Bank of America To Charge $5 Monthly Fee For Debit Card Usage

[HisMajestyBOB]

If so, then banks should operate like credit unions, since apparently most credit unions don't charge the fees banks do.

Actually here credit unions do charge fees very similar to banks.  There are some differences like the Directors are appointed by the members rather than the shareholders but I dont really see much difference there - the members are effectively the shareholders.

Mine doesn't charge any checking account fee. I think there's a $2 international ATM charge, but no charge for using a wrong domestic ATM (but the ATM will charge one). Might be overdraw fees - I've never done that so I don't know. Point is, most credit unions can apparently get by without charging a fee for using their institution.

Credit Unions will sometimes fund projects the banks might not fund.  But they are not giving their money away.  If the projects are not financially sound the credit unions will still refuse to fund.

Hey, if banks had done that during the housing bubble, this mess wouldn't be nearly so big!

[crazy canuck]

Mine doesn't charge any checking account fee. I think there's a $2 international ATM charge, but no charge for using a wrong domestic ATM (but the ATM will charge one). Might be overdraw fees - I've never done that so I don't know. Point is, most credit unions can apparently get by without charging a fee for using their institution.

My bank doesnt have any checking fees on my account either.  I also dont pay any ATM fees if I use their machine.  So I am not sure that the point you are trying to make is valid.  However I do understand that the banking system in the US is different than here.

Hey, if banks had done that during the housing bubble, this mess wouldn't be nearly so big!

Again an underlying weakness of your whole financial system of lacking appropriate regulation.  I dont know if this hit the news in the US but there was a big dust up recently between the head of the Bank of Canada and one of your major investment banks on that issue.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Mine doesn't charge any checking account fee. I think there's a $2 international ATM charge, but no charge for using a wrong domestic ATM (but the ATM will charge one). Might be overdraw fees - I've never done that so I don't know. Point is, most credit unions can apparently get by without charging a fee for using their institution.

My bank doesnt have any checking fees on my account either.  I also dont pay any ATM fees if I use their machine.  So I am not sure that the point you are trying to make is valid.  However I do understand that the banking system in the US is different than here.

Hey, if banks had done that during the housing bubble, this mess wouldn't be nearly so big!

Again an underlying weakness of your whole financial system of lacking appropriate regulation.  I dont know if this hit the news in the US but there was a big dust up recently between the head of the Bank of Canada and one of your major investment banks on that issue.

Maybe Canadian banks are less corrupt and better run.
Our banks' business model seems to be to rely on government handouts, spend all their profits on shareholders and CEO compensation, and charge exorbitant fees.

[Josephus]

It almost suggests that it's worthwhile to voluntarily engage in other forms of socialist organization.

Indeed. 

[KRonn]

Citibank is following with fee hikes. Seems like a steep fee hike.   

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/04/pf/citi_fee/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2
Citi hikes fees on checking accounts
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The fees keep coming. Citi is the latest big bank to slap customers with a round of fee hikes. This time, on its checking accounts.
Starting in December, customers who hold its mid-level Citibank Account will be charged $20 a month if they fail to maintain a minimum balance of $15,000 in their combined accounts. Previously, account holders had to carry a minimum balance of $6,000.


At the same time, customers who have the bank's EZ Checking account will start being charged $15 a month if they don't carry a minimum balance of $6,000. Citi (C (C, Fortune 500)) says it is phasing out the EZ Checking package, which currently carries no monthly fee for balances over $1,500, and is instead offering customers either the Citibank Account or its Basic Banking account, which also carries a fee.

Last month, Citi said it is hiking the fee on its Basic Banking account from $8 to $10. Customers will be able to avoid paying the $10 fee by either maintaining a minimum balance of $1,500 or by making one direct deposit and one automatic online payment through their checking account each month, said Citi.
Currently, account holders must make five transactions per month in order to avoid paying the fee and there is no minimum balance requirement.

Citi's fee hikes come just days after Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) announced it would charge a $5 fee for debit card purchases. Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Sun Trust and Regions Financial (RF, Fortune 500) have all also rolled out similar fees in select markets in recent weeks.

