Democrats Try to Kill Bank of America Over $5 Fee

Townhall.com ^ | October 5, 2011 | Mike Shedlock

[Kaslin]

Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois is telling Americans to "Get the heck out of that bank", right on the Senate Floor. His comments are in response to Bank of America hiking fees on debit cards.

Please consider BofA Customers Urged by Lawmakers to Quit Lender Over Debit Fee

Congressional Democrats are pushing customers to quit doing business with Bank of America Corp. and one lawmaker is looking to make it easier for them to do so as the biggest U.S. lender announced plans for new debit-card fees.

U.S. Representative Brad Miller, a North Carolina Democrat, introduced a bill today that would bar banks from imposing fees on people who close accounts, calling the proposal a response to the Charlotte, North Carolina-based firm’s plan to charge some debit customers an additional $5 a month.

“As megabanks flirt with menus of new fees, an increasing number of Americans will want to switch banks,” Miller, a member of the Financial Services Committee, said in a statement. “That is the way things work in a competitive, free market as unrepentant banks are still trying to rake in vulgar profits from their customers.”

Miller’s criticisms echoed those of Senator Richard Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who successfully pushed for legislation restricting the amount banks could collect from retailers for debit transactions. The two lawmakers spoke out after President Barack Obama questioned whether Bank of America has an “inherent right” to charge the new fee, which the company said was aimed at making up revenue lost because of the new limits on so-called interchange.

Bank of America Website Down 4th Day, "Thanks for Your Patience" Says Website

The Register reports Bank of America website disrupted for 4th day in a row

Bank of America's website continued to suffer sporadic outages on Monday, marking the fourth day that some customers have been unable to use its online services to check balances and pay bills.

"We're sorry, but some of our pages are temporarily unavailable," a note posted to the homepage for the biggest US bank read. "Thanks for your patience." The advisory, and sporadic outages, have greeted many people trying to use bankofamerica.com since Friday.

Bank of America spokeswoman Tara Burke declined to discuss the underlying cause of the outages except to say it isn't related to hacking, denial-of-service attacks, or other incidents related to security.

By not commenting, Bank of America is making matters worse.

Bank of America (BAC) Flirts With $5



Note the late-August "Buffet is Buying" spike has been taken back and then some. The $5 level is crucial. Many mutual funds cannot hold stocks whose share prices drop below $5.

Exclusive Nonsense

As an example of shoddy reporting please consider Exclusive: Buffett not worried by BofA share fall.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is not concerned by the sharp drop in Bank of America Corp (BAC) shares in the last couple of days, despite his $5 billion investment in the company last month, he told Reuters on Tuesday.

"We agreed to hold it for at least five years, so what I'm thinking about is where Bank of America will be in five years, and nothing in the last 24 hours or 48 hours has changed my views on that," the Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) chief executive told Reuters on the sidelines of Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit.

Buffett made his bet on Bank of America's survival in late August (though it closed in early September). The deal gave him preferred shares with a hefty dividend and warrants that represent 6.5 percent of Bank of America stock.

Of course Buffett is not concerned about share price of Bank of America. He owns the debt. His primary concern is the debt is paid back, not the share price. It is extremely sloppy reporting to not point this out.

Addendum:

Reader Blake writes "As a libertarian I am appalled that a senator would directly attack an individual company for pricing decisions made by that company."

Blake is correct in that stance. Senators should not make such statements on the floor of Congress.

However, the decision by Bank of America was piss poor. They misunderstood public reaction, and worse yet were not prepared for the surge in traffic. No one will remember all the other banks who followed suit. Everyone will remember Bank of America was the first to jack rates. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan is incompetent.

[tcrlaf]

BofA MAde the HORRIBLE mistake of telling the Sheeple WHY they imposed the fee, and named NAMES, which makes them the enemy of our new Obamunist Fascist State.

THEY MUST NOW BE DESTROYED...

Will Dems now demand that CITI be destroyed, too?

[RexBeach]

What did these meatheads expect after “Dodd-Frank” was passed and signed into law?

Penned by two of the biggest knuckleheads in the Congress, what else could have happened?

Putzes.

[Night Hides Not]

I say "let the market work".

Don't like the rules at these banks? Move your money to another institution.

[Gene Eric]

BoA takes one for team jackass.

[edcoil]

Costco just raised their annual membership $5.00.

I don’t understand why BOA is not yelling at the top of their lungs its the government causing this but -—

[latina4dubya]

Costco just raised their annual membership $5.00.

Costco is not all that cost effective for my family anymore... our Costco bill has shot up significantly this past year... we haven't gone regularly the last two months...

[moehoward]

"Democrats Try to Kill Bank of America Over $5 Fee"

So BofA is some Conservative darling? Idiotic.

Oh. And as a BoA customer, it can't go under fast enough for me.

[Uri’el-2012]

The Demoncrat Party is now actively inciting anarchism.

Terrorists, Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn will endorse this action.

[moehoward]

"Costco is not all that cost effective for my family anymore... "

I've noticed that too. It's made our local stores a better alternative.

[latina4dubya]

Oh. And as a BoA customer, it can't go under fast enough for me.

i was confusing FR with Facebook for a minute, and i wanted to hit the "like" button on your comment!

[Gilbo_3]

now how is ole george soros gonna get his billions back outta boA now...???

its gettin close to 'time' when these players start undercuttin each other...

[marty60]

BTTT.

Mega dittos

AMEN

Agreed

[WOBBLY BOB]

create the crisis then ride to the rescue to punish the evildoers.

typical Dimrat SOP

[The Toll]

Bingo. I work in the field and I’m telling ya, “Dodd-Frank” slipped through after all the Obamacare hype. Not saying Obamacare isn’t a complete disaster. Just saying that the public has no idea what is in store for them because of “Dodd-Frank”. If you take away the lenders ability to collect on the debt for profit. Why would anyone lend anyone anything?

[reg45]

All banks are subject to the government rules.

[Tublecane]

“All banks are subject to the government rules.”

All everything is subject to government rules, except insofar as government hasn’t gotten around to it yet.

[I see my hands]

"as a BoA customer, it can't go under fast enough for me."

Of course anyone who borrowed money from them should pay it back as they promised, right? Otherwise they'd be deadbeats and crooks and share a large part of the of the economic chaos we're all suffering through. In the end (beginning and middle too) they are liars and scum.

[moehoward]

What does BoA charging 5 dollars for a customer to spend his own money have to do with another stiffing BoA on a debt?

Nothing.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Bank of America greased Dirty Turban Durbin’s palm in return for writing in the provision of the Frank/Dodd bill that allowed BoA to charge $5/month for debit card usage. Now Durbin stabs BoA in the back by telling their customers to leave if they don’t like it. I have to wonder what the top brass at BoA think being betrayed like that?