the Informer

ALEX JANES

It’s about every couple of weeks that we go into a grocery store and find we are painstakingly forking over an additional $7.28 to accommodate the price hikes in eggs, cereal, butter, potatoes, coffee and almost every other item on the shelf.

Meanwhile, cell phone bills are expanding, gas prices will never cease to be a problem and you’re still getting paid a grand total of zero dollars an hour at that internship.

Somewhere in between Connecticut’s recent expansion of sales tax and gas prices that never drop I sometimes find myself saying, “at this rate pretty soon we’ll be paying just to have money.”

And then it happened: with the institution of a monthly debit card fee, Bank of America announced that I would soon be giving them money, just so they can hold my money.

The monthly fee of $5 would be charged to any Bank of America customer who uses their debit card for anything other than an ATM, and will begin at the start of the new year.

But is this particular $5 a month collection enough of an outrage to patrons for it to be abolished, or just an inevitable burden that comes along with the burden of an under-performing economy?

When the leading banking establishment unveiled its plans at the end of September, it was not surprisingly met with a huge backlash. According to USA Today, 66 percent of Bank of America customers said they would either stop using their debit cards, or move their accounts to another bank.

The fact that so many clients are riding out these last few rent-free months with Bank of America only to research alternative options should have the monetary giant on its toes. It becomes dangerous territory when a once cheap service establishes price hikes that deter customers.

The profit-raking strategy worked to the opposite effect just a month ago with the online movie renting service, Netflix, when they attempted to raise membership fees just a few dollars. Instead of profiting from the price adjustment, the company lost more members than they could afford and were forced to modify prices once again.

Of course, Bank of America is in better standing in the respect that they provide a service most Americans need. The danger, however, is in the multitude of competitors, giving unsatisfied customers the option to leave them at the drop of a hat.

As one of the leading banks in the nation, there must be alternatives to staying afloat other than a monthly service fee for all of its customers. When smaller banks are still finding ways to stay afloat, they’ll be the ones seeing the profit when it’s all said and done. While some Bank of America customers may swallow their pride and dish out the dough for the sake of convenience, banks like TD Bank, Chase or Wells Fargo will be cashing in on clients who won’t take $60 extra a year as an answer.

There’s even speculation of similar maintenance fees at other banks, though none as high as $5. Even if the increase in prices is inevitable, other banks following suit, though at a lesser extent, might still see a greater profit through adopting Bank of America refugees who simply couldn’t afford it.
For now, its too early to tell whether the pesky monthly fee will become integrated as another raise in price we can’t avoid, or if Bank of America will lose too many customers to sustain. But I can tell you one thing: back in my day you had to rewind movies and banking was free. And I’d like it to stay that way.