BofA & Occupy Wall Street

In September, Bank Of America announced that it would begin charging customers a monthly $5 fee early next year. However, after widespread customer revolt and announcements by several Bofa rivals that they won't charge similar debit-card fees, Bank of America rethought its plan. The debit card fees these institutions originally planned to charge sparked pledges by thousands of consumers to move their money out of big banks.

Occupy Wall Street had been calling for consumers to celebrate "Dump Your Bank Day" next week. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee said it got more than 51,000 people to pledge to take their money out of major financial institutions, with 21,500 consumers planning to remove their money from Bank of America specifically. While these groups say the decision by banks to scrap the debit-card fee is a step in the right direction, it doesn't mean consumers are going to be running back to their banks in droves. "This shows that when the public fights back together against Wall Street, we can make progress -- but the fight is nowhere close to over," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. "Bank of America and other Wall Street banks broke the law, ruined our economy, and cost people their jobs, their homes, and their life savings ... By moving our money, we will make these irresponsible banks less 'too big to fail.'"