Keller @ Large: Bank Of America Takes Step In Right Direction
BOSTON (CBS) - Did you orbit the earth in anger when you heard that Bank of America was going to slap a $5 monthly fee on you for the privilege of using your debit card?
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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Welcome to the club.
Among the outraged BOA customers was a 22-year-old nanny from Washington who circulated a petition demanding the bank back down that got more than 200,000 signatures.
Furious customers across the country lambasted the bank.
Even tone-deaf politicians like Vice President Biden spoke out, calling the new fee "incredibly tone deaf."
With BOA stock already under pressure from the European debt crisis, management responded to the heat.
"We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," said David Darnell, the top cheese at BOA.
English translation: we stepped in it, so we'll back off and focus on other ways to raise fees.
Then again, maybe this is a sign that America's elites are beginning to see that they need to respond a bit more sensitively to the hard times many customers are going through.
I doubt it though.
There's a good reason why more than a third of the country says it sympathizes with the anger of the semi-coherent folks at the Occupy protests.
Between the mortgage industry fiasco and the banking meltdown and the auto industry debacle and the Wall Street follies, its no wonder big business and big finance rate rock bottom in surveys of public respect, even below journalists.
And the politicians who match them blunder for blunder are no better.
Bank of America employs many of our friends and neighbors, and for the sake of those jobs we should hope they earn the goodwill of the marketplace.
Dropping the debit fee is a step in the right direction.
Perhaps this modest success has reminded enough of us of the power we can wield to guide their decision-making when we get fed up enough.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
