Due to the outpour of consumers voicing their opinion over a proposed monthly debit card usage fee, Bank of America has abandoned it’s plan before it started.

A little over a month ago, Wealth Watching brought you the news - Bank of America to Charge Customers $5 Monthly Debit Card Usage Fee and the response from banking consumers was overwhelming.

Read my lips… NO NEW BANKING FEES !!

Armed with the power of the internet, irate banking customers flocked to Twitter, Facebook, blogs and anywhere their voices could be heard to express disdain over Bank of America’s proposed $5 monthly debit card usage fee.

It seems Bank of America executives listened, but only after other large banks released statements that they would not impose similar fees. JPMorgan Chase, SunTrust, Wells Fargo and Regions have all scrapped their plans to charge fees for debit card use.

Bank of America released their official statement on Tuesday that it would be abandoning it’s plan to charge a $5 monthly fee to use their debit cards.

The debit card fee was originally supposed to have gone into effect in January 2012.

Maybe these corporate ghouls learned a thing or two (very doubtful) from Netflix, who lost over 800,000 customer due to rate hikes. People just aren’t willing to pay for excessive corporate greed in these troubled economic times and people are tired of being fleeced for services that were initially offered for free.

It’s going to cost you more to access your own money if you’re a Bank of America customer and use a debit card thanks to a new monthly fee.

In a move that is certain to enrage consumers and enrich banking institutions, Bank of America has announced they will start charging customers a $5 monthly debit card fee starting early next year.

They’re not alone. Other national banks, Chase and Wells Fargo are also testing similar fees in select markets. Regional banks SunTrust and Regions Financial have also announced monthly debit card fees that go into effect later this year.

Sen. Dick Durbin slammed Bank of America over the announcement, saying “It seems that old habits die hard for Bank of America. After years of raking in excess profits off an unfair and anti-competitive interchange system, Bank of America is trying to find new ways to pad their profits by sticking it to its customers.”

The decision has drawn much criticism as Bank of America was one of the largest recipients of US taxpayer bailouts, totalling $45 billion in federal bailout money in 2008 and 2009 to deal with losses at Merrill Lynch.

Durbin also added, “Banks that try to make up their excess profits off the backs of their customers will finally learn how a competitive market works.”

The new Bank of America debit card usage fee will apply to basic accounts and will be in addition to any existing monthly service fees charged to account holders.