Bank of America Review: Account Good for You?
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Bank of America is a national bank with many account options and user-friendly online banking. But does this convenience come at a cost? Read on.
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Bank of America Business Advantage Checking Account - $200 Bonus Offer | |||
Overall Score | 3.2 | ||
Savings | 3.0 | ||
CD | 2.0 | ||
Checking | 2.5 | ||
Customer Service | 4.0 | ||
Mobile App | 4.5 | ||
Pros and Cons
- Large branch network
- Extended customer service hours
- Full service banking
- Monthly service fee
- Low interest rates
- Many miscellaneous banking fees
Bottom Line
National bank with widespread accessibility and wide range of services
Bank of America offers a variety of account options, including checking, savings, CDs, IRAs, and investment accounts.
We cover your product choices and more in our guide.
Checking
Bank of America offers one checking account with 3 settings. If your financial situation changes, you can switch to the setting that works best for you.
- Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking®: This setting has no overdraft fees - you can only spend what you have. There are no paper checks.
The monthly fee can be waived if you are a student under 25, or if you are enrolled in Preferred Rewards. The minimum opening deposit is $25.
- Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking®: The minimum opening deposit for this setting is $100.
To waive the monthly service fee, you'll then need to keep a balance of $1,500, or have one direct deposit of at least $250 each month, or enrolled in Preferred Rewards.
This account allows you to write checks and enroll in overdraft protection.
- Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking®: You can open an interest-bearing checking account with just $100.
But, you'll need a minimum average balance of $10,000 in your combined accounts to waive the monthly fee. These accounts include checking, savings, CDs, IRAs, or Merrill Edge/Merrill Lynch investment accounts.
Compare Checking Accounts
Citi Priority - Earn up to $2,000 Cash Bonus
- Earn up to $2,000 when you open a new eligible Citi checking account and enroll in the offer the same day
- New to Relationship customers can choose their Relationship Tier.
- Within 20 days of opening, deposit the minimum amount of new-to-Citibank funds.
- Maintain a minimum balance for 60 consecutive calendar days from the 21st day.
- If your balance falls to a lower Balance Level at any point during the maintenance period, the bonus changes.
- Bonus will be paid within 30 days after you successfully complete all required activities.
- Restrictions apply.
BMO Smart Advantage Checking - $400 Cash Bonus
Open a new BMO Smart Advantage Checking online and get a $400 cash bonus when you have a total of at least $4,000 in qualifying direct deposits within the first 120 days of account opening. Offer is limited to one per customer and is not available for existing BMO personal checking customers (including signers on joint accounts) or those who have closed a BMO personal checking account within the past 12 months. Conditions apply.
Chase Total Checking® - $200 Bonus
- New Chase checking customers enjoy a $200 bonus when you open a Chase Total Checking® account and set up direct deposit
- Access to more than 15,000 Chase ATMs and more than 4,700 branches
- Chase Mobile® app - Manage your accounts, deposit checks, transfer money and more -- all from your device.
- JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC
- Open your account online now
- Available online nationwide except in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. For branch locations, visit locator.chase.com.
- Chase Overdraft Assist℠ - no overdraft fees if you're overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the business day or if you're overdrawn by more than $50 and bring your account balance to overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the next business day*
Savings
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The savings account options are rather limited at Bank of America. You only have one choice for a "standard" savings account.
- Advantage Savings: Open this account with $100 and you'll have access to tiered interest rates. You can earn higher interest rates if you enroll in their Preferred Rewards program.
You can waive the monthly service fee with an average balance of $500, a linked Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking® account, or become a member of the Preferred Rewards Program (see below).
The monthly fee is also waived for those under age 18 and students under age 25. For new accounts, Bank of America will waive the monthly maintenance for the first six months.
Keep reading to learn about Bank of America's CD options.
Customer service representatives are available Monday-Friday, 8 AM to 11 PM ET, and Saturday and Sunday, 8 AM to 8 PM ET. They also offer automated support 24/7.
Compare Savings Account Promotion
Discover Online Savings - $200 Cash Bonus
To get your $150 or $200 Bonus: What to do: Apply for your first Discover Online Savings Account, online, in the Discover App or by phone. Enter Offer Code CY923 when applying. Deposit into your account a total of at least $15,000 to earn a $150 Bonus or deposit a total of at least $25,000 to earn a $200 Bonus. Deposit must be posted to account within 30 days of account open date. Maximum bonus eligibility is $200.
