We've talked about Chase, Capital One, Charles Schwab, and so many others but today let's
review the second largest bank in the United states…Bank of America.
What is going on everyone I hope you are all having a fantastic day.
So this video has been very heavily requested and honestly there's just so much to unpack
here that it's a little bit overwhelming so let's go through every account option that
Bank of America currently has to offer to help you decide if it is still a bank worth
using or if its the worst bank of america.
So we're specifically going to look at the banking side of this platform but I will mention
from the start that Bank of America does also offer credit cards, home loans, auto loans,
small business accounts, investing through Merrill Lynch and a number of other financial
tools.
Don't worry we're gonna touch on all of that in this video but on the banking side of things
you've got the standard checking and savings accounts and within the checking account you
have three different account options with slightly different benefits.
The safe balance checking account is mainly designed for students, waiving any overdraft
fees and instead will just decline the transaction if the account holder doesn't have enough
funds in their account to cover a purchase.
Now I will mention that Bank of America as a whole did recently reduce their overdraft
fee from $35 down to just $10 but if this is a frequent issue for you which is common
for students then the safe balance account is probably your best option because $10 for
an overdraft is still rediculous.
You still get access to all of the great features in the award-winning mobile application that
we’ll talk about in a second but there is a monthly fee of $4.95 that is fairly difficult
to get waived.
If you're under the age of 25 and qualify as a student, or under the age of 18, or you
are enrolled in Bank of America's preferred rewards account then that fee will be waived
but otherwise you're looking at 5 bucks a month and considering this is designed for
students who likely don't have alot of money in their account to begin with, if you don't
meet one of those criteria to get the fee waived and personally I would say avoid this
account option.
For most users however you're probably looking at the advantage plus account which has a
$12 monthly fee but this is much easier to get waived and you either need to have one
qualifying direct deposit of $250 or more, maintain a balance of $1500 or once again
be enrolled in the preferred rewards program which we'll talk about later.
So again I'll tell you from the start if you're not able to get that fee waived then don't
bother with this account but having direct deposit or maintaining a balance of $1500
hopefully shouldn't be too difficult if you're using this as your main banking platform.
With advantage plus you gain check writing which is not available on the previous account
option, several overdraft protection options, and a more generalized banking experience
that matches that of a regular everyday bank.
But lastly for $25 per month you can get advantage relationship which is their most premium checking
account and removes fees on select additional account services, earns an interest rate of
up to a whopping 0.02% but only if you have over $100,000 in this account, and you can
even get paper checks at no additional charge.
If it's not obvious I'm being very sarcastic but you are able to get that monthly fee waived
if you have an account balance of $10,000 or more in eligible linked accounts or once
again are enrolled in preferred rewards.
Not too many differences between these three checking account options but they all come
with Bank of America $0 liability guarantee, mobile deposit features, interactive spending
and budgeting tools, convenient payment methods including their partnership with zelle allowing
you to send and receive money to and from pretty much any bank account in the US, and
even their smart money management tools that allow you to set up custom alerts and savings
goals and earn cash back rewards catered towards your spending habits.
Thankfully on the saving side things are much more simple but once again it leaves a lot
to be desired.
First of all you're looking at an $8 monthly maintenance fee that you can get waived by
either having $500 in the account having the advantage relationship checking account that
we just looked at or being enrolled in preferred rewards.
And since I've mentioned it a million times at this point, preferred rewards is simply
a program that you can enroll in once you've had a 3 month average balance of at least
$20,000 across your banking and investment accounts and as part of the many advantages
that come with being enrolled in preferred rewards, you also get a higher interest rate
on this savings account.
So if you are not a preferred rewards member then on your advantage savings account you're
looking at 0.01% but even if you're enrolled in preferred rewards the rates top out at
0.04% which is absolutely pathetic.
Just for some perspective, the bank where I keep most of my money is currently paying
2.5% which is 250 times more then Bank of America and I also don't have to jump through
any hoops in order to get some stupid monthly fee waived.
With your savings account you are going to have standard features like mobile check deposit
automated transfer tools access to balance connect which is their overdraft protection
feature, FDIC insurance and all of the basic functions that again you would expect from
any bank account.
