Archive for January 24, 2007

The Truth about Bank of America

January 24, 2007 by Wil.

From my original blog, Finance For Youth:  The Blog

www.finance4youth.wordpress.com

Let me start out by saying I really, really wanted to hate Bank of America.  I have worked in finance (banking) for a very long time, and everybody knows they just suck!  I knew I was going to be giving BofA a bad grade when it came to youth accounts.  Here’s what I came up with.

When rating financial institutions for their benefit for youth, I looked specifically at the products they offer on their websites dedicated to students and youth.  I looked at seven criteria, and compared with other institutions.  Since I don’t bank with them, I did not rate them on customer service or satisfaction, two areas that are very important to me.

Criteria 

 Results 
Bank Name 

 Bank of America 
Program Name 

 Campus Edge 
Monthly Fees 

 Free (5 years as student) then $5.95 monthly. 
Ways to avoid Fees 

 Direct Deposit or Online Bill Pay 
Other Fees 

 See website for details, none for program 
Online Access 

 Free 
Online Bill Pay 

 Free 
Additional Website comments 

 N/A 
Overall Grade 

 B+ 

 

Comments:  I like especially that the account is free while you are a student.  This is of paramount importance to my readers.  Offering to waive monthly fees for Direct Deposit or Online Bill Pay, as well as offering a free online Bill Pay program really helped.  They seem to offer programs with features that make sense for today’s youth.  As much as I wanted to hate them, they Came out pretty good here.

 

Great job, Bof A!

 

Coming up, Wells Fargo.  Did they do as well?

Posted in students, life, school, Youth, Finance For Youth, Personal Finance, Uncategorized | Print | 5 Comments »

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