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Bank of America - A Brief Review February 28, 2005 Cap -@- StopBuyingCrap.com I haven’t been alive long enough, so I’m not really sure when the change from banking institutions to banking businesses occurred. But from what I can recall, it wasn’t really all that long ago. Give or take a couple of decades? Whenever it was that those nasty deregulation of banks occurred. In either case, Bank of America is a business. They were a bit slow to adapt, unlike Wells Fargo, but regardless they are one of the largest bank in the United States. (The largest bank in America, in terms of deposit) The current Bank of America Corporation is the result of the recent 1998 merger between Bank of America and Nations Bank. For some of us living in certain area, we may even have the impression that it IS the largest bank in the United States. Without a doubt, Bank of America has one of the largest ATM/branch network in the nation. In fact it’s a bit ridiculous at times, especially for those of us living in Southern California. Imagine driving down the street, seeing Bank of America ATM/branch locations every five minutes. That’s hardly a bad thing though, as that’s one of the main reasons why I bank with Bank of America. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the convenience in having easy and quick access to your money whenever you need them, and without those nasty silly surcharges imposed too. Although if you live in the upper east coast, you probably won’t see as much Bank of America as those of us in the West, South, or lower East Coast. That’s changing soon though with their expanding operations in New York, and the construction of their new way-too-big headquarter. I worked at BOA for a little over half a year, I was laid off (ouch) but not because of anything I’ve done (honest!) They were consolidating their back end operations, closing down their Orange County processing center, and moving all of those to the LA center. People just don’t write as much checks, or deposit as much in the ATMs anymore. Electronic banking is all the rage, and for very good reasons. While being a BOA employee, I get special rates to their products and services, which weren’t all that great at all and some of them were supposedly the higher tier “better” rates too! Although the credit card interest rate I received was definitely a good low rate. If you have experiences with BOA, you’ll have plenty knowledge with their high fees, ridiculous amount of “hidden” fees, low interest rates in savings/checking CDs/money market/etc. I remember in one particular meeting with my managers and fellow employees, we discussed banking at BOA. There was an entertaining amount of people complaining about the high and numerous fees associated with BOA, and this is from BOA’s own workforce, whom receives the lower fees and better rates. So why even bother banking there? Well as mentioned, they do have a very large ATM network, so that’s a plus. They do have “free” checking accounts, which is free only with direct deposit. But for most of us these days, and especially those of us that use online transactions a lot, it isn’t too big of issues. This is mainly because even a deposit from your PayPal account to your BOA checking account counts as a direct deposit. Although using PayPal like a bank to transfer money back and forth is a bad idea, even a small regular deposit from your PayPal account would count as a direct deposit. Remember that if you setup a direct deposit, you can usually specify the amounts too, so that not all of your paycheck goes to your BOA checking. The above mentioned work-around in waiving the $5.95 monthly fee for their MyAccess “free” checking accounts might be a bit too specific and troubling for some, but for those of us already setup with these accounts, it’s not much of an added hassle, for the return of having access to a large ATM network. That’s mainly why I use BOA. It’s available, and for me, it’s free. This specific MyAccess account allows unlimited branch/teller transaction, unlimited check writing, and unlimited phone transactions without extra fees. Another incentive to actually open up a checking account, BOA is offering a $50 bonus when you open a checking account online. The offer expires in 4/30/05. Check out the link for more details. (Even if this offer is expired, you can check around, they usually have one form of promotion or another.)http://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/checksave/mya/
You really can’t expect much from any of their interest rates accounts though. The checking with interest is a super low 0.10% (as of this writing) for their Prima Account, which is what I had when I was working there. It requires a high $10,000 minimum balance to enjoy the low interest rate, and the extra features you may or may not need. Although some of the extra features such as the no fees for traveler’s/cashier check or the free annual rental of a standard size safe box are some nice addition (for those that need them.) Again, this particular checking account serves another specific group of users. Their saving accounts interest rates are also fairly low. It ranges from 0.25% for their regular saving account to around 1.60% for their higher rate account that requires 100k in balance. All in all, they do have a good range of products offered, if not quality products, but a selection nevertheless. Another worthwhile mention of Bank of America is their credit card offerings. While certainly not the best rate in the industry, their rates are actually fair and straightforward. Their VISA card offerings are what they interpret, and you wouldn’t find any surprises there (but please still read all the disclosures). Like most financial institutions, they have a wide range of card offerings from simple low rate cards to airline point cards. Their card also allows for a certain amount of customization (your favorite pet as the image for the card), and along with their ATM/debit cards, you have the option to have your mug shot in the upper corner of the card. It does save some time and hassle in having to flash your driver license every time you make a purchase. But that’s probably not a major issue for anyone. For those of you that don’t know, Bank of America invented the bank credit card around the late 1950s. Their famous BankAmericard, derived one of the largest, most widely known credit card brand in the world – VISA. This is somewhat the reason why you don’t see too many BOA Master Card offerings, which was called the Master Charge, created by other California banking institutions to compete against the BankAmericard. BOA’s Online Banking is a decent setup too, although like many online banking service now provided by brick-mortar banks, it can still be vastly improved. Navigation is fairly simple, and account summary and statistics (viewable for 6 statement months) are easy to read and understand. Online Banking features includes services such as: stopping check payments, re-ordering of checks, and viewing your previous paper statements from up to 18 months. You can also add your BOA credit card onto Online Banking, which provides many of the same features above, such as viewing your balances, credit limit, current amount due, etc. You can request services such as credit line increase, balance transfer, and copies of sale slips. Disputing and inquiring about a transaction is also available online. Like viewing your checking and savings account, the online statements/summary are viewable for up to 6 billing months. Another great online banking feature is the transferring of funds from within your BOA accounts, to transferring of funds from other accounts at other institutions to your BOA accounts. Retrieval of funds from outside accounts are free of charge with some transfer limits, while outward transfer to other outside accounts have some fees associated with it depending on the transfer amounts. Online Bill Pay is free and pretty simple to use. Although terms like payee (an individual or company you’re making payment to) may be lost on some new comers, adding a bill to pay is made easier with their large list of possible bill payments, ranging from utility companies, mortgage lenders, to your newspaper carriers. They send your payments either electronically or via checks, depending on whether your payee can accept electronic payments or not. Before sending payment, you will also be able to see the time it takes for your payment to be receive by the payee. Bill Pay is also guaranteed by Bank of America, which protects you from unauthorized access and processing delays. There are many more features and services that are included with Online Banking or your BOA accounts. Many of them aren’t even covered in this ‘short’ article, but a quick visit to their website at www.bankofamerica.com will provide you with many information (perhaps too much). Like any full-service banks, this isn’t necessary a big deal. But plenty of their offline services are now available Online, which makes life a little bit easier for all of us, and this does give a few more points to why you might want to consider having an account at Bank of America. At the end though, there are many other offerings available. It is clear that BOA works well enough for me, and serves my purpose. There is a good reason why it is one of the largest banking institutions in the United States, despite the high fees and what not. Like all products and services, you’ll need to factor in what you need and don’t need. If you live in an area where their ATM/branch networks are amassed like flies on horse doo-doo, then perhaps this would be a good reason for you to get a basic account at BOA, if only to have access to your liquid fast and easy. (Although I could have probably phrased that better?) I most likely have missed a thing here and there, so if you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to email me. Shop around, and do some research. It may take some time and effort, but consumer awareness is never a bad thing, and being more conscious of your financial option is definitely always a good thing.
Updated 3/21/05: ______________
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