Bank of America Drops Plan for Debit Card Fee

Bank of America announced today that it will not charge customers $5 for using their debit cards, only a month after the finance company stated the new fees would go into effect in early 2012.

The bank released this statement:

In response to customer feedback and the changing competitive marketplace, Bank of America no longer intends to implement a debit usage fee.

"We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," said David Darnell, co-chief operating officer. "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."

Last month, Bloomberg reported that about one-third of customers would switch banks if they had to pay a monthly fee, based on a survey by the Research Intelligence Group.

In a , more than half the readers said they would move to another bank if the fees were implemented.

Other major banks, including Citigroup and , have also dropped their plans to implement a monthly usage fee, according to Huffington Post.