Bank of America's Debit Card Fiasco: Where Do the Mistakes End?

Bank of America thought buying Countrywide, the beleaguered mortgage company, was a good idea a few years ago.

Wrong.

The company is still paying for that one, and will be for years.

Bank of America tries to promote that it makes refinancing home loans to take advantage of historically low interest rates.

Wrong.

Considering its size, Bank of America barely makes any refinancing loans at all.

The list could go on, of gaffes and annoyances from Bank of America in recent years. But we'll keep it at this: Bank of America will begin charging a $5 monthly fee at the start of next year for customers who make debit card purchases.

If customers don't use their card at all, they won't be charged the fee.

But who wants a debit card if they aren't going to use it?

Those who do, will be popped the $5 fee.

The troubled bank, facing massive financial losses, questions over its capital needs and multi-billion lawsuits, said it decided to impose the fee after legislation in Congress reduced the amount of money banks get when customers use their debit cards in stores.

Bank of America is trying to find new ways to pad their profits by sticking it to its customers, said Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), who sponsored the bill in Congress, in a statement Thursday. It's overt, unfair, and I hope their customers have the final say.

Bingo. Bingo, Bingo.

It's overt. It's unfair, and, I hope their customers have the final say.

And oh, will they ever. Netflix tried messing around with its customers two months ago. The streaming video company tossed a surprise 60 percent price hike on them and they got angry, and many fled -- stopping the high-flying company's growth dead in its tracks.

Bank of America has hardly been high-flying. In fact, America's largest bank has been barely hanging on. The bank is trying to shed 30,000 jobs. It is trying to stop its losses, and clean up Countrywide. It is trying to repair its reputation, damaged after the bank took billions in federal bailout in the 2008 financial meltdown.

Now they make the big mistake of trying to make money by nickel-and-diming good customers.

The backlash has been severe from the outset. Message boards on stories and elsewhere throughout the Internet have lighted up from upset customer backlash. On the air, Fox Business Networks' Gerri Willis cut up her debit card Thursday evening, upon B of A's announcement of its plan.

Right here, right now, I'm going to show Bank of America what I think of their fees, she said, before using a pair of scissors on her card.

At The Street, a financial news blog that covers companies, Jon Gorey wrote in an opinion piece on Friday titled, Bank of America Dumps Customers Over $5 -- Today's Outrage, saying that as a customer, if they start reaping a $5 fee from me for something I can do elsewhere for free, I'm gone. Done.

That's been the general sentiment from many in response. They don't like it, and they don't plan to take it.

So even though Bank of America may have thought getting $5 a month in debit card fees per customer was a good idea, it's clear that the company was wrong.

Again.