A top senator slammed Bank of America after the company, one of the largest recipients of U.S. taxpayer bailouts, announced it would charge customers a new $5 monthly fee for using their debit cards -- even if just to buy a $2 coffee.
Though the bank does not plan to charge customers for using the ATM, the fee would be triggered on a monthly basis if shoppers use their debit cards to make any purchase.
"It's overt, unfair and I hope their customers have the final say," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.
An industry representative said such fees may become more prevalent as banks try to make up for lost revenue from a different kind of fee that will be capped under a new set of financial regulations.
But the Bank of America decision drew outrage for several reasons. The company is the largest U.S. bank by deposits. And it reaped $45 billion in federal bailout money -- receiving the first chunk in 2008 and the rest in 2009 to cope with losses at Merrill Lynch.
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