Not really absurd if you think about the market in such a town. In a small town with only two other banks and one credit union to worry about it is an easy way to pad your revenue. Credit unions usually have membership requirements that only a small percentage of the customer base will meet. Thus leaving two other banks to compete with.

The bank just needs to set their fees slightly lower then the other two banks to gain most of the business in town. No need to offer free checking to draw in the customers.

Ahh, capitalism

I’ve been with Washington Mutual (now Chase) for the last 15 years. Someday soon, though, I’m going to switch to Premier West, a local bank that really managed their finances well while other banks were getting into trouble. They don’t charge outrageous fees, and they have online billpay, so it’s a great solution for us.

I don’t know what I’d do in your situation. I’m not big on fees, so I’d probably stick with BofA, too.

Strangely enough, the financial institution that charges the most fees around here is our local credit union.

I assume they’re doing it across the board. It’s really unfortunate and I’d encourage people to keep updated on their rates with their cards from BofA and any bank, always, but especially right now.

oh well

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/money/2009/04/bank_of_america_raising_-credit_card_rates_citibank_chase.html

My current rate is 7.24%, as of 5/27 they’re upping it to 12.24%. That’s almost DOUBLE!

I keep a zero balance, generally. It never exceeds around 500.00, if i do make a purchase with it. But, I’m annoyed at this. It’s really not a cool thing for BofA to be doing.

Looks like I’ll be changing banks sooner, unfortunately.

In the past I’ve used small town banks which also provided totally free services and great personalized service.

The only time I’ve ever had problems is when I foolishly tried using a big national bank. So, now I avoid them.