Bank of America Drops Proposed $5 Debit Card Fee

caved to customer pressure Tuesday.

After weeks of public outcry against , the bank announced it is canceling its plan to charge customers a $5 fee to use their debit cards for purchases.

In a , 94 percent of respondents said they found a monthly debit card fee, "Unbelievable."

The Bank of America fee was one of several proposed by U.S. banks in an effort to generate money following regulations on charges since the financial crisis.

Just days prior to the Bank of America announcement, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and SunTrust, a regional bank in Atlanta, said they were abandoning their plans to levy similar charges.

The bank published this statement on its website:

We heard you

We listened, and heard your feedback about our proposed debit usage fee for 2012. We will not be moving forward with any plans to charge the fee.

We have not charged any Bank of America customers the debit usage fee so far, and are not moving forward with any additional plans to do so.

We value our relationship with you, and remain committed to providing you with efficient, reliable and secure banking.

The bank declined to comment Tuesday on how many customers had closed their accounts after the original fee announcement, but sources close to the bank told The New York Times that account closures were higher than usual.