Bank of America to Start Charging Some Customers Annual Fee

Came across this on yahoo and figured I'd post. BOA, to top off there slashing of people's credit lines, will now be charging a test group annual fees.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091013/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bank_of_ameri...

"NEW YORK – Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday it will charge a limited number of its credit card customers annual fees ranging from $29 to $99 starting next year.

"We're testing this to see what the feedback is. In terms of any plans going forward, we haven't made any decisions," said Betty Riess, a spokeswoman for Bank of America. She said the fee is being "tested" on 1 percent of its credit card accounts globally, but declined to give specific numbers.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C., had 80.2 million credit cards in circulation last year, making it the third-largest issuer of cards, according to CreditCards.com . Chase was first with 119.4 million cards, while Citi had 92 million.

The Bank of America accounts that will be charged fees were selected based on "risk and profitability," Riess said. That means customers in good standing who never carried a balance — and never incurred interest charges or late fees — could be among those getting notices.

The notices of the new fee comes after Bank of America last week vowed not to hike interest rates on credit cards ahead of the sweeping new credit-card reforms that go into effect in February. That pledge came as Congress considered moving up the effective date of the law to Dec. 1. Customers across the country have seen interest rates hiked and credit limits lowered since the law was signed in May.

Among other consumer protections, the law limits how and when banks can hike interest rates and fees on credit cards.

Analysts have predicted banks would make up lost revenue by charging annual fees more frequently on credit cards and checking accounts, even for customers in good standing.

"We are making this change in response to market conditions, new federal laws and regulations, and the increasing costs of providing unsecured credit," states a letter sent to a Bank of America credit-card customer and obtained by The Associated Press.

Customers are told that they can reject the fee, but will subsequently have their account closed. The deadline to reject the change of terms is Dec. 16.

Closing a credit card account can come with repercussions to a person's credit score, since it would lower the amount of available credit a person has access to.

Some Bank of America cards, such as airline rewards cards, already come with fees.

Chase also charges annual fees on select rewards cards, but a spokeswoman said the company has no plans to test annual fees on a broader basis. Wells Fargo said it does not "speculate on future business policies and practices."

A Citi representative could not be immediately reached for comment."

fcastro said:
"We're testing this to see what the feedback is. In terms of any plans going forward, we haven't made any decisions," said Betty Riess, a spokeswoman for Bank of America. She said the fee is being "tested" on 1 percent of its credit card accounts globally, but declined to give specific numbers." Prediction: It will fail due to competition unless people are sleeping on the wheel.

Not necessarily... For some reasons, a lot of people stick with BofA, like a lot of people stuck with AOL Dial-up connection in the early broadband years, simply because of its massive branch and ATM presences, i.e., convenience and familiarity or they are basically too lazy to switch.

It seems hard to believe but not everyone reads FWF, you know...

dumroo said: Prediction: It will fail due to competition unless people are sleeping on the wheel.

Their commercials are nauseating. I can just picture the morons who will gladly pay this fee as they accept a 1% rate of return on their CDs.

...BTW, I would love to be one of the lucky ones who get this fee. I'll love telling BOA what they can do with their card and their fee.

screw them. I wont pay any new fees for BOA cards. If they send me any fee notices goodbye. I am dumping AMEX green also even if I had it for 16 yrs. 55.00 just isnt worth it.

Rob

My oldest card is a Bank of America visa that was once an Alaska Airlines card from I think seafirst bank or something. When I converted it to a regular gold visa many years ago there was a $20 annual fee that I would have to call each year to have removed. Even though this is my only card that gives me no points, no rewards and no Cash Back I would hate to cancel one of my very first cards.

Bank of America: "We have a great new program. We choose a random set of lucky customers, ask them to bend over, and give them in the rear hard, without lube".

"We hope the program is well received. Why should not it? It is a great improvement in customer satisfaction."

I've been with Boa for over 12 years,never paid one fee for nothing pays to know all the tellers at your local branch.

icewinsagain said: I've been with Boa for over 12 years,never paid one fee for nothing pays to know all the tellers at your local branch.

Who cares about making a relationship with tellers. I visit the bank once a month on an average to deposit checks and take out cash (for places that dont accept credit cards). So to now force myself spend 30 minutes a week making idle chat with teller for the possibility that i can save a few bucks in fees is an absolute waste of time. Tellers are a dying breed and most of their function has been replaced with the ATM and online money transfer.

Unless one has a business, it is really unnecessary to ever go inside a bank (except maybe for a bank safe locker box).

Thank you for the heads-up. Will watch for the notification.

lifescool111 said: icewinsagain said: I've been with Boa for over 12 years,never paid one fee for nothing pays to know all the tellers at your local branch.

Who cares about making a relationship with tellers. I visit the bank once a month on an average to deposit checks and take out cash (for places that dont accept credit cards). So to now force myself spend 30 minutes a week making idle chat with teller for the possibility that i can save a few bucks in fees is an absolute waste of time. Tellers are a dying breed and most of their function has been replaced with the ATM and online money transfer.

Unless one has a business, it is really unnecessary to ever go inside a bank (except maybe for a bank safe locker box). I do 2 of the 3 so no waste of time

lifescool111 said: icewinsagain said: I've been with Boa for over 12 years,never paid one fee for nothing pays to know all the tellers at your local branch.

