One Issuer Going Beyond New Debit Card Rules

As the newest laws set by the Federal Reserve concerning overdraft fees are scheduled to take effect July 1, 2010, many researches and experts have been waiting to see how banks would react. While in the past, banks have decided to make drastic changes to help make up for what could be a potential revenue loss (good example being credit cards), nothing major has been reported as of yet. Instead the biggest news so far has been by Bank of America, which stated they have decided to do a little something extra to help ensure that consumers don’t spend more than what is in their account.

Under the regulations set to take place in the next couple of months, banks will not be allowed to charge overdraft fees unless the customer first gives permission by opting in to the service. In Bank of America’s case instead of just stopping overdraft fees until consumer have decided to opt in; they have decided to not allow any debit card purchases to go through if there is not enough money in the user’s account. While this is directed solely toward card purchases, cardholders will have to opt in to pay a fee at the ATM for withdrawing more than their avaliable balance for ATM transactions. As for when the change in bank members’ terms will go into effect; for new accounts the date is June 19, while existing accounts have to wait until early August.

When going to and beyond what is required by law, Bank of America has been one of the few financial institutions that make public announcements on exceeding what is going to be necessary. When looking back, they also were the first one to let it be known that they were no longer going to raise interest rates on their credit cards. They also made public statements on the restructuring of their credit card statements that were simplified to give cardholders a better understanding of what was owed.