Bank of America’s “Keep the Change” Savings Account Review
Bank of America is running it’s infamous “keep the change” program currently in which all Bank of America card holders can earn up to $250 in cash each year for using their check card and racking up savings a few nickels at a time.
This is how it works: After you enroll, each time you buy something with your Bank of America Check Card, they will round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the remainder to a savings account – whereby allowing you to “keep the change.”
For example, if you purchase a latte which costs $3.17 (including tax) then Bank of America will round up the latte purchase to an even $4.00 – placing the difference of $0.83 into your savings account.
Additionally they will match the accumulated amount in your savings account dollar for dollar for the first three months of account opening. After the promotional period they will still match 5% of your savings.
Of course there is a catch with this account and that is that you can only earn up to $250 each year and it takes saving roughly 5 grand to get there. Although you could look at this as a 5% return, there are other checking accounts on the market (particularly cash back ones like PerkStreet) in which you earn up to $600 per year simply by using your debit card.
Should You Take This Offer?
When comparing this offer to other enticing checking account deals, we simply don’t think it’s worth it. Not only will it be somewhat difficult to reach your $250 max, the fees imposed by BofA may end up eating all of your rewards. Check with BofA before signing up as the terms and conditions regarding fees change regularly.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Can I just open the checking account and buy one item for a nickel every day and collect 95 cents for 250 odd days?
December 9th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I live in Maryland and mentioned this deal to my Bank of America teller and she had no idea what I was talking about, then I went to a b of a 3 blocks away and the teller acted like they opened a dozen new keep the change checking and savings accounts that day! i think this could be a bank by bank type of offer but thats just my experience. good luck!
December 25th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
@nicole: It is your money not BofA that the money is collected from. It is a way to help you the customer save your “own” money.
example: You have a savings and checking account with BofA
Savings has 100 dollars and Checking has 100 dollars.
You realize at 2am that you really want a Bomb burrito from the local 7*11 and wonder on down and purchase said burrito for 2.36. Your Debit card will be charged 3 dollars and the change 0.64 cents will be sent over to your savings account.
Savings now has 100.64 and Checking has 97…la-dee-da
I do personally believe this is a great instrument of savings that BofA is offering, but they just don’t offer the high yield that I am looking for.
I am more content with my DirectDeposit going to my savings account and transfering money to checking when needed. Also find an interest bearing checking account so your money isn’t sitting idle.