Avoiding BofA debit card fee set to get harder

There's been some confusion about how Bank of America debit card customers can avoid the soon-to-come $5 debit fee. And that's understandable: The bank is promoting ways to avoid the fee that won't be available next year when the fee rolls out.

As the bank's checking account options transition, avoiding the fee is set to get harder. In essence, you'll need $20,000 with the bank to avoid the fee instead of the $5,000 you'd need under options available today.

In public statements to the media, the bank has said you can avoid the fee if you have an "Advantage" checking account. In many parts of the country (including Charlotte), it's relatively easy to qualify: you need only to have $5,000 in checking or a linked savings account.

But the Advantage account is going away, bank spokeswoman Anne Pace said Wednesday. New checking account packages now being tested in three states are set to roll out across the country at some point next year, Pace said.

The bank will work with customers with existing checking accounts to find out what package is best for them, Pace said.

After that, the easiest way to avoid the fee will be to qualify for "Premium solutions," which requires a $20,000 combined balance between deposits and investment accounts.

That's unless you have a mortgage with the bank. Those customers will not pay a debit card fee.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Tuesday in a conference call with analysts that "a lot of people" who have all of their "banking relationships" with BofA will avoid the fee.

Pace said he was likely referring to mortgages.

Bank of America's overall mortgage business lost money in the third quarter. But the company's new home loans made a "modest" profit, executives said in a presentation to analysts. The losses came from loans brought in during the Countrywide acquisition in 2008.