Bank of the West Ends its Free Checking Account
Bank of the West is following many other large banks in ending its free checking account. On its website, the free checking has been replaced with Easy Checking. Bank of the West (BotW) customers are being notified by mail that their free checking accounts will soon be converted. According to a BotW customer service representative, not all customers are being converted at once. I was told that California conversions will take place in March, and letters to CA customers went out on January 3rd.
I've posted on several Bank of the West checking account promotions over the years. Last year they offered $100 bonuses for opening their free checking account, and in 2010 they had offered the iPod touch as a bonus. If you had opened the free checking account in one of these promotions, make sure you avoid the fee by either closing the account or meeting the requirements to have the monthly fee waived.
The Easy Checking has a $10 monthly fee if you receive paper statements or $8 if you receive e-statements. To avoid this fee, at least one of the following is required:
- $1,000 average monthly balance in this account, OR
- Single direct deposit of $250 or more per statement cycle, OR
- Ten or more debit card POS purchases (signature and/or PIN) per statement cycle
Those who are 55 or over can qualify for 55 Plus Checking which has no monthly service fees. You can compare these checking accounts at this BotW checking page.
It's interesting to see that debit card usage is one of the options to waive the monthly fee. Since BotW has over $10 billion in assets, its debit cards fall under the Federal Reserve cap on interchange fees. This cap was part of the Durbin Amendment that went into effect last year. The banks had lobbied hard against this regulation claiming that it would force them to end free checking.
Bank of the West is one of the large regional banks. It has $62 billion in assets and over 650 branches in several western and mid-western states. It has an overall health rating at DepositAccounts.com of 5 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 11.45% (above average) based on September 2011 data. Please refer to our financial overview of Bank of the West for more details. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 3514).
Anonymous - #1, Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - 2:34 PM
I just called them after reading this noticed, BOW told me any existing checking accounts will be grandfathered in.
Cd's count toward free checking.
I also quailfy for a free 55 plus account
thanks for all the hard work you do updating this blog every day. I check it everyday first thing, it is a very valuable resource for me
Sarah (anonymous) - #2, Wednesday, January 11, 2012 - 12:03 AM
Bank of the West is absolutely the most scumbag bank I've ever banked with in my lifetime. I've been banking with banks for 20 years. The Pearl branch in Portland, Oregon screwed me over big time on fees. When I tried to point the error out to the manager of the branch she was very rude. I called the main customer service number and explained the problem but they said only the local branch manager can help.
I just closed my account with Bank of the West. I hope that all of you will too especially if you don't like getting unexpected and unwarrented fees to your bank account.
I say switch to a local credit union and screw the big banks. I'm fed up with Bank of the West (the worse of them) and the rest of the big banks.
Anonymous - #3, Wednesday, January 11, 2012 - 9:57 AM
I agree with sarah...BOW is the very worst bank i have ever encountered, Rude manager here in las Vegas refused to pay me $100 sign up bonus after i opened checking account. Said she could do this if she wanted to. Local BOW manager then said that not only would I not get my sign up bonus but also I had to keep the BOW checking account open for 6 months in order to avoid penaly fees!
Absurd!
I complained to federal banking agencies and state attorney general and better business bureau.
Finally the the government agencies put pressure on local BOW manager and she let me close my account but never gave me my $100 bonus. She said I could never open another account with BOW and I said good ridence!
Anonymous - #4, Wednesday, January 11, 2012 - 11:05 PM
Bank of the West is the worst and dishonest bank that I ever experienced. When I opened the account, the banker forgot to put my social security into the system, and later I received a call from the branch for the information. Worst of all, the banker didn't mention that I had to set up one single monthly direct deposit of $250 or more to qualify for the $100 bonus. Their intention is to have you open an account and not to give you the sign in bonus. They are very deceptive. I close my account and never want to have any banking business with them.
Anonymous - #5, Monday, January 23, 2012 - 7:29 PM
We can stick it to B of the W the same way the public stuck it to Bank of America over the $5 debit card fee. It only too B of A one month to drop that fee. Chalk one up for the customer.
So here´s what we can do.
Sign the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/i-demand-that-bank-of-the-west-keep-its-free/
If they don´t drop the fee, we all move banks on March 1st, 2012.
Anonymous - #6, Friday, March 2, 2012 - 2:34 PM
I opened my account in the last millenium, under the Free For Life promotion. I just checked today, and I was told "You're still Free For Life." At least, for now.
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