"When a customer signs up for Keep the Change, the amount of every purchase they make with a Bank of America debit card is automatically rounded up to the nearest whole dollar and transferred from the customer's checking account into their savings account at the end of the day."
first 3 months, 100% match afterwards 5%
max $250/year
does this mean $1.01 rounds up to $2? or $1.51 rounds up to $2?
if the former/latter is true, that means you require a minimum of 250-500 transactions in 3 months to fully take advantage of 100%, although 5% ain't bad
(i'm assuming they pay for this program by charging merchants 5-25c per transaction +2.25%)
We match 100% of the amount of your Keep the Change transfers during the first three months after you enroll, and we will match 5% thereafter.
The matching funds will be credited to your savings account annually, within 8 weeks after the month in which the anniversary of your enrollment in the Keep the Change savings service occurs. To receive the matching funds, your checking and savings accounts must be open and in good standing and you must still be enrolled in the Keep the Change savings service at the time the matching funds are credited. Purchases with co-branded or rewards Visa debit cards are not eligible for matching.
Earn a promotional match up to $250 per anniversary period for each checking account with the Keep the Change savings service. You will not receive the matching funds for: a) credits or other adjustments related to POS purchases, such as those for purchases that are cancelled or returned; b) purchases of cash-like items, such as money orders, traveler’s checks, foreign currency, cashier’s checks, gaming chips, and other similar instruments and things of value; c) Account funding transactions including transfers to open or fund deposit, escrow, or brokerage accounts and purchases of stored value cards.We may terminate the matching promotion at any time without notice.
Savings accounts eligible to receive matching funds include Regular Savings, which requires a minimum opening balance of $100 and pays a variable annual percentage yield that was 0.50% as of 8/16/05. Fees could reduce earnings.
The promotional matching funds will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099.
Below is a summary of ideas for maximizing your matching funds from Keep The Change (KTC):
Pay $0.01 towards eBay seller fees Pay cable/cell phone bill $1.01 at a time (check with your provider) Buy gas at $0.0x or $1.0x (do not overuse) Buy 3 stamps at the post office Paypal $0.01 to your spouse multiple $0.01 paypal subscriptions (must pay to same account, or they will get cancelled) that bill daily
PLEASE ADD TO THIS LIST!
Opening & enrolling another checking account (separate debit card) will get you up to $250 extra KTC - only one savings account is needed. There may be a limit of 2 KTC accounts per person/household - read the fine print in the brochure when you enroll.
Message edited by: SegaRob on 2008-05-13 20:31:07 CDT
under the 5% rule, you would need a minimum of 5000 transactions/year to reach $250
also, although some of you would be tempted to purchase your gasoline in $1 increments, i'm sure it would lock up the card after the 2nd or 3rd times by their automated fraud detection, or are debit cards different?
plus, 500 gallons of gasoline in 3 months? no way
or 500 double-cheeseburgers, the world's first ever thousand-cheeseburger. a killo-burger
For example, when purchasing a coffee with a debit card, the difference between the $2.85 cost and $3.00 - or 15 cents - would be transferred electronically. In addition, Bank of America will match 100 percent of the Keep the Change transfers for the first three months. After that the bank will contribute five percent a year. The maximum match is $250 annually.
"Our customers told us they want a simple way to save, so we
Interesting card. As OP Said they seem to withdraw MORE than the purchase from your checking, and move the extra change into your savings account. For 90 days they match this 100% making this a HOT DEAL and deposit double your 'change.' but then they only match 5% making it WARM upto $250/year. I see alot of people pumping $1.01 in gas in the future :->
Interesting concept. Makes it really useful for the teeny-weeny purchases in the short term. I dont' think I am going to go out of my way to take advantage of this.
XFreebie said:under the 5% rule, you would need a minimum of 5000 transactions/year to reach $250
also, although some of you would be tempted to purchase your gasoline in $1 increments, i'm sure it would lock up the card after the 2nd or 3rd times by their automated fraud detection, or are debit cards different?
plus, 500 gallons of gasoline in 3 months? no wayWhere are you buying gas for a buck a gallon?
If you make more on your credit card Cash Back then just stick to that. For smaller purchases the first three months of the promo (100% period) it makes sense.
The break even point on average (assuming the average charge ends in 50 cents) is then $50 on a 1% Cash Back CC or $10 on a 5% everyday purchase (many CC's out there). If you charge less then these within the three month promo use your Debit else the CC. After three months it makes way more sense to use the CC.
NOTE: Since you are going to be getting 5% on gas purchases even if you would get the max 99cent return from this BofA offer you still get more via the Cash Back CC's (assume $40 gas then you get $2 Cash Back from you CC).
During the 100% three month window only:
On a 25 cent ending charge the break even on 1% is $75 and on 5% everyday purchase is $15 On a 75 cent ending charge the break even on 1% is $25 and on 5% everyday purchase is $5
That's a brilliant Win-Win idea from BoA. The customer and the bank both win. The retailer, is the big loser. Especially the gas stations that provide no fee ATM transactions.
Does anyone know any common sites that hae no minimum purchase required for gift cards? Ex. Amazon is $5, WalMart is $10... For some reason this thread makes me want to buy 51 cent GCs
I saw the following: Earn a promotional match up to $250 per anniversary period for each checking account with the Keep the Change savings service. You will not receive the matching funds for: a) credits or other adjustments related to POS purchases, such as those for purchases that are cancelled or returned; b) purchases of cash-like items, such as money orders, traveler’s checks, foreign currency, cashier’s checks, gaming chips, and other similar instruments and things of value; c) Account funding transactions including transfers to open or fund deposit, escrow, or brokerage accounts and purchases of stored value cards.We may terminate the matching promotion at any time without notice.
They won't know what you bought... they can jsut know where you bought it. Just like the credit cards with discounts on groceries where you can buy stamps or GCs at the grocery store and still get the 5% Cash Back.
Very(the most?) creative banking promo BOFA really tries to make you use your debit card!
If you just want to max it out however, there are few cons: - you don't want to make many small purchases from the same place(I guess max that would fly under the radar would be 3-5 small purchases a month from the same place) - you have to varry the purchase amounts, so you can't just make a bunch of $1.01 purchases - you have to make some larger purchases too, otherwise your bank statement would look very suspicious - you have to go to the branch to sign up - you cat the match at the end of the year To make it even easier to save. Our reward will be paid annually to your savings account.
johto said:wonder if the first 3 months is of the program, or per person based on their signup?
lot's of $1.01 charges to Verizon/Cingular/etc. coming up I bet!
must be a debit transaction. i.e. requiring you to enter your pin. will only work in actual stores, not online. your debit can be processed as a credit card as well but will ultimately end up to be the same thing. (signing for it, or entering your pin).
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