I was catching up on the news this morning and came across this article in the Bangor Daily News. Bank of America has done it again. They are always thinking up new tricks to come up with new procedures and costs that affect your money and my money. Not just nickel and diming us, but dollaring away all our hard earned cash. Their latest gambit is—starting next year, when you use your debit card they will charge you $5.00 a month. Ouch!
Now that pretty much all vendors including the local hot dog vendor and ice cream truck accept debit cards, Bank of America wants us to take a step back in time and go back to the old fashioned ways—go to their atm & withdraw money before you can spend it. Highly inconvenient. I can guarantee that, despite your best efforts, you will end up using your debit card at least once a month so it might as well be at the beginning of the month rather than at the end of the month.
Alternatively you can use your card as a credit card (if you have that facility), but more and more businesses prefer debit cards (it’s cheaper for them) so they offer discounts for cash and cash equivalents e.g. debit cards. So bye, bye discounts and hello more fees. I used to be a long time Bank of America customer until a few months ago when I finally had it with them and closed my account. If I had not closed it then, I would definitely have closed it now because of this new policy.
Apparently other banks have been testing this out with both Wells and Chase charging $3.00 a month in some states. I had not heard about that until now, but since I am not (or was not) their customer I may have tuned out that news.
Let’s hope that my friendly, neighborhood credit union doesn’t get in on the action because at this rate I think am better off keeping my money under my mattress.
No comments:
Post a Comment