Will Bank of America keep its customers?

Can the company keep disgruntled customers despite the decision to cancel plans for a $5 per month debit card fee?

Tue, Nov 01 2011 at 7:48 PM EST

Photo: MoneyBlogNewz/Flickr

I admit, I don’t find it the least bit ironic that Bank of America announced that it would cancel the proposed $5 per month debit card fee just days before tens of thousands of customers planned to switch banks. If you’re not familiar with what I’m referring to, I’m talking about Bank Transfer Day.

On Friday, November 5 big bank customers from around the country vowed to close their bank accounts in protest to B of A’s proposed fee and switch to a more consumer-friendly credit union. Now I have to ask, are these consumers going to go forward with their bank transfer plans? Honestly, I hope that they do.

Since I don’t have thousands of people to ask about their plans, I did what any other blogger would do – I hit the ‘net. My first stop was CNNMoney’s coverage of the B of A reversal.

The CNNMoney article already has over 1,000 comments – some people have moved their accounts, some are cheering the power of a vocal group of consumers while others think that the big banks are merely scheming up another plan to make money.

Langkard – “Too late, BofA. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I moved my accounts to a local federal credit union the week the $5 fee was announced and I'm very happy with the service and lack of fees. What BofA does now doesn't matter to me. They're history. And like most failures of history, they'll end up on the midden heap where they belong.”

Jdh2010 – “It is foolish to think the "backpedaling" of banks over debit card fees is a signal of increased "consume power." If anything, the banks have taught us they have the power to initiate any fee structure they wish and not even government has the power to stop them.”

Gulfboater – “You have no idea how much consumer power you have. We could take any business in this country down with some well planned strategies.”

Similar sentiments can be found on a Fox Business article about the fee cancellation:

endthenonsense – “This is how consumers will level the playing field. We should focus on ONE company and pound them, as an example to the rest. Gas stations should be next. All thanks to the internet.”

gaglenn – “BOA says they are dropping the debit card user fee because they care about their customers. Actually, they were startled by how many customers they were losing over this, especially to customer friendly credit unions. The dropping of the fee is merely a bottom line issue for BOA. Gaglenn”

Now it is your turn to weigh in. What do you think about Bank of America’s decision to cancel the $5/month debit card fee? If you originally planned to switch banks on Friday, will you still go forward with that decision?

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