BofA to charge customers $5 for debit card use

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From the latimes.com) Bank of America Corp. will charge customers $5 a month when they use debit cards to make purchases, a move likely to be followed by other banks as new federal regulations limit their ability to pinch consumers with big fees for overdrafts and late credit-card payments.

Debit cards have been promoted for years as a free and easy way to pay for goods and services. But the costs of using those cards were offset in part by the lucrative fees banks reaped from other services and penalties — and which are now being limited by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Those restrictions include reductions of nearly 50% on so-called swipe charges to merchants who accept debit cards, a change that is slashing the industry’s revenue by $6.6 billion a year, according to one study. Bank of America has said it would lose $2 billion a year in merchant fees.

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