Bank of America - Free MyACCESS Checking - No Strings Attached

BOA

BOA Free checking

Apply now to get free checking with this exclusive online offer. Please include the offer code FREECHECKING in your application to take advantage of this special promotion.
MyAccess Checking® has no minimum balance or monthly maintenance fee when opened online.1 Plus enjoy these valuable extras free of charge:
1.No opening balance required
2.Free Online Banking service with Bill Pay and Online Statements
3.Unlimited Bank of America ATM, Online, and Bank by Phone access to your funds
4.Check Card with Total Security Protection™
5.Overdraft protection service available from your savings or credit card account

Edit: Now free for everyone... Thank Himali

http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/freechecking2/ Text

thanks

This offer is FREE for anyone, "offer code FREECHK"

http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/freechecking2/

yeah, doesn't BOA pull a hard inq when applying for a checking/credit report?

Really? I might give it a shot then. I have a few cards with them.

Edit: Nope, you are wrong, they stated on the website they pull a report.

I just think they don't want my money. It's cool, though. One another note, I WILL take every 0% offer they give me

Great, they finally came out with FREE CHECKING! How lame is Bank Of America.

Put your money in HSBC, Citibank OR Wamu and get 5% and then link it to a checking account with them!

Bank Of America has the WORST rates of all the banks out there, so while everyone else is now adding 5% accounts at a minimum, they come out with free checking. How nice of them!

Keep all the money in a high rate account and you can use your ATM card. Assuming a 5k balance in checking, you just forked over $250 to the bank EACH YEAR.

Over a 20 year period you paid a total of $2000 + compounding interest. Nice work folks!

Get in the habit of USING a 5%+ account with ATM FROM THE START. I cant stress this enough.

With MULTIPLE banks in my market offering 5% and up accounts (AT LEAST 3) there is NO reason not to use this.

If the billpayment service is NOT to your liking with the alternative bank, you can use mycheckfree.com FOR FREE or other FREE BILLPAYMENT WEBSITES.

When banks seed you with $200 promos for depositing, if you use it for the long haul, you actually forked over a total net to them of $2000 + compounding minus $200. Promos are great if you take advantage and cancel them out immediately however so you make it work for YOU.

Update: Promotion is only for Texas and Georgia as per Bank Of America representative. I was just curious as to where it was available.

Told them the FREECHK code........ They said it was just for Texas and Georgia.

Which code did you use? I don't want a Bank Of America account because of the reason's I stated. But for others who MUST have a Bank Of America account and refuse to heed the warnings.

I had fun with a chatroom session with Bank Of America. I spoke to a 2nd person this time. Went through everything and she said the application will be rejected if it is not from Georgia or Texas.

The code FREECHK is NOT good for states other than Georgia or Texas. While the code will work, the applications will be REJECTED.

All people from outside Georgia and Texas: Please let us know if the applications were approved because the representative is saying they will be rejected. While you shouldn't be dealing with BoA in the first place, but if you do let us know. I am betting that they will be rejected.

Thanks!

ajulius said: Which code did you use? I don't want a Bank Of America account because of the reason's I stated. But for others who MUST have a Bank Of America account and refuse to heed the warnings.

Since you insist on making every thread into an Anti-BOA thread, I will say again what I have said before: its great if you live in NYC metro where the competition has caused three huge banks offering linked 5%+APY savings, but that isn't the case for the rest of the country.

So what do you suggest? That people drive an hour away to make a deposit in the one ATM in the state that takes deposits for HSBC/Citi/Wamu (if it even exists)? That for every check they recieve in the mail, even $10 rebate checks, they spend 39c mailing it in and waiting 3-4 days for it to process? That we don't use BOA, despite having such large ATM coverage, simply because you say so, and go with another local bank with fewer ATM's that still doesn't offer high rate savings? I know you will respond to go to fdic.gov and find a bank. My zipcode is 01602 - go ahead and do that for me and show me the banks that offer me 5% interest - unless I missed one, there aren't any. bankdeals.blogspot.com has a pretty good listing of banks with 4%+ APY savings accounts, and none of those banks are local to me.

