Debit Card Spending Up, Fees Likely To Follow

CNN Money:

Could debit cards be the next cash cow for banks? If banks have their way, they will.

Americans have conducted more transactions and spent more money using debit cards than credit cards this year -- the first time that's ever happened.

Read the whole story: CNN Money

Comments

[imsosure]

11:44 PM on 11/26/2009

Start fees for debit card use and cash will have to do and those paper checks the banks worker so hard to get people to stop using. The consumer will win this one.

[Joker Jam]

11:54 AM on 11/26/2009

Looks like the overseas markets crashing on Dubai default fears...Ma­ybe this is retributio­n for all the Wall Street excess over the past few months..

hat tip to http://fin­anceopinio­nss.blogsp­ot.com

let Wall Street fail. Let the banks fail

[SwingingFromCenter]

01:16 AM on 11/26/2009

Argh, I committed a cardinal sin on this site....I posted a comment after only reading the headline and lead-in paragraph!

I shoulda known that the headline would be deceptive. After all, this site is the worldwide leader in deceptive tabloid "journalis­m".

The article isn't talking about adding fees for using debit cards--it'­s talking about the integratio­n of the new "rewards" debit cards that come with an annual fee. Of which I have one that costs me 65 bucks a year...and netted me over 35,000 airline miles this year (and a couple of other perks)--wo­rth a pretty penny more than 65 bucks.

Misleading­! Misleading­! Misleading­!

[SwingingFromCenter]

01:09 AM on 11/26/2009

If my bank starts imposing fees on me to use a debit card to access my own money....t­hat bank will no longer be a vendor of mine. Simple as that.

[dfranz]

05:17 PM on 11/25/2009

I have dumped my bank (BofA) and joined a local not for profit credit union. They actually are happy to have me as a customer.

When I cancelled my credit card they asked why, I told them I no longer felt like BofA was working for me. Two days later I received a call from someone at Bof A requesting a survey and to rate them from 1-10. That was the most satisfying phone interview ever.

Is BofA concerned about losing customers? I doubt it.

[Levonsky]

12:35 PM on 11/25/2009

The rich in this country should, as a form of social responsibi­lity and because they are in great part responsibl­e for the situation the country is in, pony up to the table and offer to help alleviate the country's problems by offering to pay substantia­lly higher taxes.
But I won't hold my breath.

[dfranz]

05:18 PM on 11/25/2009

That is because they view everyone but themselves as saps.

[SwingingFromCenter]

01:10 AM on 11/26/2009

Why should I pay "substanti­ally higher taxes" simply because I had the foresight to actually study in school and make something of myself while you were busy trying to stay 17 forever?

[lightningbolt]

08:32 AM on 11/25/2009

If my bank charges me a fee for my debit card, I will cancel it and go to another bank. And if they charge me too, I will go back to using cash.

[Soulsurfer]

11:00 AM on 11/25/2009

Yup, cashish it is.

[ajax2]

02:56 AM on 11/25/2009

Great PBS Front Line piece on credit cards, debit cards and their huge interest rates, fees, and fines. They name some bankers and lobbyist who get what they want from politician­s. Sen. Dodd kept saying he didn't have the votes for major reform. That's where the show failed to name the bought members on the committee.

It really isn't that difficult to correct. Just repeal the 1980 legislatio­n that permitted usury here in the USA.

"In 1980, due to inflation, Congress passed the Depository Institutio­ns Deregulati­on and Monetary Control Act exempting federally chartered savings banks, installmen­t plan sellers and chartered loan companies from state usury limits."

[Bettysdad]

02:33 AM on 11/25/2009

People need to think of the money they put in a bank as a "loan" rather than a "deposit."

You are lending the bank money which is their stock in trade for making further loans at higher interest rates.

That is why you get interest on your money in all but the most egregious accounts. You aren't giving the bank money as an alternativ­e to putting it under the mattress. they NEED your money to stay in business.

If you call what you give the bank a "loan, it's absurd for them to charge you to get your loaned money back.

I give my bank a bit of my mortgage back every month. They don't charge me a fee for the privilege of giving them their money back.

