rules that took effect on Oct 1 had left them with no choice but to charge customers. As per the Federal rules there is a cap on the amount that banks can charge merchants on each debit card transaction. Earlier the banks would charge merchants an average of 44 cents, but that has been brought down to 24 cents per transaction. In order to make up for the difference, banks have decided to charge customer the debit card fee.

This new move by the banks does not seem to have gone down very well with most of the customers.