• Los Angeles Times, Tuesday, March 16, 2010 10:47 AM

Bank of America has garnered heaps of praise -- even from some formerly staunch critics -- for its widely covered decision last week to do away with a $35 charge to consumers who overdraw on their debit accounts. They don't deserve it, according to consumer columnist David Lazarus.

"All of this is in response to our customers," Susan Faulkner, the svp who heads BofA's debit-card business, tells him. "We heard it loud and clear. It's about building a foundation of trust with our customers."

But Lazarus says the bank is just taking new federal rules regulating debit cards to their logical outcome. "It seems pretty pathetic to sing a company's praises just because it's decided to stop mistreating customers," he writes. True as that may be, it's also true that BofA saw an opportunity for good PR at the crossroads of regulation and hype. And took it.

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