(6 October 2011 – United States) Bank of America (BofA) decided to start charging debit card users US$5 (A$5.23) each month in a bid to claw back losses from a change in interchange rules.The fee will start from January 2012 and will hit some current accounts in months when cards are used to make purchases, although customers won’t be charged for making ATM withdrawals.
News of the plan comes days before the Durbin amendment to Dodd-Frank comes into effect, which will see interchange fees capped at US21 cents per transaction, around half the current average.
According to the Wall Street Journal, BofA estimates the rule will cost it US$2 billion a year in lost revenues.
Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase are both piloting similar debit card fees as they seek to boost revenue but the other big player in the US market, Citi, says it will not follow suit.