Obama Says He Can Stop Bank of America from Making 'a Certain Amount of Profit'

Obama blasts Bank of America's new debit-card fee
By Peter Schroeder, The Hill - 10/03/11 03:44 PM ET

President Obama joined fellow Democrats in blasting a new fee on debit card users announced by Bank of America, arguing that banks do not have an "inherent right" to a certain amount of profits.

The bank has come under a hail of criticism after it announced it would begin charging debit card users $5 a month, blaming the move on policymakers who curbed the amount of fees they could collect from retailers.

"You don’t have some inherent right just to get a certain amount of profit if your customers are being mistreated," he said in an interview with ABC News. "My hope is that you’re going to see a bunch of the banks saying to themselves, 'You know what, this is not good business practices.'"

"This is exactly why we need this [CFPB]," the president said. "We need somebody whose sole job it is to prevent stuff like this."

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