• Associated Press via Daily Herald, Thursday, June 7, 2007 11 AM

After collecting more than $22 billion worth of fees from customers last year, Bank of America is pushing ads that claim it can help customers avoid them. More than half the company's annual revenue comes from non-interest income that includes fees, and it isn't saying whether the new ads, tagged "a little knowledge is a powerful thing" are apt to cut into the take.

"Customers told us they want simple ways to manage their money and track their accounts when, where and how they want," says Liam McGee, president of the bank's global consumer and small business banking. But educating consumers may not be enough.

"Education will not solve the fundamental problem that banks, encouraged by their regulators, have a series of unfair and deceptive practices designed to squeeze money out of people's bank accounts," says Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

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