© 2024 WFAE
90.7 Charlotte 93.7 Southern Pines 90.3 Hickory 106.1 Laurinburg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Here are some of the other stories catching our attention.

Thousands Petition Bank Of America Not To Charge Debit Fees

http://66.225.205.104/LM20111004a.mp3

A petition to get Bank of America to cancel its proposal to charge debit card users $5 a month has collected more than 125,000 signatures. Bank of America customer Molly Katchpole was upset when she heard Bank of America planned to start charging most of its debit card users a monthly fee. "I'm 22 years-old. I'm working 2 part time jobs," says Katchpole. "Five dollars might not sound like much money to the people who made the decision. But that's $60 a year and that's money that I really don't want to handover to a bank that we just bailed out with tax money."

So Katchpole, a DC resident, started a petition on change.org. It got the attention of a lot of other angry customers. More than 125,000 people have now signed it. The bank's proposal has also prompted North Carolina Congressman Brad Miller to look at introducing legislation that would make it easier for customers to switch banks and simultaneously move their direct deposit and electronic bill payments.

Bank of America says it's charging the fee to make up for lost income that will result from new regulations that limit what banks can charge merchants when customers make purchases with their debit cards. Some other banks, including Wells Fargo are testing out smaller debit fees. North Carolina isn't part of Wells Fargo's trial program.