Honestly, people aren't banking with BOA because they like to piss you off. I would use Citi, HSBC, Wamu in a heartbeat if they had branches out here, but they don't, so I use BOA, because it isn't worth my 39 cents to mail HSBC a $10 check, when I can deposit it in a BOA ATM, and ACH it out the next day. Most people here aren't keeping several thousand dollars in their BOA accounts, they move it over to whatever their favorite savings account is.

Some people do use BOA for their great billpay, because their time is worth more than the $2000 over a lifetime that they loose in interest. I don't measure my free time at the same rate as I do my work time, and find this as sort of a hobby, so I don't use their billpay, but some peopel do, deal with it.

And if you are so anal about getting every cent of interest, why don't you have an interest checking account that you can next-day ACH your funds to for bill payment, etc?

I'm not using BOA because I am stupid, I am using it because it is what makes sense. I have to make my deposits somewhere, as I do take money in that isn't through ACH. Although their hold policy isn't great, unless you trigger something (out of state large check, $5k+ checks, etc), fund avilability is usually next-day (and if you make the deposit at a bank, you can usually get the bank manager to waive a hold for you if you really need it), and depending on how much I've hit my citibank next-day ACH maxes, I can usually be earning 5% APY on it two days after I deposit it (I can always use ED instead, but that doesn't have an ATM card).

Don't give me the crap about ACH loosing money either, because WE DON'T HAVE A CHOICE. We have no local banks that offer high yield savings. Wamu, Citi, HSBC are the only big banks that I know of which offer it - perhaps because of the competition of the NYC area. However, they don't cover the rest of the country, despite what your mind may think.

I don't think your solution is perfect either, as I've said before. You are loosing interest on the money that is sitting in your checking account waiting to pay bills. You should be using an interest bearing checking account (I'm pretty sure Everbank has no min despite a $1500 initial deposit) with next-day ACH between that and a high yield savings account. Hopefully the interest checking account debits bill-pay's when they are cashed as well. I am thinking of moving towards this, but when I know a deposit will not trigger a flag with BOA, the quickest way to get my money will still be to deposit it there and ACH it, not to mail it (Everbank, Netbank, UFB Direct all have postage paid mail in envelopes).

Will you stop bringing this up in every thread? Your solution works for your location, but that isn't how it is through the rest of the US.

First report
Applied for it on the California system. Since I don't live there, it was attached to the other BofA system (I have other accounts here).
Too bad only California has the option for funding from a credit card. Although I chose this option, the balance is zero.
But... on the PenFed Card there is a $1K temp charge...

ajulius said: Xenon if you read my comments I said that the only reason to use BoA is if it is FORCED on you because you need to do banking and it could be the only bank available.

It is very unfortunate you are in this situation. Is Bank Of America the only bank by you? Look on maps.google.com and other such services because you could be surprised at what you find. You may be able to find a 3 or 4% account if you cant find that magic 5%+. If every online account in your area is .50% (in most areas it is higher with other banks other than Bank Of America) or Bank Of America is the only bank in your area then you have no choice but to use Bank Of America.

I'm not saying its the only bank in my area - but I don't keep any serious money in it, so I'm willing to loose $1 of interest a month to be able to make ATM deposits pretty much anywhere. Most other banks in my area do pay 0.70% or so, but its not worth giving up BOA's coverage for that. I haven't found any that pay 3%+ for small balances.

