The Right Way And The Wrong Way

When faced with an unpleasant situation, there is a right way to handle it and then there is a wrong way.

First, the unpleasant situation:

Bank of America announced late last month that it plans to start charging debit card users a monthly fee starting early next year.

Now, the right way:

Due to the fee, Roger Goodwin is considering leaving Bank of America and getting an account with a local credit union.

“They do not have fees, and I also have an account with another bank that is also going to start charging for checking,”

Then, the wrong way:

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller said the fees should be illegal, according to WMFY.

Guess which way is going to produce the greatest change in the debit card market?

4 responses to “The Right Way And The Wrong Way

  1. Gotta agree with you here. BOA is certainly within their rights to charge a fee. I’m a BOA customer (and I belong to a local credit union), and I’ll try to rationally minimize my fees. But in this case government intrusion is wrong.

    • BOA is certainly within their rights to charge a fee.

      Not only that, but how are they expected to provide services unless they are reimbursed?

      Anyway, glad to see you on board!

  2. I do not support legislation to restrict the fees that BOA can charge, but I do believe the bank is trying to extract more than it really needs to cover costs and a reasonable profit.

    How much does it really cost to move $2.31 from my checking account to the merchants account when I make a purchase with a debit card?

    I do not know the answer to that, but I suspect it is almost too low to even measure. I also suspect that the cost to transfer $2.31 is exactly the same as transferring $2,310. It seems fishy to me that banks are charging merchants a fee based upon a percentage of the sale. I truly understand a percentage based fee structure for a credit card transaction. When a credit card is used, the bank needs to bring money to the table, and hope it can later recover it from the purchaser. With a debit card, the banks already have the money.

    I have no plans to close my “premium” account at BOA, but I do think that the bank’s management is out of touch with its customers.

  3. Pingback: Brad And Britt And Congressman Miller « Tarheel Red

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