Oops!…BofA Did It Again

Pay to pay for things?

Though that concept was smashed down by consumers nationwide months ago, now Bank of America Corp. has made headlines once again by toying and testing the idea of charging some of its customers fees for having checking accounts.

Indeed, The Wall Street Journal reports today the second largest bank by assets is considering monthly fees between $6 and $25 for checking account users who don’t meet minimum balances, bank online or buy more products.

Though this news was already reported months ago, and other banks are also tucking in new banking account fees due to new regulations costing them billions of dollars of revenue, the threat of consumers reacting wildly to BofA’s news is acute. When BofA tried to roll out debit card fees a few months back, the public reaction was so fierce that even BofA retreated from its fees (and, oh, I quit the bank). Though the checking accounts fees discussed in today’s article seem more reasonable than BofA’s previous attempt at recouping lost revenue, we expect that BofA might be in store for another social media backlash simply because of the proximity to its last debit card fee disaster. To find out how consumers are reacting already, we combed Twitter feeds. Though the outcry seems more of a slight spark than actual fire in the Twittersphere, here are a few tweets that suggest this news will, once again, get consumers all hot and bothered about checking account fees:

• NaEun Park: Makes me want to cancel my #BofA account
• Renee S: Uggh! Bank Of America is considering monthly fees for checking accounts #bofa
• Melody Mendez: More fees?!? It’s possible. Bank of America #BofA considers charging fee for checking acct.
• William Chamberlain: It wouldn’t be a normal month without being annoyed by Bank of America. = ( And that’s coming from someone who almost never tweets smack. …It’s like BofA just stopped thinking about the user experience altogether.
• Steve Ward: Don’t penalize/inconvenience me for keeping my money with you. Strongly considering leaving if this happens
• Jodie Hockensmith: #BofA ♥ poor people! Again!
• Manjula Raman: “GAHHHHH, BANKING” indeed. i don’t appreciate your sneakiness, you sneaky bank

The question banks really need to find an answer to is what will consumers pay for? Though actions speak louder than words, the answer does not seem to feign that fees for checking will come without strong reactions. The WSJ is polling its readers today on whether they’d pay a monthly fee to have a checking account. As of 10:45 am ET, 90.6% (17,772) said they would not.