http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051005/clw050.html?.v=25

"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%)


[hehe, Loose Change Social Security Plan]

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!

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 :->

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.

What does it mean of "Getting started is easy. Visit your nearest Banking Center to enroll today."?

Does it mean to enroll a BofA account, or enroll in this program?

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.

Would stamps count as cash-like items?

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.


it's too much work for $250

Looks like a BoA savings account become necessary. Any current promotion/bonus for opening a savings account?
Thanks.