A stream of egregious fees and practices produced a wave of consumer outrage. Now, facing legislative backlash, two big banks are cutting some fees. Will that be enough to pacify customers?
>> I'm staging a revolt right here, right now.
>> Ann Minch's assumed spelling YouTube was the shot heard round the World Wide Web. When Bank of America raised her credit card interest rate from 13% to a whopping 30%, Ann went viral.
>> I could get a better rate from a loan shark.
>> So she gave them her terms. Lower the rate or she won't pay.
>> So stick that in your bail out pipe and smoke it.
>> The video was viewed a quarter million times. Thousands responded complaining about their own banks.
>> Capital One you can just kiss my beep.
>> American banks are easy targets. They got billions in bailout funds and are now raising rates and fees on those very same tax payers.
>> Banks are doing whatever they can to squeeze the last dollar out of consumers.
>> This year banks are expected to make more than $38 billion in over draft fees alone, up from $18 billion in 1999. The problem is your debit card. Instead of declining the sale when a customer's account is low many banks allow it then charge the customer a hefty fee. The average overdraft fee at large banks is now almost $35. Some lawmakers want to require banks to get permission from their customers before giving them overdraft protection. That way they can't spend what they don't have and they'd avoid the fees. But perhaps to avoid more regulations today Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase overhauled their overdraft policies. Both banks will now ask customers if they want overdraft protection. Bank of America won't charge a fee when an account is less than $10 overdrawn. At Chase its $5 or less. Bank of America will cap the number of overdraft fees at 4 per day. Chase at 3. Yet banks say avoiding these fees should be simple.
>> Its really up to the customer to know how much, what their balance is and how much they have to spend.
>> They took $400 out of my account.
>> Yet banks cannot ignore customer complaints now that they're online. After seeing Ann Minch's video Bank of America called and lowered her rate.
>> Which is a small victory for this debtors revolt movement.
>> Which may only be getting started. Ben Tracy CBS News, Las Angeles.
==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====
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