Bank Of America Testing New Checking Accounts With New Fees In AZ, GA & MA

Ken, I went back into my past history paperwork with BofA... Some years back, I opened a BofA My Access checking account that was promised to be free permanently... I see the paperwork about "free" but in my BofA paperwork I don't see any reference to the permanent idea...

However, BofA in mid 2009 did fee changes to their accounts and I got a notice of those at the time, but the monthly $8.95 fee they started charging then didn't and hasn't been applied to my checking account with them even now.

In 2009, their fee notice at the time said the changes didn't apply to customers who had opened a free MyAccess checking account through BankofAmerica.com during specified periods of time -- customers in GA and TX after 11/1/2006, and customers in any state after April 20, 2007 (the latter category probably including me). I assume they ended the free online offer some time subsequent to that.

I distinctly remember, at the time I transitioned to that new account with BofA, that they were offering the free checking accounts only to customers who opened their new account online. And although my paperwork doesn't say it, I'm pretty clear in remembering that the "free checking" promise for those accounts was supposed to be permanent.

Working in a bank for 30 years from the late 70's to just recently, I can't tell you how confusing it was for the CSR's, the bank tellers, even management as institutions changed products and grandfathered some checking products. The only way to get the checking account owner to change to the new product was to add a convenience, a bonus or something to entice customers to change checking products. People with products they liked were not forced to change. Can't remember what was offered in the early and mid 80's to banking customers. This is not the first time banking has been in a crisis. I remember being offered a 50% discount on our mtg if we paid it off in the 80's. We had a low interest mtg from the mid 70's and in the early 80's mtg interest went up to over 13% for a fixed 30 yr mtg. It is disheartening to see instituions treat customers so rudely and just tell them what the account will change to. Time to change instituions.

If you have a BofA credit card, the Enhanced package seems halfway decent.  Two checking and two savings accounts fee-free, if you use your credit card once a month (or get a $2000 or higher deposit every month).  Not "free," but not bad....