Fifth Third Bancorp (NYSE: FITB) May Follow Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) in Ending Overdraft Fees

Fifth Third Bancorp (NYSE: FITB) President Bob James said an in an interview this week with the Charlotte Business Journal that his bank will follow a move made by Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) to stop charging customers overdraft fees.

James said that customers should have choices about whether or not they should pay overdraft fees.

“As I understand the Bank of America change, if you’re in the grocery store with $100 of groceries and you don’t have the money in your bank account, they’re going to decline you. There is no option. That’s going to be pretty embarrassing,” James says.

“What we want to do is offer the customer a choice. You can opt in to a program, and we will honor your debit card even if you don’t have the money, for a fee, because it’s a service we provide. But it will be a choice.”

Last week, Bank of America announced that it would be ending the practice of approving customer debit card purchases when there was no money in their account and charging them a $39.00 overdraft fees. Under Bank of America’s new policy, the megabank will instead be declining customers’ transactions when they have no money in their accounts.

Bank of America will allow also customers to link a savings account or credit card to cover a charge when there is no money in their account.

James said that Fifth Third hasn’t released any specific plans about their plans for their debit cards, but allowing customers to choose will be the “theme” of any coming changes.