Bank of America (BofA) was established in 1904. Since then, through the ups and downs of financial growth and crises, it has grown to become one of the “big four” banks in the United States (the others are JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo). Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bank of America has operations in more than 35 countries around the world.
Bank of America offers a full range of financial products and services. Its personal depository banking products include checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, Certificates of Deposit (CDs), and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Its checking accounts, both interest bearing and non-interest bearing, feature online banking, mobile banking, debit cards, and available overdraft protection. BofA’s savings accounts can be used as overdraft protection for BofA checking accounts. Furthermore, the bank provides Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses.
Bank of America’s money market accounts offer higher interest rates to customers as a relationship banking reward. At the time of this writing, enrollment in the relationship banking program requires both a BofA personal checking account and a certain 3-month average combined balance in BofA banking accounts and/or Merrill Lynch or Merrill Edge investment accounts.
As for CDs, the terms range from 28 days to 10 years, with higher interest rates for longer terms. For the standard CDs, BofA does not allow any additional deposits until the CD matures, and there is an early withdrawal penalty. However, the bank also offers a short-term CD with no early withdrawal penalty, for customers looking to keep their funds relatively liquid.
BofA provides both Traditional and Roth IRA products, available as IRA money market accounts or IRA CDs , as well as brokerage IRAs through Merrill Edge. The bank also offers a variable rate CD IRA, to which deposits can be made at any time, and a short-term CD IRA with no early withdrawal penalty.
For business customers, BofA offers business checking accounts, business savings accounts (including business HSAs), business CDs, business IRA options (provided through Merrill Edge), and relationship banking benefits to higher-balance business customers. The bank’s business checking accounts vary by account balance and transaction volume, and they offer access to BofA’s business savings accounts, which are money market accounts with varied interest rates, depending on the account balance. Finally, as for business CDs, BofA offers terms from 7 days to 10 years, including a short-term business CD without an early withdrawal penalty.
I love this bank , I can pay my Bill's on my phone , and the customer service is superb. I have always received nothing but the best customer service , they are so helpful and the phone app is great, I have been banking with them for 20 years now , I love bank of america !
Could develop a better web application. Has no chat bot, difficult to navigate
Until this year I've banked with Bank of America for many years. I once used this bank after inheriting $50,000. This is when I was first made aware of the many fees associated with using BOA. The inheritance was from a relative's death and I was too preoccupied to pay attention to my bank statement. I knew I had enough money in my checking/savings account to cover my expenses. However, one day I looked at the statement and was shocked that I was being charged a transfer fee from my savings to checking account. The bank offered a small token credit for the money they had deducted. Recently I closed an account because Bank of America started charging a $15 fee just to have an account. It outraged me to think of all the people faithfully deposited their hard-earned money into this giant money-making institution and being charged for the privilege. I was also charged if I went into the bank to speak to a teller instead of using the ATM service. Excuse me for asking a human about my money.
Feds passed some regulations as well as recommendations to try to alleviate some fees during the Covid pandemic. This bank has not chosen to adopt these pandemic policies. Instead they have reduced the number of tellers that would normally be serving the customers. The bank uses Covid to its advantage to save money and meanwhile has the highest and most fees compared to other banks. They give no break to their customers, lines are often very long, very long waits. They pay very low interest rates, mostly just pennies back to their account holders, meanwhile they invest and profit high percentages on their customer's money. Almost makes you puke. How much extra does the customer need to pay them for the privilege of letting BOA use their money? I visited a branch a few days ago. The line was out the door. There was one teller working. Packing the bank like this with people was only making the danger of Covid worse. I was told I would need to make an appointment to discuss new fees on my account.
Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, on April 24, 2020, Reg D has been temporarily suspended by the Federal Reserve Board, but not at BOA. Regulation D set the goal of making it easier for people to access their savings deposits without penalty, “at a time when financial events associated with the coronavirus pandemic have made such access more urgent.” But not at BOA.
BOA would not consider removing any of the fees, what crooks I thought.
I checked several other banks and they all have less fees than BOA and these other banks have suspended the fees during the pandemic. The banks I checked I did not need to wait on long lines either. So I cancelled my account at BOA and now I have my money in another bank. I make more in interest, pay much less fees and no longer wait on long lines. I even receive customer service when I need assistance.
Overall | |
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FDIC Certificate # | 3510 |
Year Established | 1904 |
Employees | 138404 |
Primary Regulator | OCC |
Profit Margin | |
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Return on Assets - YTD | 0.61% |
Return on Equity - YTD | 5.95% |
Annual Interest Income | $35.89B |
Assets and Liabilities | ||
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Assets | Q3 2020vs Q3 2019 | $2,157B$1,813B |
Loans | Q3 2020vs Q3 2019 | $933.5B$959.2B |
Deposits | Q3 2020vs Q3 2019 | $1,810.6B$1,446.9B |
Equity Capital | Q3 2020vs Q3 2019 | $213.9B$211.6B |
Loan Loss Allowance | Q3 2020vs Q3 2019 | $19.57B$9.39B |
Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q3 2020vs Q3 2019 | $5.30B$4.86B |
Real Estate Owned | Q3 2020vs Q3 2019 | $227.0MM$305.0MM |
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