When I first heard about Bank of America and how they made everything “new,” I thought to myself that this was a totally different bank than what it was 10-15 years ago. You remember that one Bank of America logo with the letters B and A trying to curve in and “merge together?” I am not trying to be all nostalgic here, but I just think that Bank of America had changed, but, in a good way. Go to any Bank of America branch now, and you will see what I mean.
I had signed up for a checking account with Bank of America a few weeks ago, and I had thought that I would be nailed with service fees like all of the other banks I had worked with. Washington Mutual (aka “Chase”) and Wells Fargo, which is one that I currently bank with, are a couple of examples. My personal banker told me that since I had signed up for a student checking account, which comes with free online banking and bill pay, my checking account was still considered “free,” even though a $25 initial deposit is required.
I almost never use cash for point-of-sales transactions, so I always put them in my checking (or savings) account for safekeeping. The reason for this is that Bank of America has a program called “Keep the Change.” What is “Keep the Change?” a new or non-Bank of America customer might ask. Glad he or she had done so.
When you use your Bank of America debit card for a point-of-sales transaction, the pennies, nickels, dimes and/or quarters of that transaction gets rounded up to the nearest dollar, and then the “change” will get transferred to your savings account, which I think is very cool, yet efficient. It does not matter whether you have 70 cents in the change or just a penny in change; it still gets rounded up to the next dollar, and that extra 30 cents or 99 cents will transfer to your savings account. For example, let’s say that you had made a point-of-sales transaction at In-N-Out for lunch and the total comes up to $5.60 for a Double-Double combo with fries and a regular drink. The $5.60 gets rounded up to $6.00 and the extra 40 cents will be transferred and kept in your savings account.
Customer service at a couple of Bank of America locations that I usually go into is very positive and optimistic. They always say hello in a carefree tone, greet me by name, and have been every helpful to me by asking if I wanted some help with my account, whether I am making a cash or check deposit, or even wanted me to grab some coffee. Of course, Wells Fargo would offer me similar service, but they do not have the same type accounts where you get cash back and transfer into your savings account; believe me, all of that cash and coins in your savings account do add up.