By Gini Nelson

Wells Fargo Bank Charging Monthly Debit Card Use Fees

New Mexico had its largest wildfire in its history this summer — the Las Conchas fire burned  156,593 acres (244.6 square miles) not far from where I live.

To me, the continuing harsh economic times also continue to consume ground people once took for granted. In my state, New Mexico, starting on October 14, 2011, Wells Fargo bank will charge a $3.00 Debit Card Activity Fee each month a checking account holder makes purchases or payments using any card linked to that account. The notice letter I got from Wells  Fargo noted that retailers may also charge a fee for purchases. The bank is testing the new program (of fees) in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Georgia, too, and is expected to eventually expand to all states.

It doesn't affect me personally as I simply do not use debit cards (or ATM machines). I'm in the process of moving my bank accounts away from Wells Fargo any way, though, because they also started a new program, effective about 2 weeks ago, of monthly checking account fees for accounts that never required them before.  It doesn't seem right to me, so I found another bank, even closer and more convenient to me, which both charges me no checking account fees and pays interest (admittedly, a very small amount, but Wells Fargo paid no interest).

But many people do use debit cards, and they may not have opened that letter from Wells Fargo (I admit I sometimes do not open the "important bank [or credit card] information within" letters which seem to tell me some new term I have no power over).  They may find the new debit card use fee on their checking account statement — I wonder if some will be so close to their balance that it causes a check to bounce? And then an additional fee will be accessed without immediate notice and some of their own checks may bounce.  (I know this because a client's payment check bounced recently. I happen to check my account balances online relatively frequently so I saw what had happened before the letter came in the mail informing me of the check that did not deposit and the charge to me for the check that did not deposit. Good thing — the client's payment check was large enough that it did bring my working account balance down at that point. But I did catch it in time.) And then more fees for their own bounced checks.

I wonder if more people will return to using cash?

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