Poll: What's Your Debit Card Worth to You?

If you haven't already heard, banks are starting to charge customers when they use their debit cards, including two with branches in Redmond.

Bank of America plans to start charging $5 a month for debit card usage in early 2012, the Huffington Post and other news outlets reported Thursday. On Oct. 14, Wells Fargo will start testing a similar $3 charge to customer checking accounts in Washington and four other states, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The fees will only apply in months when customers use their cards to make purchases. They won’t be triggered by ATM transactions. The news reports also said that most premium accounts would be exempt as well.

The moves by BofA and Wells Fargo come as new federal limits on debit card swipe fees are about to go into effect. They join the growing number of U.S. banks that are looking to recoup the resulting loss in revenue by paring back debit-reward programs, adding new fees and raising balance minimums for free checking.

Questions remain on the specifics of the new fees, but it appears even a single purchase made in a month with a debit card would trigger the $5 fee.

So how will you respond?