Bank Of America Scraps Debit Card Fee

By Andrea Salazar

After public outcry over a proposed five dollar monthly debit card fee, Bank of America has abandoned the idea.

“We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,” said Bank of America Co-Chief Operating Officer David Darnell in a statement. “Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.”

A Change.org petition, started by 22-year-old Bank of America customer Molly Katchpole, garnered more than 300,000 signatures online, and may have played a role in the bank’s decision.

“I knew that if enough people expressed their outrage to Bank of America, they would have to listen to their customers and reverse their debit fee plan,” Katchpole said. “The American people bailed out Bank of America during a financial crisis the banks helped create. Bank of America paid zero dollars in federal income tax last year and thought they could squeeze more from the  American people. The success off this campaign proves that ordinary people can successfully stand up to even the largest corporations.”

Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and SunTrust have also abandoned plans to charge for debit card usage.