Dear God, I love being a credit union member.

I dont have a problem with this. Company decides to raise fees on non-customers for a convenience that they dont have to provide, sounds good to me.

My CU has a deal with a larger bank chain to use thier ATMs free, so I cant tell you the last time I got hit with an ATM fee except on vacation.

My head hurts.

I agree with charging a nominal fee, but $3 is crazy. Actually, I would have been fine with just the second part of the statement "...it is appropriate to charge people who aren't our customers for accessing our convenience." That's true--banks can charge whatever they wish, but the spin is just too hard on this one.

Am I the only person who still grumbles about usury?

So to answer why they RAISED the ATM fee she answered why there's a fee to begin with? And how does charging non-customers maintain "convenience" to existing customers? Are BOA ATMs more convenient than other bank ATMs? What a bunch of "non-speak". She might as well responded with: "Don't ask".

I'm just waiting for them to start charging $15 for using "their convenience." Just give it a few years...

@KAHRI see you don't get it! By charging non-customers $3 to use their ATMs they CREATE an inconvenient environment, insulation from which is provided to paying customers. Makes perfect sense.

I've got a better ATM system: Safeway. When I'm in buying food I'll just use the register as my ATM to get out cash if I need it.

And I'm a CU member..but mine kinda sucks and doesn't have a lot of ATMs.

Go into any place that takes debit cards, buy a candy bar, and get cash back. For my bank, there are no fees for this.

This doesn't surprise me from BofA. One of the clients we audit has a bank account through them that they have a 3 dollar charge everytime they get their cancelled checks sent to them with their statement. Sounds alright since it could cost them significant money to send the actual checks, except since January of 2006 they have received scanned versions of their checks and the fee is still the same. Not to mention they never have more than 4 checks in a month.

We'll not even talk about the 15 dollar monthly maintenance fee for being under 5,000 on their non-interest bearing checking account.

Who has fees for cashback?

Ben, could you & your fellow editors please avoid the vaseline / rape jokes? They come across as juvenile; as a gay man, I just find them offensive. Thanks.

And yes, $3 sucks as a "fee." I take out cash from debit transactions as the supermarket or drug store.

ETRADE charges $15 a month on their maxrate checking but their rate is 4%. FOUR PERCENT. Yes, one, two, three, FOUR. It was 3.25% a couple weeks ago. Plus they give you a $75 cash bonus. I mean come on, that's pathetic.

@IRSistherootofallevil: I belong to Sovereign bank, and my checking account carries a 50 cent charge per debit (regardless of cashback).

@Antediluvian:
um, what?
What does being gay have to do with the joke again?

Even if there's a charge for a debit transaction it's usually much lower than the cost of a foreign ATM "convenience" fee.

There is no reason for this besides greed. I'm a business owner too so don't start w/ the capitalism flames. Seriously, any new features or "conveniences" they provide through their ATMs costs them the same as before. There's no employees inside the ATM, there's no extra security,

My bank reimburses any fees that another bank charges me if I use their ATMs. I'll avoid BoA ATMs because I don't think even my bank should be bent over that badly.

@Antediluvian: "And yes, $3 sucks as a "fee.""

Can we stop with the suck comments? As a hetro man, I really don't need to see a gay man talking about sucking.

(Yes, I'm being sarcastic. Grow up. Slang about being screwed, lack of lubricant, etc etc are way old hat in the lexicon and in common use and have been common for years. But if you want to be over-sensitive I'll play along)

@IRSistherootofallevil: I bank at Chevy Chase in Maryland, and if I choose "debit" rather than "credit" to make a purchase at a grocery store, Chevy Chase considers it a non-Chevy Chase ATM and I'm assessed a fee.

Back in the dark ages, banks touted ATMs as a way to save their customers lots of money by scheduling and paying fewer tellers. Costs were going to plummet and customers would reap the benefits.

Now the ATMs are used to rape your account a few dollars at a time.

USAA reimburses your ATM fees, BTW. You can also scan checks at home and deposit them without mailing them in. If you're eligible and not banking there, you're a complete dumbass.

Don't like it? Don't pay it. Why would non-account holders who choose to become one-time customers with the bank for their convenience complain about the fee that is being charged.

$3 seems high to me too. But, you are paying for the convenience of using their ATM's.

Whatever that value is to you should determine how willing you are to find another bank's ATM to use.

@killavanilla:

Vaseline reference = anal sex reference

It's a direct suggestion that anal sex is inherently a bad thing. It's a phrase (or comment or the topic) said almost exclusively by men, most of the time without realizing (or actually intending) the offense, but it's there nonetheless. Being gay means a heightened awareness that there are people out there who take issue with my sex life.

The vaseline references are not something I take huge issue with; but when I see it, I will politely point it out and ask the person not to use the phrase. So I did. That's all.

@AndyDuncan: What company wants to inconvenience non customers. What you're saying is true if you want your existing customers ONLY. What does the BOA ATMs do that others don't?

@blue_duck: My exact sentiment. My Credit Union not only does not charge its own members fees for using its ATMs, it also doesn't charge anyone else to use them, either. I love my CU.

Are BOA ATMs more convenient than other bank ATMs?

@kahri: They probably are in some places if you're talking about where they're located and/or how many they are.

I think they should have just been honest and said, "It's to pay for the new deposit feature and it keeps the ATMs free for our customers. That, and we like money."

@VA_White: I came in here expressly to recommend USAA, which absolutely rules. Who needs branches?

@IRSistherootofallevil:

ING Direct checking is 4% (more if you have over $50k in your account), and it's free.

@dbeahn:

As I said, it's not something I make a big deal of, but will politely ask the person not to use the phrase.

As for being overly sensitive, I simply made a request. No one HAS to honor it, and some people (like you) can try to twist it into something it's not.

