Debit Card Fees Could Be On The Way, Customers Ready To Jump Ship [Study]

A recent Associated Press-GfK poll has found that approximately two-thirds of consumers use debit cards over credit cards and that many of those customers would “jump ship” if even a small $3 per month charge was added to their accounts each month for the right to use those bank cards.

When asked how they would react to a $3 charge 61% of survey takers said they would find a different way to pay for their purchases, while 66% said they would change to another form of payment at $5 and at $7 a far larger 81% said they would stop using a banks debit card.

A $3 charge is already being tested by Chase in northern Wisconsin while Atlanta locations have been testing a $15 fee on basic checking accounts.

News of possible fees are arriving as an October law nears which will sharply cap the amount of revenue banks can collect from merchants when debit cards are swiped at the register.

One thing is for certain, banks will always find a way to make back money that is taken from them through regulations, hopefully they aren’t as brain dead this time around as they were with mortgage swaps.

Would you switch how you pay for items if fees were applied to your bank account for use of your banks debit card?