Now while the banking features may leave a lot to be desired, I will mention that the
Bank of America mobile app is actually really well designed in my opinion and it's very
obvious that Bank of America has invested a lot of time and money into their digital
technology which is something that can't be said for some of their national banking competitors.
While platforms like Wells Fargo and chase still feel like they are stuck in the past
in my opinion, I would put the Bank of America mobile application in a similar category to
Capital One which I've talked very highly of in previous videos.
It's not going to be the most sleek and modern baking experience but if you're just looking
for the bare bones features and don't need the most flashy platform on earth then this
one will certainly do the trick.
They've also invested a lot of money into their digital banking assistant which they
call Erica…not really sure where the name comes from but it is also very highly rated
and from the testing that I did on their customer service, it was actually easier to get an
answer via this AI baking assistant then getting an answer from a real person on the phone.
Now they do offer CDs or certificates of deposit which is an advantage that they have over
most modern financial technology companies who do not offer this account option.
However they're not even worth showing you or discussing at length because on average
they only offer you 0.03% and considering that involves locking your money into this
CD for a set amount of time, it's hard to view this as an advantage when there are checking
accounts that offer higher interest rates while still allowing you to access your money
at a moment's notice.
So I could sit here and comb through every finite detail of the banking options but it's
fairly obvious where this side of the Bank of America platform is headed so let's just
answer the question now of is this platform worth it and the easy answer is no… absolutely
not but I wouldnt say its the WORST banking option…at least as long as Wells Fargo is
still in business.
That doesn't mean however that they don't have other good financial tools to offer which
we’ll look at next but strictly looking at the banking side of things…I’d say…avoid
it at all cost.
Even if you're not comfortable with a fully online bank account which I completely understand,
there are still much better options out there that pay significantly more interest and are
still going to give you that traditional banking experience like capital one's 360 banking
options for example.
Obviously Bank of America does have over 4000 physical brick and mortar locations scattered
across the country in addition to their network of 16,000 free to use ATMs but those numbers
are nothing impressive when compared to their national banking competitors like chase and
Capital One and with such pathetic interest rates and surface level features, I just can't
wrap my head around why anyone would waste their time with this garbage bank account.
Alright perhaps that was all a little dramatic but like I said Bank of America does have
a lot to offer outside of their banking tools thank goodness with some of their best tools
coming from the credit card side of things.
I could probably make an entire separate video on all the different credit cards that they
currently offer but my favorite right now is the Bank of America customized cash rewards
card which is a really unique product giving you 3% cash back on a category of your choice
which includes gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drugstores, and home improvement/furnishings.
Plus the coolest part is that you can change which category this goes towards once each
month which in a lot of ways makes this similar to the Citi custom cash card which also offers
you a higher bonus reward on your highest spending category.
This video is not intended to be a credit card review so if that is something that you'd
like to see then let me know down in the comments section but just at a quick glance, Bank of
America definitely has a lot to offer on the credit card side of things so that's definitely
something I would check out.
But perhaps their biggest additional tool is Merrill Lynch which is there investing
platform allowing you to invest in stocks, ETF's, options, and many other asset types
all for no fees through what is a fairly well designed desktop and mobile based investing
platform.
They offer this in both a self-directed and guided investing account options and while
I personally feel that there's probably better options out there, I can't rag on this platform
too much and in comparison to the pathetic banking features that we just talked about,
I'd give this one a solid 6 out of 10… and that's saying a lot considering the bank account
would be a two out of 10 on a good day.
Like I said they do also offer some different lending options so maybe something worth looking
into but for me personally, I like to condense all of my financial tools and resources under
as few platforms as possible so if you're the same way then if you're not using Bank
of America as your main banking platform or for investing, then I don't see any advantage
to using their lesser known tools like lending services and that sort of stuff.
Really the only silver lining all of this are those unique credit card offerings but
when looking at the Bank of America platform from a macro view, I'd personally say no this
is definitely not worth it and there are much beeter options out there even when just looking
at national banks.
But I'd love to know what you think of that debate down in the comments section and also
check out these videos where I talk about if Chase and Capital One are still worth it
in todays modern banking world.
Be sure to check out some of my favorite financial tools down below and of course take it easy
and I'll see you in the next one!