Just imaging K-Bug and me making funny faces from the back row.

Heh. Good call!

So, Bank of America is dropping their debir card fee.

Do any of these companies think before they act? Netflix, B of A...

Oh, good. And, geez.

I think in both cases neither company thought they'd lose customers and they did. I can't remember how many with netflix lost but I know there were campaigns with Bank of America for people to share their accounts on closing their bank accounts.

And it wasn't just BoA,there was a push for people to switch from any bank to credit unions.

So I guess the government passed some law limiting some fees that banks could charge, so B of A decided they were still entitled to make the same amount of money as before, so they just invented a new fee.

Perhaps some B of A executives didn't want to lose their bonuses so they just added the new fee to see if it would stick....

Happy birthday Ginger!

Amy, wear clothes. HPF & I will do our best SuziQ + KBug impressions.

Clothes. Good call!

I'm 600 words away from finishing a fic due today, too. Come on, words.

Happy birthday, Ginger!

We only had three small groups of trick or treaters last night: first, a group of high school boys without costumes; then three kids from the family across the street; then four young kids with their parents, not sure where they live. Had an awkward moment with the last group of kids, when I told them all to take two pieces of candy and one girl clearly took three, which I saw and gently reiterated, "Just two," and she put one back. Then when they were leaving and I was asking one of the boys if he'd gotten his two pieces, the girl lingered and said something to her dad, and he said, "Aw, she wouldn't lie," and told her to get another piece of candy. I let her, of course, but still felt weird about it, like maybe the dad thought I was calling his kid a liar...?

Anyway, the second group of kids (from the family across the street) were ADORABLE: one was a ladybug, one was Little Red Riding Hood (without the hood -- difficult to guess!) and then the youngest was Spider-Man. He was very excited to catch a glimpse of our kitties. SO cute, and I was glad to get a chance to talk to the kids for a minute. I see them playing on the street sometimes, riding bikes around, when I get home from work, but we've never exchanged more than a wave and a "Hi." I hope we get a chance to meet their parents soon. It would be great to get to know another family with young kids on our block!

Happy Birthday, Ginger!

Fic harder, Amy!!

So I guess the government passed some law limiting some fees that banks could charge, so B of A decided they were still entitled to make the same amount of money as before, so they just invented a new fee.

As part of the Dodd-Frank Act (the banking act of -- good grief, was it just last year), Congress required the Federal Reserve to enact a rule limiting the interchange fee that banks could charge to merchants for processing each debit card transaction. The Federal Reserve enacted that rule, and the maximum was about half of what banks currently charge.

I'm oversimplifying like mad, but that's the basic course of events. The debit card fee was a response to the limit on the interchange fee.