Though I doubt garnering sympathy for Bank of America was the intent, a Forbes article published yesterday seems to suggest as much.

On the topic of Bank of America testing new checking fees in select areas, the article notes, “While fees may feel unfair the reality is banks need to be able to generate healthy revenue and income. Bank of America, with all its recent struggles from Countrywide to questions about its capital levels, has even more to prove to both regulators and investors.”

At first I thought I was reading too much into it, but a number of people in the comments section expressed a similar interpretation of the content and tone of the article.

The author notes that Bank of America revenue was down $400 million the fourth quarter of last year, largely because of the debit card swipe fee limit now imposed on what banks are allowed to charge merchants for our use of cards at check-out. Boo hoo, right? The reason these limits were imposed is because regulators determined merchants were being charged exorbitant amounts in fees – costs passed on to customers in the form of higher prices.

In other words, any loss in revenue from debit card swipe fees was brought on by big banks (like Bank of America) themselves. If a loss in debit card swipe fees is hurting banks that much, that suggests to me that banks were far too dependent on them (i.e., taking advantage of what was a cash cow for them for far too long).

All of that said, as someone who frequently expresses my personal opinion on matters such as these, I give kudos to the author for taking any position she chooses on this issue, or any other.

What do you think? Considering the behavior of big banks of late – particularly illegal lending and foreclosure practices – can you see it from their point of view (i.e., sympathize)?

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