Higher interchange rates on card transactions helped lead to nearly $1.5 billion in income just from card fees for Bank of America Corporation in just three months.
[During the past six months, the bank reported $2.7 billion in income from these fees, vs $1.9 billion in 2004].
The June 30th BofA quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. revealed that card income increased $278 million in part due to an increase from its interchange income and merchant discount fees driven by growth in debit and credit card purchase volumes. The bank also reported an 8% increase in consumer credit card purchase volumes which resulted in higher merchant discount and interchange fees.
J P Morgan Chase & Co also reported that for the latest quarter its "Revenue increased due to higher loan balances and increased interchange income from higher charge volume." For the three months ended June 30th, credit card income rose 179% to $1.7 billion, vs. $631 million the prior year. Even better were their six month results with a 183% increase from $1.2 billion to $3.4 billion, respectively.
