Community counters debit fees

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Community Bank & Co. will pay many of its new customers $5 a month for a full year when they open a new account, through a promotion that responds directly to the decision by many major banks to charge customers a monthly debit card fee.

Customers must open a Value Checking account with direct deposit to be eligible for the promotion, the bank says.

“We thought paying people $5 per month rather than charging them $5 per month was a good way to set us apart," says President Katie Pemble in a release.