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New York • After an intense public backlash, Bank of America and other banks have backed off charging monthly debit card fees.
It's a victory for angry customers and consumer advocates. But the move will be costly for banks. They are scrambling for ideas on how to make up for lost revenue at a time when interest rates are at rock bottom and there's little demand for loans, the traditional source of making profits for banks.
Banks are likely to avoid jacking up existing fees right away for fear of stoking more public anger. But in time the companies are almost certain to quietly raise or introduce a host of other fees to protect their profits.
Most large banks have already gotten rid of free checking this year and increased monthly fees by an average of $10 for checking accounts. They also charge $2 and $3 for services like printed statements and canceled checks.
Consumers should prepare for even higher checking and overdraft charges, analysts said. If they use another bank's automatic teller machine, they may well get hit with higher ATM fees. And if they want to receive paper statements in the mail, they may end up paying for that, too.
"The debit card fee was only one of several different levers that banks can pull," said Greg McBride, an analyst for Bankrate.com, a website that tracks rates on checking accounts and other financial products. "Consumers should continue to be vigilant."
Analysts expect banks will probably continue to raise monthly checking account fees or make it harder for customers to avoid those fees by raising the minimum balance requirements. In August, Bankrate.com found just 45 percent of standard checking accounts were free, down from 76 percent two years ago.
BofA spokeswoman Anne Pace said the bank is not considering any new fees for now, but did not rule out price increases in the future.
But as events of the past couple of weeks have shown, banks must act cautiously. The $5 monthly debit card fee Bank of America Corp. announced on Sept. 29 became a flashpoint of anger for "Occupy" protesters nationwide.
The bank's actions even prompted a Washington customer, Molly Katchpole, to collect 300,000 signatures on a website she set up to urge the bank to change course, and sparked a movement called "Bank Transfer Day," calling on customers to close their accounts at big banks by Saturday.
Customers moved at least $4.5 billion to credit unions in the past four weeks. At least 650,000 customers joined credit unions since Sept. 29, when Bank of America announced its fee, according to Credit Union National Association, an advocacy group for 7,400 credit unions.
After seeing the public reaction, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., SunTrust Banks Inc., and Regions Financial Corp. all backed down from plans to charge monthly fees for debit card purchases.
The debit card fee was triggered by a new federal law championed by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. The law caps the amount banks can charge merchants for debit card usage at about 24 cents per transaction, down from an average of 44 cents. It will whittle down revenue dramatically for banks.
Banks have given estimates of how much they would lose in the last three months of this year alone. Bank of America said it will lead to a reduction in revenue of $475 million.
Most banks say they expect to make up for the lost revenue by next year, but none has given specific plans. Revenue and income at banks have already shrunk dramatically this year because interest rates are so low and demand for loans is anemic.
Sherief Meleis, a partner at bank consultant Novantas, says any bank that raises prices will not just see public pressure, but will also face intense competition. He points to the credit unions and community banks that stepped up their advertising and marketing after Bank of America announced its $5 monthly debit card fee.
Meleis says banks will have to rely on an incremental but multipronged strategy like cutting costs by reducing the number of branches and also slashing staff at branches.