Students have voiced aggravation with Bank of America’s recent decision to start charging $5 per month for the use of its debit cards.

Many said that, while they understand that the fees were added in response to new economic pressures, they are still unhappy with the change. Some said they are considering other banking options as a result.

Bank of America is the only bank students can use on campus.

“I’m canceling my Bank of America debit card because there are plenty of other banks that I can use that won’t charge me a monthly fee,” sophomore Bailey Breems said.

Sophomore Anthony Tyrpin responded similarly.

“I’m definitely going to look into other ways of paying for things if they are charging $5 a month,” he said. “That’s a little outrageous.”

The bank’s announcement to impose the fee is partially due to the Durbin Amendment, part of the financial reform passed by Congress last year. The new legislation lowered the fee that sellers pay per debit card swipe from 44 cents to 24 cents.

The bank is one of many to increase the amount card users are charged to make up for the difference in revenue. Wells Fargo, Chase and SunTrust have also announced that they will be introducing debit card fees.

Not all banks are imposing fees on their customers, however. Options such as PerkStreet Financial, as well as prepaid cards, continue to allow debit card options without subjecting consumers to monthly charges.

Student accounts opened before Aug. 10 of 2010 under the old CampusEdge program will not be charged. CampusEdge offered perks such as no overdraft fees for a student’s first overdraft.

Beyond irritation with the change itself, many students criticized how Bank of America has communicated the transition.

Some who recently created accounts were frustrated that they were not notified of the changes.

“I just switched to Bank of America to avoid debit card costs, and then immediately after I switched they started charging,” sophomore John D’Alessandro said.

Even after the change was announced, numerous student customers still hadn’t heard of the new fees or were confused by what accounts the fees applied to.

“They didn’t advertise it. I have a Bank of America account but I never received an email,” sophomore Shira Metter said.

Employees of the bank were unsure about the specifics of the plan.

“We don’t have a specific date on when this is changing and there are still some details that are being worked out,” said Nicole Muratovik, manager at the campus Bank of America office. “It should be toward the beginning of 2012. Any account that will be affected by the fee will get notification at least 30 days before the change. It will come in their statements.”

Muratovik said that large-scale reconfiguration of the bank will likely lead to additional changes in upcoming months.

“In order for us to keep the same services and value that we currently offer the customers…we are redoing our fee structure and things will change,” she said.