Whish is the whole thing here - small balances! I keep an average of $200-$500 in my BOA account. It may cost me a grand or two over a lifetime, but thats over a lifetime. I could not buy a coffee ever day and it would save more money, or drive one less mile every day of my life, or drive 1 mph slower everywhere I go. Yes it would add up, but is it really worth worrying about? Although I don't value my free time too highly, I do value the 9-5 time when the bank is open to make deposits far more highly, as it means I'm not at work. Therefore to have to waste an extra 10 or 20 mins eveyr time I want to make a deposit is worth it, even if it costs me $1000 over the rest of my life.

shouldn't it be free anyway? i thought all checking acc. are free

Interesting that I was disconnected following the last reply. I didn't feel that I was being abrasive or confrontational. From just a few minutes ago... Even if incorrect, do you really want to deal with a bank like this?

Welcome to an online chat session at Bank of America. Please hold while we connect you to the next available Bank of America Account Specialist. Your chat may be monitored and recorded for quality purposes. You are number 6 in a queue of 6. Thank you for your patience.
You are now chatting with Mesha. Welcome to Bank of America. How can I help you complete your online checking or savings application today?
You: I am interested in opening a checking acccount and want to use the code FREECHK but want to be sure that there are no minimum balance requirements and no fees with or without direct deposit being used.
Mesha: Sure, I can help you with that.
You: Great; thank you.
Mesha: One moment please...
You: Sure. Take your time. I am looking at the BoA website now.
Mesha: What state are you in?
You: Florida
Mesha: The MyAccess account requires direct deposit to be free.
You: That's the case even with the promo code?
Mesha: Yes.
Mesha: The promo code only applies to the states of Georgia and Texas.
You: Would the following be incorrect? "MyAccess Checking® has no monthly maintenance fee when opened online with the offer code FREECHK. MyAccess Checking is also free with direct deposit."
Mesha: Right for the states of Georgia and Texas it is free without direct deposit.
You: I see that there is another promo code specific to Texas that is FREECHECKING, but the FREECHK doesn't seem to indicate a state restriction on the BoA website.
You: Is the restriction for both the promo codes, even though it is not indicated as such on the site?
Mesha: The promotion that we are running at this time is for those specific states. All other states still require direct deposit.
You have not been connected to a live Bank of America Account Specialist but should be connected shortly. We appreciate your patience.

PoodleMan said: Interesting that I was disconnected following the last reply. I didn't feel that I was being abrasive or confrontational. From just a few minutes ago... Even if incorrect, do you really want to deal with a bank like this?

Huh? Because they have locale-specific promotions? Lots of banks do this (IE Citibank 6% CD's in TX (5.5% elsewhere)).

If you recieved this offer in the mail or something, then you would have a valid complaint, but AFAIK, you didn't.

PoodleMan said: No my hasty friend. Had you asked me prior to posting, I would have informed you that I am not upset because they have locale specific promos; but because they do not have any restrictions listed on the page displaying the promo. I once paid for all night bowling in an alley. The lane was turned off after a couple hours. When I went to the counter, the guy pulled a sheet from a drawer that had some restriction associated with it that was not posted. This is where I draw issue with BoA. They hide terms from consumers. You must work for them to be so defensive?
No, I don't work for them. In fact, I don't really care for their hold policy and low interest rates. However, I don't understand how you can be pissed that you aren't eligible for a code you found on fatwallet.

However, as far as I know, that code isn't publicly available on their website anywhere, or any advertisement outside of the targeted areas that the code is for. Just because someone posts it on Fatwallet doesn't mean you are eligible for it, even if it doesn't specifically say you aren't eligible.

If you were emailed the code, or found it in a magazine or newspaper somewhere, I could understand you being annoyed that there is no disclaimer for the target area. However, as far as I know, you found it at fatwallet.com. Perhaps the original advertisement stated the restriction. Or perhaps it was distributed in a way to assure it was only given to eligible persons. Just because it isn't a unique targeted code doesn't mean it isn't a targeted offer.

I agree. However, they stated in the applciation that they will reserve the right to verify eligibility.
I think I'm willing to stake $5.95 to verify whether I got a free account or not. But this is only verifiable in a few months or so.

I don't think by having a relationship with the bank for credit cards will change around anything.

