Survey: 30% Of Consumers Would Leave Bank Over Debit Card Fees

With financial institutions like SunTrust and Bank of America implementing fees for using debit cards to make purchases — and a number of other banks doing regional tests on similar fees — a new survey says that nearly one out of three American consumers would leave their bank if it introduced such a fee.

In addition to the 30% who would leave their banks over these fees, the survey, undertaken by the Research Intelligence Group found that around 43% of respondents would switch to paying with cash or credit card to avoid the fee, while 13% would pay the fee if it was “reasonable.”

From Bloomberg:

Low- to middle-income consumers are more likely to pay the fees, according to the survey. About 22 percent of those consumers, defined as those households earning $35,000 to $49,000 a year, would be willing to pay the fee, compared with 14 percent of consumers whose households earn $100,000 or more.

Just a reminder that our friends at Consumers Union are still looking for people to share their stories of switching banks.

Consumers Say They’ll Switch Banks Over Debit Fees, Study Finds [Bloomberg]

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