Bank of America to Charge $5 a Month for Check Card Use

More unintended consequences of the Nanny State will bite you in the wallet next year. Fight back by closing your bank of America accounts and voting against Democrats in every election. Don’t switch to Wells Fargo Bank either. They’re coming after your money too.

Citibank says they will NOT charge customers to spend their own money using a debit card.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the largest U.S. bank by assets, plans to charge customers a $5 monthly fee for making debit card purchases starting early next year, according to an internal memo sent to bank executives Thursday.

The fee will apply to customers with various checking accounts during any month they use their debit card to make a purchase. The fee will not apply to customers who do not use their debit card to make a purchase or who only use it to make ATM transactions.

Bank of America is trying to cushion revenue losses it expects to incur from new caps on the fees merchants pay when a customer uses a debit card at their stores. In June, the Federal Reserve Board finalized rules capping such fees at 24 cents per transaction, compared with a current average of 44 cents.

Bank of America has said it expects the caps, which take effect Oct. 1, to erase $2 billion in revenue annually. Industrywide, the caps, which apply to banks with $10 billion and more in assets, could wipe out $6.6 billion in annual revenue for banks, according to an August report from Javelin Strategy and Research.

“The economics of offering a debit card have changed with recent regulations,” a spokeswoman for Bank of America said in a statement Thursday.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), said it will charge a $3 fee for debit and ATM cards in several states starting in October if customers use the cards to make a purchase under a pilot program.