Who cares about making a relationship with tellers. I visit the bank once a month on an average to deposit checks and take out cash (for places that dont accept credit cards). So to now force myself spend 30 minutes a week making idle chat with teller for the possibility that i can save a few bucks in fees is an absolute waste of time. Tellers are a dying breed and most of their function has been replaced with the ATM and online money transfer.

Unless one has a business, it is really unnecessary to ever go inside a bank (except maybe for a bank safe locker box).

Hard to pick up the cute little tellers if you never go in....

tante said: I hope other banks don't start to follow what BOA is doing. Hopefully the word gets out and people check their statements for an annual fee.
BOA is not the first to do this. Citi started doing their own similar tests with 500,000 cardholders in August - there were several test versions with annual fees between $30 and $90. In some Citi versions, AF is charged up front and then after 12 months it is credited if purchases topped $2400. In other Citi versions, AF is charged if previous 12 months purchases did not top $2400.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/944567

Banks are notorious copycats, so it's almost guaranteed that other banks will test similar annual-fee-for-reward-cards schemes, now that they've seen what Citi and BOA are thinking ...

needdealsnow said: I think surprise fee would be a problem for many people here because people have accumulated 50-100 cards due to AORs.

I won't notice the fee until I get flagged for non payment in my credit reports. I have over 70 credit cards due to balance transfers over the years. I only get e-statements from most of them and since it is always 0 balance, I never get any statements. I wonder if it it is possible to miss some fee only statements and go into default.

Maybe I should start pruning my collection. Discover is the most useless card that I never use and never log into. That is probably the first to go

If you have a spare afternoon, put all the accounts into a Yodlee account. you could quickly scan it regularly to see if any balances are >$0.

In regards to A-mex, as well as other credit cards, this is what our government has brought us now.
I have had an A-mEx card for 30 years, (1st credit card I ever got)
2 years ago I did a 20k BT at 3.99% for life. I changed my auto pay to a different bank in July and somehow missed a payment.
I called A-mEx as soon as I got the missed payment alert in my email and thought I got it taken care of, fee removed and no change in the rate.
I am sure I confirmed all this, since I had never had this happen before.
Unfortunately two months passed before I looked at my statement closely and when I did, I saw A-mEx had defaulted me to 27.9%!!! OMG- I almost fainted. That was 270.00 per month for two months in interest, so a total of 540.00 in interest! ( the balance was under 10k at this point)
I called up just sick, and they said there was nothing they could do, I spoke to management and I called 4 different times because I have never had this kind of service with A-mEx.
I ended up paying it off ASAP but not before I had racked up another 15 days at that rate.
Horrible. This is the state of credit cards now. My credit is 840, and I had this card for 30 years and this is what is happening.
I was shocked, truly shocked by the lack of concern on their part and the sheer "we don't give a shite about you" attitude they gave me.
I have their Costco A-MEX, and I guess I need to keep that, but I am so done with A-MEX now.
I barely use credit cards, only for certain rewards, and I used to use them for the 0% no fee deals, but I have not seen one of those for a very long time now.
Also a good story about the importance of checking your statements each month with an eagle eye. That mistake cost me over $700.00. OUCH

Got a notice that my Quantum card will be assessed an annual fee of $39 on the first day of each December billing cycle. I've had the card for many years and always pay in full. I closed it minutes after receiving the notice.

jbucha01 said: this is terrible. enough is enough. If they put an annual fee on my card i'm canceling it. ...

I just canceled all my BOA cc, why wait? Thanks to Fat wallet BOA is a source of free money (KTC program). I got ~$1250 last year, and am scheduled to do the same this year.

I started paying close attention to BOA fees when they slapped a $20 overdraft fee. I'd used overdraft , with no such extortionate fees, for years in the previous bank that was acquired by BOA. So now it's tit for tat

BOA -$20
KTC +$1250

Net $1230

cameron2003 said: Next will be the testing of no grace periods. The worst of times...grace period is required by law.

blair222 said: In regards to A-mex, as well as other credit cards, this is what our government has brought us now.I don't understand what you think the government had to do with this...?

Lucky me...I just received one of these letters....what a crock

I received a letter in the mail that the Bank of America WorldPoints Card has changed its agreement to include a $39 Annual Fee.

For as much as I use the card, it makes no to have a card with an annual fee. The problem is that they will not remove the annual fee without canceling the card, which I don't want to do because this is my oldest card in terms of credit history.

Furthurmore, they "do not have the capabilities" to transfer my account over to a card that doesn't have an annual fee.

Any suggestions?

Bank of America Advantage checking account holders may notice service fees starting this month because the minimum balance has not been met. One might ask, "What is the minimum balance requirement?". Called on 3 separate occasions and the responses have been 4000, 5000, and 7500. Two of those responses have come from a manager/supervisor within a span of 3 days.

I never mentioned to BOA that I had previously been below all 3 of those minimums. A few years ago, I asked about the perks/requirements when I was "upgraded" to the advantage status and was told the minimum balance was 4000 but it was never enforced.

Having the fees waived is possible but you have to remember to keep your minimum (with an interest rate of probably 0.25%) of whatever it is on that day, depending on the phase of the moon exactly 777 nights ago. Otherwise you'll be calling for it to be waived again the following month. When I had mine waived, the manager mentioned that she would do it but only because I hadn't had any balance adjustments in the past 6 months.