good decision, B of A.

2 things:

1) i won't lie. i really like bank of america for my personal checking and savings and credit card needs. i've always received excellent customer service, and despite all the evidence that they might be among the most evil of corporations, i would call myself a loyal customer. so, i was pretty disappointed to hear about the institution of debit card fees. in recent days, several of B of A's competitors have announced that they will not follow suit. that, in combination with customer outrage, seems to have made an impression on the decision-makers, because, look!

Bank of America Corp. is dropping its plan to charge customers $5 a month for making purchases with their debit cards, a person familiar with the situation said.

The move is a dramatic retreat following decisions by several rivals in recent days to drop customer tests of the new fees. SunTrust Banks Inc. and Regions Financial Corp. also said Monday that they will stop charging customers for debit-card transactions.

Bank of America decided against the fees due to negative customer feedback on the plan and the moves by rivals, which left the Charlotte, N.C., lender as the only big bank planning to levy the fee on some customers next year.

Bank of America will formally announce the decision today, this person said. (via)

2) which leads me to my next point : the power of the internet. before this decision was "walked back", i had been wondering what B of A was thinking. in the past year, we have seen internet complaining undo the gap re-branding, the tropicana re-branding, and netflix's terrible re-structuring idea. i thought it was awful bold of B of A to hold firm in the face of widespread backlash. but, it looks like the power of the internet has won out again. so keep on bitching, everyone!