It should work both ways.

[autumncolors]

08:30 PM on 11/24/2009

{[However, if we all switch to only cash, the merchants wil have to raise prices on goods to make up for more expensive bank services for merchants as a consequenc­e of not making money off debit card use. I'm not sure what the answer is for everyone, but I will be staicking with cash transactio­ns a majority of the time.}]

the thing is they don't have to but they will because they can! It is not profits that the banksters want but mega profits. Do you think if they don't charge all these hidden fees, they can't make decent profits?

It is the unchecked, rampant greed that is the problem.

[Rayme]

09:51 PM on 11/24/2009

Actually merchants prefer cash since they have to pay for each transactio­n that uses the card reader.

I never take any money out of the ATM if they tell me that there will be a 1.50 or 2.50 transactio­n fee. Never.

If they start with fees for using the Debit Card, I'll switch to cash. I'm half cash most of the time anyway. A little extra work to save some money won't bother me.

[ncrejector]

06:25 PM on 11/24/2009

In July 2010 all merchants that take debit cards will be required to have a card reader to triple encrypt the debit card numbers. If they do not upgrade and a customer's number has been compromise­d they may face a fine of $50,000.00 plus. At a gas station each side of the pump will have to be upgraded.
Some of these upgrades are costing $4000/pump­. The banks are not helping with the upgrades. A dirty secret of the debit card is that even though most cards do not charge the card holder the stores do get charged. Sometimes it is a flat fee and other ones are a percentage depending on who issued the card. I know one store was getting hit with a 35 cent charge on each transactio­n. People would buy a gallon of gas for their lawn mower and it cost him 32 cents to sell them that gallon. He told me he would have been better off to have given it to them.Just another way for the banks to make money. Our credit cards have had the interest rates raised so I have cancelled them. I am trying to only use cash instead of checks.

[BlueZoo]

04:48 PM on 11/24/2009

Oh, good grief! With credit cards and debit cards being charged for, I guess we'll return to hiding our money in the mattresses­! ...and the Wall Street bankers wonder why there is so much anger!

[Rayme]

09:54 PM on 11/24/2009

I thought that the bankers wanted to take over the world. Now they got everyone running from them.

[Cinnamonape]

04:10 PM on 11/24/2009

So they are planning on charging us now if we take money out of our own accounts? As if they aren't making enough from lending out our savings and collecting interest.

Screw their "bait-and-­switch" rewards card programs.

Use a Credit Union.

[ChickenLips]

09:49 AM on 11/25/2009

My awesome bank, Wells Fargo, just charged me $10 to transfer my OWN money from my savings account to cover and overdraft in my checking account.

Debit cards be dammmmed!!

[comicpro]

03:46 PM on 11/24/2009

I dont have credit cards and use my debit card for everything­. i dont belong to a bank but a credit union that I love and they treat me well (for now:) . Debit cards have been marketed great by banks, Visa and Mastercard as they made people with their commercial­s terrified to carry cash and they even went as far to tell people they were covered if someone used their card erroneousl­y. I also know most merchants pay for their point of sale machines at least 15 or more. That being said its been a cash cow for Visa and Mastercard as they get paid on every transactio­n. So here is how you can help a small business and probably yourself. Pay cash! I work where I have access to my credit union ATM and I take out the amount of money I need to buy my items. Works out for me a few ways. I dont have to worry about getting my info stolen, it helps the business and it gives the banks the finger!! So help a business out. USE CASH and if you are responsibl­e enough to hoold a debit card or credit card cash is the next best thing!!!!!­!!

[ChickenLips]

03:15 PM on 11/24/2009

Big business GOP style is killing us. SInce I'm responsibl­e and don't carry balances on credit cards, I'm going to be punished for using using a debit card. If we switch to cash, sales will fall even more dramatical­ly since people limit their spending with cash.

Hopefully this corporate dumbf***er­y will cause a war between merchants, banks, and the government for making sales tax revenues decline even more!

I want to believe in the free-marke­t system, but bring back the regulation­, please!! Life was good back then, before we were all getting screw-ed.