That's a game they play. I was the new adult leader of a youth group and we'd had our money at a Well Fargo for years. I went in to get the signature cards changed over to reflect the new officers and such only to be told they never look at signatures so not to bother. What?!? I insisted because they hadn't updated our account since the day it was first opened and that had been many sets of officers ago. They put me through the wringer wanting to know about my credit and my house and my husband's info etc. -- I don't think so. They refused to put me on the account and insisted the previous leader come in and speak to them. Uh, excuse me, but about three of them attended the previous leader's funeral! What, was I supposed to dig her up and wheel her in there? Idiots. I finally got ticked off enough and demanded they close the account, which they refused to do, so I promptly wrote out a check for the full balance and dared them to check the signature card. I never set foot in there again and took the money to the next bank down the street.
Wow, that’s a disheartening story. I think this debit fee will bite them in the behind. Allegedly the purpose of the debit card fee is to make up lost transaction fees, which are allegedly to help out if someone get fraudulent activity on their card. Maybe, but surely there are ways to make purchases more secure, and to require people be accountable for their own cards. If it’s simply an insurance program (in one form or another), they could always have people pay for it themselves who choose to have it, like the identity theft insurances that exsist, and do away with transaction fees altogether. There’s more than one way to make money without producing anything (exactly what banks do), and banks are sure to come up with a new one. And if they don’t end up making money through the facilitation of economy, they’ll be bailed out anyway, so it probably doesn’t matter what they do.
I got fed up with banks after they borrowed TARP funds they didn’t need to buy bonds with the taxpayer’s dollar, to gain interest on money that wasn’t theirs, paid for again by the taxpayer, to give themselves bonuses. It’s well documented, and the rape of the American People. But that’s another story.