Bank of America Scraps Plan for New Fees

Remember last year when Bank of America tried to impose a $5 fee for debit cards but had to rescind it amid customer outrage? Some key decision-makers at the bank apparently remember, too, because they've put the kabosh on new checking account fees that were due to go into effect before the end of the year, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The fees would have hit lower-income people hardest because they would have applied to customers with modest checking accounts who do little or no business with the bank beyond that. Those kinds of accounts cost big banks about $400 a year to maintain, according to a consulting firm quoted in the story. An estimated 10 million people would have been affected, but now they're probably off the hook for at least another year. (More Bank of America stories.)