Bank of America throws out $5 debit fee

After much public criticism, Bank of America is bailing out of its plan to charge customers a five dollar monthly fee for making purchases with their debit card.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the move was spurred on by both pressure from consumer feedback and competitors dropping their own versions of charging customers for the new fee. Wells Fargo & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. scrapped their plans of debit fees last week, while SunTrust Banks Inc. and Regions Financial Corp. also threw out similar plans on Monday.

Bank of America announced their debit fee plans one month ago, making good on a promise to pass costs from the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection Act directly on to consumers. Part of the Dodd-Frank act limits the amount banks can charge for each debit card transaction, and the new fees are the banks' way of making up the difference.