Bank of America Reneges on Card Costs

At the end of the day, all of this reveals incompetence on the part of Bank of America's credit-card unit. First, Bank of America made two contradictory announcements, which points to the fact that the lender seems to think its customers aren't savvy enough to realize they're being had. Second, it doesn't seem that Bank of America has read the CARD Act, which is slated go into effect in February, if not sooner. JPMorgan got in trouble because it increased membership fees for existing customers after it promised that interest rates on those accounts would remain the same. If Bank of America moves along with its plans to introduce membership fees to existing customers into next year, it will find itself in much hotter water than JPMorgan did. That's because, after legislation is enacted, raising the interest rates (membership fees included) on existing balances will be illegal.

Lastly, with or without JPMorgan as an example, Bank of America's credit-card business should have the experience and expertise to know that, from a regulatory standpoint, the introduction of new fees to existing customers will be against the law. It's about time for banks that are being bailed out with billions of dollars in taxpayer money to stop making rookie mistakes like these.

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