Thanks Bank of America and federal government.
Because the feds declared some interest charges on credit cards too high, banks like BAC are looking at simply slapping all cardholders with annual fees. Especially if you never incur interest interest charges by promptly paying off your bill.
Right now BAC’s credit card biz is in a shambles and the bank has to recover revenue somehow. The kicker is that federal bank regulators absolutely want that to happen as they cannot afford another banking crisis. So the political and regulatory power structure pretty much demands that all credit card holding Americans pay a tax of $29 to $99 a year to help prop up the nation’s banking system. There is no other way to look at it.
If you haven’t already, get thee to some sort of credit union. I have a feeling those escape hatches will be closed shortly.
Update: BAC is knocking heads with the NFL over licensing rights for credit and debit cards. Because if it has the right logo on it, you won’t care how much it costs you. Or something.
