Bank of America has canceled its plans for a $5 monthly debit card fee in response to public backlash, making it the last major bank to retreat from such a fee.
Bank of America announced the fee — which would have exempted premium account holders but applied to all standard account holders who made a purchase with their debit card once a month or more — in late September. Presumably, it thought customers would be angry for a while but then settle down.
But for several weeks now, various banks have been backing away from their plans for debit-card fees.
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo had been testing $3 monthly fees in select states, but they have both announced that they will drop those tests. SunTrust Bank and Regions Financial Corp. have promised to eliminate their existing fees, and Citibank, PNC Bank, TD Bank and Citizens Bank all confirmed that they would not implement fees.
