On 9/30/2011 3:25 PM, HeyBub wrote:

Personally, I don't begrudge BoA trying to find an offset for the money lost
due to government meddling, but I'm not going to pay the fee either.

I think the questions are a) how many customers will banks that
implement this fee lose completely, and b) will customers that stay
decide to switch to cash or checks, or credit cards from other banks
where BOA gets nothing at all. The credit cards from the major banks
have poor rewards programs so a lot of customers have cards from other
places with better rewards programs.

In short, the bank may not only lose the 44¢, they may lose the 21-24¢,
and not get it any of it back in merchant credit card fees. And once the
customers leave for another bank or CU they'll be hard to get back.

Besides credit unions, don't forget USAA Federal Savings Bank. You do
not need to be a USAA member (former military) in order to have an
account there (you need to be a member if you want to buy insurance from
them). There is no minimum balance for free checking, they rebate out of
network ATM fees up to $15 per month, you can make deposits at UPS
stores, or you can deposit checks with an Android phone or an iPhone or
a scanner hooked to your computer, and checks are free. They also offer
prepaid debit cards for teens at no charge.

usaa.com/inet/pages/no_fee_checking_main
usaa.com/inet/pages/youth_prepaid_spending_card_main