What to know: Offer not valid for existing or prior Discover savings customers or existing or prior customers with savings accounts that are co-branded, or affinity accounts provided by Discover. Eligibility is based on primary account owner. Account must be open when bonus is credited. Bonus will be credited to the account within 60 days of the account qualifying for the bonus. Bonus is interest and subject to reporting on Form 1099-INT. Offer ends 12/14/2023, 11:59 PM ET. Offer may be modified or withdrawn without notice. See advertiser website for full details.
UFB High Yield Savings - Earn up to 5.25% APY
- Earn up to 5.25% APY*
- No monthly maintenance fees
- No minimum deposit required to open an account
- Access your funds 24/7 with easy-to-use digital banking tools
CIT Bank Platinum Savings - 5.05% APY
- 5.05% APY with a balance of $5,000 or more
- 0.25% APY with a balance of less than $5,000
- $100 minimum opening deposit
- No monthly maintenance fee
- Member FDIC
CDs
If you can tie your money up for a specific period, you may earn higher interest rates on it with a CD.
- Featured CD: If you won't need $1,000 of your money for at least 7 months, invest it in the Featured CD.
You'll receive a fixed interest rate for the five CD terms ranging from 7 months to 37 months. You'll have the ability to roll the money over into another CD upon maturity.
- Standard Term CD Account: If you have at least $1,000, but less than $10,000, you can invest in a Standard Term CD.
The maturity dates range between 28 days and 10 years, each of which has variable interest rates. You can opt for automatic renewal upon maturity.
With both types of Bank of America CD's, your balances are FDIC-insured up to $250,000.
Compare CD Rates
Certificate of Deposit
- 5.00% APY for 12-month term
- 5.00% APY for 18-month term
- 4.30% APY for 36-month term
- 4.00% APY for 5-year term
9-Month High-Yield CD - 5.20% APY
- No fees
- $1 minimum deposit
- 24/7 online access to funds
- FDIC insured through California Bank of Commerce
CD Rates - Up to 5.30% APY
- $500 minimum opening deposit
- FDIC insured
| Term | CD Rates |
|---|---|
| 6 Months | 5.05% APY |
| 1 Year | 5.30% APY |
| 2 Years | 4.50% APY |
| 3 Years | 4.40% APY |
| 5 Years | 4.30% APY |
IRAs
If your employer doesn't offer a 401(k) or you have extra money to invest beyond your 401(k), Bank of America offers a couple of IRA options.
- Savings IRAs: If you like to keep things safe, Bank of America offers IRA CDs and money market accounts. You'll receive a predicted return and have the stability of FDIC insurance on your deposits and earnings.
- Investment IRAs: If you need a more aggressive retirement plan, open an IRA with Merrill Edge. You can then invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs.
Reasons We Like Bank of America
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- Cashback rewards. You can earn cashback on your regular purchases. With BankAmeriDeals, you can opt in to receive deals on certain purchases.
You do this in your online or mobile banking platform. If you conduct these purchases with your Bank of America debit card, you'll receive cash back in your checking account.
- Automatically save with the Keep the Change Savings Program. If you opt into this program, Bank of America will automatically round up purchases made with your debit card to the nearest dollar.
They deposit the extra change into your savings account.
- Instant debit card lock. You can lock and unlock your debit card online or in the mobile app instantly.
If you think you've misplaced your debit card or it was stolen, you can freeze access instantly. When you find it, you can unlock it just as easily. If your card is gone for good, you'll need to call customer service for a replacement.
- Perks with Preferred Rewards Program. If you have a combined balance of $20,000 in Bank of America/Merrill Lynch products, you can join the Preferred Rewards Program.
This gives you access to higher savings rates, a rewards bonus on your BofA cashback credit cards, limited fee-free, third-party ATM transactions, and savings on Merrill Edge investment commission costs.
- Build good money habits for kids. Bank of America offers parents help in teaching kids about finances with their "Family Financial Matters" page.
It offers tips on teaching kids as young as middle school how to budget, tips on saving for college, and many other age-appropriate financial tips for parents to discuss with their children.
- Mobile banking access. You can conduct a large amount of banking transactions online or on the mobile app.
