Bank of America’s (BofA)
decision to impose a $5 a month charge on some debit cardholders
has been blasted by Democrat politicians.
Illinois’ Richard Durbin
and North Carolina’s Brad Miller have called on BofA customers to
switch banks.
In the Senate, Durbin
suggested that BofA customers “get the heck out of that
bank.”
For his part, Miller has
proposed a bill, The Freedom and Mobility in Banking Act, designed
to encourage account switching.
Miller is seeking to
give customers the right to close an account at no charge,
irrespective of the account balance and would require banks to
close an account within 48 hours of such a request being
made.
The bill will be opposed
by Republicans and stands little chance of being passed.
Political pressure and
further bad PR is the last thing BofA needs meantime.
It has endured a torrid
month with sporadic problems afflicting its online banking channel
for four days at the start of October and a share price that has
tanked to its lowest level in two years.
At the start of October,
BofA shares were trading at $5.30, a market cap of little over
$50bn and down more than 60% since the start of the
year.