I have former MBNA credit card turned Bank Of America credit card. I would cancel them except for the billpay feature on the MBNA credit card. They still I believe provide some of the highest credit lines in the industry however so if you need a very high limit they could be one of the few choices.

Having a checking account with Bank Of America doesn't change around that relationship or give higher lines. The people I know who had BoA relationships with a BoA card actually got LOWER lines than they did stand alone with MBNA.

Chase on the other hand will allow you to use credit card balances towards high end account requirements but there are better deals out there than high end Chase accounts IMHO.

It wss stated
"Not to stray too far off topic, but my reason for looking to open an account is due to the merger. As I have an MBNA card that I like, I thought it wise to have as large a relationship with BoA as practical. Whether or not it gets me any CLI or perhaps a better APR, it certainly wouldn't hurt for them to see an amount of cash available greater than my current CL. As I don't really need better terms, I figure I'll hold off for the time being, as the promotion's availability is unclear."

As I posted, there are major problems with haviing both BOA checking and credit cards right now (see other posts) which appear merger related. Two customer service represenatives told me (incorrectly) that policy was not to provide exMBNA bill pay to customers with BOA checking. While the problems now appear to be merger related rather than policy, the combination is not workig well. You are best off with one or the other, but not both till they make their system work.

If you have more with one bank and they get unhappy with you (possibly thinking somethings looks funny or like money laundering) they can freeze all accounts will they feel safe.

Eventually, there may be advantages in being able to pay cards from where you bank a little quicker, come into a brahch for a payment to be made in a hurry,etc. Yesterday I had a record three hors on the phone trying to find out why their banking site did not show numbers that did not add up (programming error that will be fixed involving sorts that did not go to all columns) to give correct balances.

None of their CSR representatives can see the same screens as customers apparenlty, and the banking ones can see no credit card information (reducing risk of him stealing from you) but is frustrating when card says to call their electronci banking group who say 18 minutes hold (hour and a half) who inform you you need a credit card manager. Like some other very large organizations they are so big that things do not work well.

For those looking for a ATM solution you might note CITIbank (another big bank with poor service) now provide ATM service via 7-11 which has a lot of locations. This can give you 5% saving, plus ATM services in many cases.

You have to watch what services you get with free checking. I had free account and when I moved to Md., discovered a $3 fee for using a teller more than every so often (once a month I think). While I might have been willing to use ATM machines, my wife wanted to be able to use tellers.

Solution was a MyAccess checking with direct deposit (apparently being met by regular ACH transfers in. ACH transfer can be used to a checking account, and then the money internally transfered on to make your credit card payments (a little hassle, yes).

Casual impression from many hours of time on the phone with them recently is they are very fouled up, especially if you are an ex-MBNA customer.

Texas
http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/checkingnofee_tx/

Georgia
http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/checkingnofee_ga/

g10ny said: I agree. However, they stated in the applciation that they will reserve the right to verify eligibility.
I think I'm willing to stake $5.95 to verify whether I got a free account or not. But this is only verifiable in a few months or so.
And I PAID the $5.95 at stake.

g10ny, they are offering that totally free checking now (with no direct deposit or bill pay required) using that code...i have seen that offer online also. And it is for everyone now...not just non-BOA states....I had asked a CSR about it, but she told me it was only available when applied for Online (not in branch)...

I just didn't want to bother opening a new checking account and closing my old one with them...and since i am moving my (real) direct deposit to them anyway, i figured it didn't matter for me, anyway...

And, i understand what you said about only offering Affinity Savings and not general high yield savings to everyone (like WAMU/CITI/HSBC)....Although i think that it is because they decided to take a little different "marketing" route then the others....

From what i read, they were inspired by their merger with MBNA, to offer "affinity" credit cards, high yield savings and cds in the same style as MBNA was doing....And the fact that they are now expanding the program to include dozens of new organizations (besides NEA and AAA), and some of those ARE open to the general public (for a small membership fee) such as: Defenders of Wildlife, Humane Society, and many others....