Aside from checking your balances and viewing statements, you can pay your bills, transfer funds, and make mobile check deposits.
- Financial tools. The Bank of America mobile app has spending and budgeting tools.
These tools allow you to track your spending, create a budget, and potentially increase your savings by changing certain habits.
- Custom alerts. Set up custom alerts so that you never miss a low balance or payment that's due. You can receive the alerts via text, email, or through the mobile app.
Choose from a variety of alerts, including low balance alerts, payment due alerts, unusual activity alerts, or deals expiring alerts.
- Debit card security. Bank of America offers the option to add your picture to the front of your Bank of America debit card to prevent fraudulent activity from a stolen card.
- FDIC Insured. Your deposits at Bank of America are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per account.
If Bank of America went out of business, your money would remain safe. This does not apply to any investments opened with Merrill Edge or Merrill Lynch, though.
You can also find them in Bank of America's FAQs after you enter your state of residence.
Reasons You May Want to Look Elsewhere
- Monthly service fee. Unless you're a student under 25, there is monthly service fee. Even for the more basic account, you need to maintain $1,500 to waive the service fee (or have $250 in a single direct deposit per month).
This may exclude the lower-income customers who can't meet the minimum balance requirements.
- Hefty non-BofA ATM fees. Bank of America charges $2.50 - $5.00 for every ATM transaction conducted on an ATM other than one owned by Bank of America. This is in addition to the fees that the third-party bank will charge.
- Low interest. You have minimal account options and the accounts that do pay interest offer minimal interest rates.
If you need a place to just park money that will be safe and BofA is convenient for you, it may be feasible. If you are trying to grow your savings or need more account options, you may want to look elsewhere.
- Fee heavy. Bank of America has a lot of "miscellaneous account charges."
Even if you qualify to waive the monthly service fee, you may incur a large number of other charges. Make sure to read the fine print to see if any of the charges may apply to your normal banking transactions.
How It Compares
See how Bank of America stacks up against its competition.
- Chase: Like Bank of America, Chase has many branches and ATMs throughout the US. Chase also offers a similar number of bank accounts as Bank of America, which means you have only a few options.
Chase does offer a variety of promotions in order to entice consumers to open an account with them, though. Chase tends to charge slightly higher fees, especially for their "premium" accounts for account holders with larger balances.
- Wells Fargo has branches throughout the United States. But you won't find as many as Bank of America offers.
Wells Fargo offers customer service around-the-clock and a larger variety of checking and savings accounts than Bank of America.
- US Bank branches are scattered across the US as well. They tend to offer more checking and savings account options than Bank of America.
They also offer specialty products for teens and seniors. You may find slightly higher interest rates at US Bank, but they still won't compare to your online bank options.
|  | |
| Visit Site | Visit Site | |
Bank of America | US Bank | |
|---|---|---|
Bank of America Business Advantage Checking Account - $200 Bonus Offer - | U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking and Standard Savings - Up to $1,000 Bonus - | |
Benefits and Features | ||
| Savings |  | 0.01% APY. Minimum deposit $25. Monthly maintenance fee $4, unless you have $300 minimum daily ledger balance OR $1,000 average monthly collected balance. |
| CD | | Standard Term CD: 0.05% - 0.25% APY. Terms ranging from 1 month - 60 months. Minimum deposit of $500. Maximum deposit $249,999. |
| Checking | | |
| Money Market | 0.01% APY, depending on amount. Minimum opening deposit $100. Monthly maintenance fee $10 unless you have $10,000 daily ledger balance. | |
| Customer Service |
| 24/7 Live Customer Service (Telephone) |
| ATMs | More than 37,000 ATMs across the country | |
| Locations | Approximately 3,800+ retail financial centers | More than 2200 branches across the country. |
| Visit Site | Visit Site | |
Blank fields may indicate the information is not available, not applicable, or not known to CreditDonkey. Please visit the product website for details. Bank of America: Pricing information from published website as of 09/20/2023 based on 91107 zip code. US Bank: Pricing information from published website as of 09/15/2023 based on 91107 zip code. | ||
You might also consider:
Discover Online Savings - $150 Cash Bonus
To get your $150 or $200 Bonus: What to do: Apply for your first Discover Online Savings Account, online, in the Discover App or by phone. Enter Offer Code CY923 when applying. Deposit into your account a total of at least $15,000 to earn a $150 Bonus or deposit a total of at least $25,000 to earn a $200 Bonus. Deposit must be posted to account within 30 days of account open date. Maximum bonus eligibility is $200.
