In a move that could bring an end to the $40 cup of coffee, Bank of America is doing away with overdraft fees on purchases made with debit cards, a decision that could cost the bank tens of millions a year in revenue and put pressure on other banks to do the same.

Bank officials said that effective this summer, customers who try to make purchases with their debit cards without sufficient money in their checking account will simply be declined. Debit purchases account for roughly 60 percent of overdrafts at Bank of America, the nation's largest issuer of debit cards.

Banks are bracing for a new federal rule to take effect this summer that will force them to get permission from account holders before providing overdraft services for debit purchases and ATM withdrawals. That change, which requires customers to "opt in" to overdraft protection, is expected to wipe out billions of dollars in overdraft revenue for the banks.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America is going one step further than the regulations will require and simply will deny any debit card transaction if there is no money in the customer's account to cover it. New York's giant Citibank already has a policy of denying debit card overdrafts.

Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group will continue to offer standard overdraft protection, spokesman Fred Solomon said. PNC, the nation's fifth largest bank based on deposits, will comply with the new federal regulations this summer and cover overdrafts only for customers who authorize the coverage.

"Customers will receive information about how they can choose to 'opt-in' along with their May statements," Mr. Solomon said in an e-mail Wednesday.

At Bank of America, "What our customers kept telling me is 'just don't let me spend money that I don't have,'" said Susan Faulkner, deposit and card product executive, who said the overdraft changes were part of a broader push to build trust among its customers. "We wanted to help them avoid those unexpected overdraft fees."

Customers still will be able to link their checking account to a savings account and cover debit card transactions that way, for a fee, but that still will not allow them to spend money they don't have in their account. The fee is $10, but that fee is waived for certain customers.

The bank will continue to provide overdraft protection, also for a fee, for checks and automatic payments, say to a biller that debits money from an account each month.

Consumers who try to exceed their balance when making an ATM withdrawal already are being notified that they will be charged a $35 overdraft fee if they choose to proceed. Banks can't alert customers that a debit card transaction is about to incur a fee at the register because there is no point-of-sale system in place to allow the kind of back-and-forth communication available at an ATM screen.

There has been considerable consumer and political outcry against overdraft fees on deposit accounts. Over the last decade, the fees have become a major source of revenue for banks as they realized they could make more money by covering consumer overdrafts, offering a short-term loan for a fee, than in denying them.

Last year alone, banks generated about $20 billion from overdraft fees on debit purchases and ATM transactions, and $12 billion more by covering checks and recurring bills, according to Moebs Services, an economic research firm.

But as reports surfaced of customers racking up hundreds, even thousands, in overdraft fees, often for purchases of just a few dollars like a cup of coffee, regulators and lawmakers stepped in. As of July 1, the Federal Reserve will require that banks obtain a customer's consent before they can charge him overdraft fees for ATM transactions and debit purchases; many banks now automatically enroll customers.

In anticipation of the new Fed rule, some banks have begun marketing campaigns to encourage their customers to opt in to overdraft protection to keep the dollars flowing.

Several bills have been introduced in Congress that would go beyond the Fed's rules on overdraft fees.

Bank of America, by deciding to scrap overdraft charges on debit card purchases instead, is hoping to bolster its reputation with consumers at a time when anger at banks for their role in the financial crisis remains high.

The bank's overdraft policy will take effect on June 19 for new customers and in early August for existing ones.

"Consumers have shown a willingness to incur overdrafts if it's covering mortgage payments or car payments, but not to cover a hot dog and a soda," said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

Martin Eakes, CEO of the Center for Responsible Lending, called Bank of America's decision "a very big deal."

"If Bank of America can forgo the fee income and do the right thing by their customers, this should be seen as a direct challenge to the other big banks to match and do the same," said Mr. Eakes, who serves on a Bank of America advisory council, an unpaid position.

Of course, because of the new federal rule that requires customers to opt in to overdraft protection, all the big banks are anticipating a sharp drop in revenue once it goes into effect this summer.

But Mr. Eakes said that because of Bank of America's size, it might have still charged hundreds of millions of dollars in overdraft fees even if most of its 37 million debit customers in the United States dropped out of overdraft protection.

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