"The regulatory environment has changed a great deal -- particularly with the Durbin Amendment -- and we're seeing the results of that now," said Claes Bell, banking reporter with Bankrate.com. Going forward, "we're going to see more large national banks announce fees."
With the new regulation that caps how much revenue banks can get from the swipe fees they collect from merchants, banks must look for other ways to cover that lost income, explained Nessa Feddis, vice president and senior counsel of the American Bankers Association.
"We don't expect to pay nothing to ride the train, it's the same thing with a checking account," she said.
Bank accounts: Get a fair shake, not a shakedown
Citibank said it chose not to charge a debit card fee because its customers did not want it. "There's a reason why we structured it this way," said Catherine Pulley, spokeswoman for Citi. There are also no hidden fees, Pulley added, and customers will benefit from free online bill pay and free access to non-Citi ATM machines.
While the majority of checking accounts were free last year, less than half now come without a price tag, according to a recent study from bank-comparison site Bankrate, which looked at 243 interest and 238 non-interest accounts.
Like Citi's new offerings, 92% of checking accounts have fee waivers, meaning that if you can meet certain financially requirements, most checking accounts are -- or could become -- free.
This story was updated at 3:01 p.m. on October 5 to include the current minimum balance requirement for EZ Checking accounts.

[Jacob]

I think you are overselling what a credit union is.  In a lot of ways credit unions operate just like banks.

The key part is that it operates not for profit, but for the benefits of the membership.

When I was being raised by 70s Scandinavian socialists it was heavily about co-operatives, collectives and so on - things organized by the people, for the people. Credit Unions fit perfectly within that paradigm, so to me it's a clear example of socialist organization.

That you guys want to say that credit unions are perfectly rational and useful does not really make them any lest socialist in their organizing principles in my view, even if the differences between them and shareholder owned banks are not that big in your opinion.

When the board is elected in a credit union (and decisions are made about the allocation of surpluses) it's one member one vote, not one share one vote.  Personally, I think that's a pretty significant difference and significantly reduces the power of capital in that context (i.e. it's much less capitalist).

[derspiess]

One more time:  if it's done without government ownership or coercion, it ain't socialist.  I know the cooperative aspects of credit unions appeal to your socialist sensibilities, but don't get carried away.

[HisMajestyBOB]

One more time:  if it's done without government ownership or coercion, it ain't socialist.  I know the cooperative aspects of credit unions appeal to your socialist sensibilities, but don't get carried away.

So would those large banks that took bailouts be socialist organizations? 

[Ed Anger]

One more time:  if it's done without government ownership or coercion, it ain't socialist.  I know the cooperative aspects of credit unions appeal to your socialist sensibilities, but don't get carried away.

So would those large banks that took bailouts be socialist organizations? 

The word you are looking for is 'SMART' organizations.

[MadImmortalMan]

Or uh...mercantilist?

[Ideologue]

One more time:  if it's done without government ownership or coercion, it ain't socialist.

I agree.

[derspiess]

One more time:  if it's done without government ownership or coercion, it ain't socialist.  I know the cooperative aspects of credit unions appeal to your socialist sensibilities, but don't get carried away.

So would those large banks that took bailouts be socialist organizations? 

No.

[crazy canuck]

When the board is elected in a credit union (and decisions are made about the allocation of surpluses) it's one member one vote, not one share one vote.  Personally, I think that's a pretty significant difference and significantly reduces the power of capital in that context (i.e. it's much less capitalist).

This is why I think you are overplaying it.  Most of the major decisions are made by the board.  Just like a bank.  This isnt a collective in the way you have described it.  Although it might make members want to be members if it is marketed that way...

[MadImmortalMan]

Italy's banks are getting hammered now by the raters. Here's some trivia: Bank of America's original name---Bank of Italy.

[Jacob]

This is why I think you are overplaying it.  Most of the major decisions are made by the board.  Just like a bank.  This isnt a collective in the way you have described it.  Although it might make members want to be members if it is marketed that way...

In most socialist organizations in my experience, decisions are also made by a group of elected decision makers be they delegates, board members, special committees or whatever.

Do you really consider it a defining feature of socialism that all decisions are made by member/population wide votes?