What to know: Offer not valid for existing or prior Discover savings customers or existing or prior customers with savings accounts that are co-branded, or affinity accounts provided by Discover. Eligibility is based on primary account owner. Account must be open when bonus is credited. Bonus will be credited to the account within 60 days of the account qualifying for the bonus. Bonus is interest and subject to reporting on Form 1099-INT. Offer ends 12/14/2023, 11:59 PM ET. Offer may be modified or withdrawn without notice. See advertiser website for full details.
Online Savings Account - Earn 4.30% APY
- No fees
- No minimum opening deposit
- No minimum balance required
High Yield Savings - 4.50% APY
- 4.50% APY
- $100 minimum opening deposit
- No monthly service fees
Bottom Line
Bank of America is a "convenient bank" because of its many locations. It's easier to avoid the third-party ATM fees that banks, including BofA, charge.
But its limited account options and low interest rates may have you looking elsewhere.
Read the fine print and focus on what you want out of your bank account before opening an account just for its convenience.
Bank of America Business Advantage Checking Account - $200 Bonus Offer
- Open a new eligible business checking account by December 31, 2023
- Make Qualifying Deposits* of $5,000 or more in new money within 30 days of opening the new eligible business checking account
- Maintain an average balance of $5,000 for the next 60 days (day 31-90) during the maintenance period**
**The maintenance period begins thirty-one (31) days after account opening and ends ninety (90) calendar days after account opening.
Member FDIC
Chase Total Checking® - $200 Bonus
- New Chase checking customers enjoy a $200 bonus when you open a Chase Total Checking® account and set up direct deposit
- Access to more than 15,000 Chase ATMs and more than 4,700 branches
- Chase Mobile® app - Manage your accounts, deposit checks, transfer money and more -- all from your device.
- JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC
- Open your account online now
- Available online nationwide except in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. For branch locations, visit locator.chase.com.
- Chase Overdraft Assist℠ - no overdraft fees if you're overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the business day or if you're overdrawn by more than $50 and bring your account balance to overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the next business day*
Citi Priority - Earn up to $2,000 Cash Bonus
- Earn up to $2,000 when you open a new eligible Citi checking account and enroll in the offer the same day
- New to Relationship customers can choose their Relationship Tier.
- Within 20 days of opening, deposit the minimum amount of new-to-Citibank funds.
- Maintain a minimum balance for 60 consecutive calendar days from the 21st day.
- If your balance falls to a lower Balance Level at any point during the maintenance period, the bonus changes.
- Bonus will be paid within 30 days after you successfully complete all required activities.
- Restrictions apply.
Discover Online Savings - $200 Cash Bonus
To get your $150 or $200 Bonus: What to do: Apply for your first Discover Online Savings Account, online, in the Discover App or by phone. Enter Offer Code CY923 when applying. Deposit into your account a total of at least $15,000 to earn a $150 Bonus or deposit a total of at least $25,000 to earn a $200 Bonus. Deposit must be posted to account within 30 days of account open date. Maximum bonus eligibility is $200.
What to know: Offer not valid for existing or prior Discover savings customers or existing or prior customers with savings accounts that are co-branded, or affinity accounts provided by Discover. Eligibility is based on primary account owner. Account must be open when bonus is credited. Bonus will be credited to the account within 60 days of the account qualifying for the bonus. Bonus is interest and subject to reporting on Form 1099-INT. Offer ends 12/14/2023, 11:59 PM ET. Offer may be modified or withdrawn without notice. See advertiser website for full details.
CIT Bank Platinum Savings - 5.05% APY
- 5.05% APY with a balance of $5,000 or more
- 0.25% APY with a balance of less than $5,000
- $100 minimum opening deposit
- No monthly maintenance fee
- Member FDIC
Write to Kim P at feedback@creditdonkey.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for our latest posts.
Note: This website is made possible through financial relationships with some of the products and services mentioned on this site. We may receive compensation if you shop through links in our content. You do not have to use our links, but you help support CreditDonkey if you do.
This content is not provided by Citi. Any opinions expressed are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by Citi.
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