In September, Bank of America announced it would soon begin charging customers a $5 monthly fee for using their debit cards, saying it was recouping losses from new laws that limited how much it could charge merchants when debit cards were swiped during transactions.

But after a firestorm of negative publicity, BofA waved the white flag of surrender and scrapped the controversial plan.

“We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,” said David Darnell, Bank of America’s co-chief operating officer. “Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.”

Several BofA rivals, including Chase and Wells Fargo, already announced they wouldn’t be instituting debit card fees, while other banks that already implemented them, such as SunTrust and Regions, said they would no longer do so after this week.

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