After hearing about Hannaford’s giant customer data breach yesterday, Brian decided to cancel the debit card he’d used there. That’s when he found out that Key Bank really wants you to have a debit card. In fact, they’ll charge you a small monthly fee to not have one linked to your “free checking” account. We figure that this means Key Bank makes about $12 a year more off of customers who have linked debit cards—and that if you want greater security on your account, it’s going to cost you.

Because of the recent data breech at Hannafords, I had to cancel my debit card, which I had used there recently. I had no problem canceling the debit card, but since I recently started charging my regular expenses on a rewards card and paying that off every month, I don’t have any real need for a debit card anymore. I spoke with the teller, Brandy, asking her to cancel my debit card and replace it with an ATM card. Since I was canceling the card because of potential fraud, there’s no charge there, but I then found out there is a monthly fee of $1 for not having a debit card with my checking account, which they refer to as Key Express Free Checking.

This struck me as odd that they charge extra for the privilege of not having something.

(Dollar background: Sami Keinänen)

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