© 2026 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bank Of America Dropping Plan For $5 Monthly Debit-Card Fee

Paul Sakuma
/
AP

Bank of America just confirmed that it is dropping a plan to charge many of its debit-card customers $5 a month if they use them to make purchases.

"We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," David Darnell, co-chief operating officer, says in the statement BofA just issued. "Our customers' voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so."

The Wall Street Journal broke the news and others, such as Bloomberg News, have followed.

BofA's plan, announced in late September, wasn't popular with many customers and consumer rights activists. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the bank was "sticking it" to customers.

Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it was dropping plans for a $3-a-month pilot project. Other banks, including U.S. Bancorp, Citigroup Inc., PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and KeyCorp, also decided not to try to impose such charges.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
WRVO is now well into its second year without federal funding. Through it all, our mission has stayed the same: serving central and upstate New York with trusted journalism, vital local coverage, and the diverse programming that informs and connects our communities. Listeners like you are what keep journalists on the ground, asking the hard questions that matter to our region.

Stand with public media and make your gift today. You'll be supporting more than yourself. You'll be supporting everyone who depends on WRVO as a trusted resource and civic cornerstone in central and upstate New York.