It’s difficult to remember a time when customers weren’t complaining about bank fees, but is there a breaking point?
If there is, Bank of America seems to have found it, or at least touched a serious nerve, as a result of its recently introduced $5-a-month debit card charge.
Angry consumers in the United States have complained loudly about the fee, which is set to be added from 2012. A service that was once complimentary will now become $60 per year.
So is Bank of America being unreasonable?
It’s important to consider how seriously customers view bank fees. According to a survey carried out by The Research Intelligence Group, one in three are ready to leave their financial provider if it means avoiding extra costs.
The
study – which questioned 1,000 consumers – did find that 13% could
accept service fees, but only if they made sense and seemed realistic.
Which brings us to what is reasonable, and why these charges exist.
Bank of America is not the only provider introducing new fees. Chase Bank and Wells Fargo have also started testing a $3 cost for the same service.
According to these banks, the charge will be put towards fraud monitoring and protection, record keeping and things like overdraft prevention.
New regulations in the US mean that financial providers must charge merchants less for debit card swipes, so the size of the new fee could have something to do with recovering from that.
Meanwhile, US Credit Unions are making the most of the complaints about their competitors, using some direct marketing strategies to gain new customers.
Digital Federal Credit Union is one example – the provider has just released advertising that shows a man being punched in the face.
Under this attention-grabbing image a line of text asks if customers are tired of getting ‘fee-whacked’ by the big banks.
What do you think of the Bank of America fee?
Source
If there is, Bank of America seems to have found it, or at least touched a serious nerve, as a result of its recently introduced $5-a-month debit card charge.
Angry consumers in the United States have complained loudly about the fee, which is set to be added from 2012. A service that was once complimentary will now become $60 per year.
So is Bank of America being unreasonable?
It’s important to consider how seriously customers view bank fees. According to a survey carried out by The Research Intelligence Group, one in three are ready to leave their financial provider if it means avoiding extra costs.
The
study – which questioned 1,000 consumers – did find that 13% could
accept service fees, but only if they made sense and seemed realistic.Which brings us to what is reasonable, and why these charges exist.
Bank of America is not the only provider introducing new fees. Chase Bank and Wells Fargo have also started testing a $3 cost for the same service.
According to these banks, the charge will be put towards fraud monitoring and protection, record keeping and things like overdraft prevention.
New regulations in the US mean that financial providers must charge merchants less for debit card swipes, so the size of the new fee could have something to do with recovering from that.
Meanwhile, US Credit Unions are making the most of the complaints about their competitors, using some direct marketing strategies to gain new customers.
Digital Federal Credit Union is one example – the provider has just released advertising that shows a man being punched in the face.
Under this attention-grabbing image a line of text asks if customers are tired of getting ‘fee-whacked’ by the big banks.
What do you think of the Bank of America fee?
Source