As early as last summer, the Times’ Bucks blog reported that several major banks were ending “free checking” or charging fees to customers who actually wanted to use bank branches and tellers. Today, Bucks had the latest development: monthly-fee debit cards. Of the biggies, Bank of America just announced a $5 fee, while Chase and Wells Fargo have tested charging $3 in several markets. This all comes on the eve of new regulations that will more or less halve how much banks can charge merchants for processing debit card purchases, and will likely make up for some of that lost revenue. As for the average bank customer and debit card user, this marks the end of the “Swipe Your Money For Free” era. [Bucks/NYT]