@kahri:
What does the BOA ATMs do that others don't?

Fair question, but one which begs the answer "evidently something or else non-account-holders would chose to go elsewhere". Maybe its location, in which case the $3 fee might drive a few ATM users to think about transferring their accounts to the locations which are evidently convenient for them.

Another alternative is planning ahead. Figure out how much money you'll need until your next trip to the ATM, add a little padding, and take it out and spend it wisely. This is not to be snide -- it's a genuine suggestion and is meant to cover day-to-day expenses, not unexpected ones.

betty.riess@bankofamerica.com
Ms. Riess:

Despite your testimony to the contrary, Bank of America's new fee structure for non-BOA card holders is grossly inappropriate. To suggest that it is your desire to cut down on wait times for your own customers is laughable. You must get paid a lot of money to talk that much bullshit and keep a straight face.

Here would have been a much better way to present it. "Here at Bank of America, we would like to make considerably more profit from our non-core customers, therefore we are raising or ATM surcharge by a dollar."

Sincerely,

J Blake
Lansing, MI

Charging for using an ATM in the first place is appauling.

Why would $3 be bad?

Banks make money because you deposit money into their accounts and they can invest/loan out the money and make interest. The bank loses money if a non-customer withdraws money from their ATM. They have to pay to have the ATM built, moved there, kept there, electricity, and a person to stock the ATM with cash and make sure everything works. Why shouldn't the banks charge what they want? If you don't like the fee, become a BoA customer.

@kahri: I was being facetious. It's a shit decision of course.

@Antediluvian:
Oh, I get the reference to anal sex. That's why it's funny. You know, the bank is giving it to us all....
In the rumpus.
I'm a straight man. I find nothing displeasurable about anal sex. However, the same cannot be said about anal sex with my bank. Under any conditions. Doesn't EVER feel good. Banks are BIG. I am small. So are you, especially considering it's a BANK and not a human person.
I can only assume that you wouldn't want to have anal sex with your bank, no matter how long you've been with them.
Regardless of your sexual preferences.
I am hoping right now that you have a sense of humor. And I understand your observations.
Respect.

It'd be interesting to see their profits after a year of this. I have walked away from atm's that were charging $2 or $3 dollar fee because i knew of other locations where it was $1.50. Basically, there's a point in which the fee will lose business and I would think $3 is either there or getting dangerously close for some customers.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Thank you, and I agree. But,they insult me by trying to convince me that this fee increase is for my benefit. This may be true for smaller towns, I'm in Miami, but nowadays you can't go into any store that doesn't take atm cards. So how is it that the "convenience" that walgreens can give me for free is something that BOA has to have continually increasing fees for?

I've always tried to gauge when I'll need money and go to my bank when I need to make a withdrawal or go to an ATM owned by my bank, but when I was out today, I was running late and didn't have time to go to my bank - what's there for me? The only ATM in the vicinity was a BoA ATM. Luckily, I didn't need cash that badly.

@bravo369:

If you think this will seriously effect business, look at the ringtone story right next to this one on the front page. People are stupid, and most won't even notice the fee.

@AndyDuncan: sorry, little worked up here.

blah blah blah cash back at market blah blah blah credit union blah blah blah

@killavanilla:

Hello, I'm a gay man -- of course I have a sense of humor, and it's faaaaabulous. :-)

If there's going to be any sort of sex with a bank, they need to be paying US and there'd better be a HELL of a lot of money involved. Then it's merely a business transaction, like with any other prostitute.

dear betty,
please accept these words for you and your employer... go fuck yourselves (collectively). thank you for once again reinforcing why i will never do business with b of a, you thieving cunt pumps... and no, i don't care if you have the last atm on earth.
make it a great day,
sebastian

@Antediluvian:
Cool.
Just like straight dudes, sometimes people aren't so, well....faaaaaaaaaaabulous. Yo go girl.
I used to have the best time with my friend The big gay Todd.
Wonder what he's been up to.....
Best sense of humor on the planet.
He used to crack me up with stories about his little bear bashes.

@royal72:
Zing!

@VA_White: Quote:You can also scan checks at home and deposit them without mailing them in.

This actually concerns me. I wouldn't want someone simply scanning in a copy of a check that I write into an account. They can do what they want with the check (Photoshop), and then send in the doctored checks. Also, how long will they be hanging onto those paper checks and scanned copies? Will they shred them? Probably not, since it's not THEIR account in jeopardy.

If they called a spade a spade, I'd have no problems: "our non-customers need to evaluate our usurious fees and make a decision". Saying that they're protecting their customers by reaming non-customers is like saying letting The Gays marry is going to cause my divorce.

Bank Of America ATM's take cash, automaticlly count deposits for you, no envelope needed. If you have the photo on your ATM card, your ATMS develope a learning curve and instead of asking for your pin number when you enter the card, they ask for it when you make a transaction. if you're always using the same ATM to deposit into the same checking account with cash, it just opens the slot for you and accepts the cash.

They are great ATMS, and remember, I joined BoA because I had a security deposit check back from a landlord/leasing company from BoA They charge a $5.00 fee for non-customers to cash checks there. Well, Even though the $5.00 fee was pocket change compared to the deposit I was getting back (cruddy company, had to pay a new deposit every year, and it kept stacking on the old one, but it earned interest)

Now because of that situation, I'm a BofA Advantage Member, and about $3K away from being a Private Bank Client. That means I'll have my own personal private banker. Someone has to pay for the luxury of having tellers fill out all my forms for me, making fresh cookies every morning for the branch, and nice yummy starbucks coffee on site, as well as the plasma tv's for the clients to watch while waiting for their appointments. It might as well be the non-customers.

@Saydur: No, but I see no problems with what someone decides to charge people for access to their own money. It's really paying for convenience at its very basic level)