Debit Card Fees

The author of this commentary is Goudge, a chairman of the board and CEO of Broadway Bank in San Antonio. The audience of this article would be anyone who has a debit card and is concerned with the resent fees that have been added to the use of the cards for purchases. A lot of people including President Barack Obama are in complete disagreement with these monthly fees that are being applied. Goudge argues that banks have a good reason behind charging those fees. He says that “21 cents plus up to an additional 5 cents per transaction does not cover the high costs financial institutions pay to provide secure systems for their customers, including implementing fraud prevention measures, absorbing fraud losses and operating the vast debit card system.” If you don’t agree with the fees there’s always the option of moving you money to a smaller bank or credit union, but according to Goudge that will not be a long term solution. A recent fee survey shows that 91 percent of the credit unions will increase their fees due to the negative impact of regulation. Goudge’s conclusion is that the government is the one responsible for the fees and not the banks. In my opinion Goudge’s article is valid, the fact that he’s CEO of a bank support that he knows what he’s talking about and increases the credibility. On the other hand because of his position people could also think that he’s taking the banks side and is trying to deflect the anger of the customers. I personally disagree with the fees no matter whom or where they’re coming from, but I think Goudge did a good job trying to get his point across.