Bank of America's "Keep The Change" Program.

[dowxp]

http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/ktc/?adlink=000302072g350000c284

What do you guys think about this? I'm going to read the fine print. I see many days at taco bell.

 

[sswingle]

Sounds good to me. They limit the amount they give you though, so its not a money mine.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I think they match up to $250 or something for the first 3 months, so you don't get that much, but every penny helps for some.

For me though, I just figure if you're responsible with your $/savings, you can just manually put $$ into ING or something with a much higher return. This keep the change program is just for the lazy ppl heh.

 

[dowxp]

Yeah, doesn't look so hot. Better off on a rewards CC.

 

[AbsolutZero]

I was thinking about this. If you make lots of very small purchases, it might be better. However, assuming the average change back is $0.50, your average purchase would have to be under $50 to come out ahead of the typical 1% cash back cards. LOL I can see some idiot in the Wal-Mart self pay line at 1am charging each item on his grocery list separately.

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: AbsolutZero
I was thinking about this. If you make lots of very small purchases, it might be better. However, assuming the average change back is $0.50, your average purchase would have to be under $50 to come out ahead of the typical 1% cash back cards. LOL I can see some idiot in the Wal-Mart self pay line at 1am charging each item on his grocery list separately.

Note to self: purchase items SEPARATELY.

 

[Black88GTA]

Every time you buy something with a Bank of America Visa® debit card, we'll round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the difference from your checking to your savings account free of charge. Because every bag of groceries, every coffee and every tank of gas adds up to more savings for you.

Uhhh...they don't give you ANYTHING. You buy something for $3.50, they charge your checking account $4.00 and transfer 50 cents to your savings account.

Kind of like an electronic piggy bank. Seems sort of stupid to me...

 

[freebee]

 

[yobarman]

I think it's pretty sweet... I started using it last week. Although I've only saved 65 cents so far... seeing how Im in the habit of hitting up the ATM since its so close and getting a 20 out. I should stick to using my debit card from now on!

 

[archcommus]

Holy repost, Batman!

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Every time you buy something with a Bank of America Visa® debit card, we'll round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the difference from your checking to your savings account free of charge. Because every bag of groceries, every coffee and every tank of gas adds up to more savings for you.

Uhhh...they don't give you ANYTHING. You buy something for $3.50, they charge your checking account $4.00 and transfer 50 cents to your savings account.

Kind of like an electronic piggy bank. Seems sort of stupid to me...

QFT.

 

[dquan97]

Originally posted by: archcommus
Holy repost, Batman!

 

[Rubycon]

For the first 90 days they match YOUR contributions 100%. Make sure you buy as many $n.01 things as possible in that period. Every transaction costs the bank 99 cents.

 

[gopunk]

not sure i really see the point to this aside from the matching and 5%

 

[RaistlinZ]

BofA must be making good money every time someone uses their debit card. They also probably make money every time someone opens a savings account too, so they're encouraging you to do both.

And seeing as how people aren't very smart with their debit cards, just think how many NSF trasnactions people will have trying to make small $2.00 purchases all the time.

Whoever came up with this idea is probably getting a pay bonus of some kind, cuz I'm sure BofA is going to make a lot of money off this scheme...er, incentive plan.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: C6FT7
For the first 90 days they match YOUR contributions 100%. Make sure you buy as many $n.01 things as possible in that period. Every transaction costs the bank 99 cents.

But there's a limit to how much you can get matched from BoA. I think up to $250?

So you can try the 0.01 trick or just spend normally and you still can only get matched up to $250 (or whatever their matching limit is).

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Every time you buy something with a Bank of America Visa® debit card, we'll round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the difference from your checking to your savings account free of charge. Because every bag of groceries, every coffee and every tank of gas adds up to more savings for you.

Uhhh...they don't give you ANYTHING. You buy something for $3.50, they charge your checking account $4.00 and transfer 50 cents to your savings account.

Kind of like an electronic piggy bank. Seems sort of stupid to me...

I agree, it's pretty dumb in my opinion as well. What this breaks down to is that this is a simple way for lazy people to save a few bucks here and there.

If someone really wanted to do savings, they'd open an ING or Emigrant or smoething with a much higher APY and just have it do an auto transfer every month.

And what also gets me is that BoA and some other people I've heard, says this new program is a new "change jar" which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. When you use a debit card, you always use "exact" change. Only if you used real physical cash would you get change back which would be thrown into a jar or cup.

So again, this is just a lazy man's (or possibly someone who's not very responsible at saving money) way to start a savings acct.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: Schfifty Five

Originally posted by: C6FT7
For the first 90 days they match YOUR contributions 100%. Make sure you buy as many $n.01 things as possible in that period. Every transaction costs the bank 99 cents.

But there's a limit to how much you can get matched from BoA. I think up to $250?

So you can try the 0.01 trick or just spend normally and you still can only get matched up to $250 (or whatever their matching limit is).

Free $250 then.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Every time you buy something with a Bank of America Visa® debit card, we'll round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the difference from your checking to your savings account free of charge. Because every bag of groceries, every coffee and every tank of gas adds up to more savings for you.

Uhhh...they don't give you ANYTHING. You buy something for $3.50, they charge your checking account $4.00 and transfer 50 cents to your savings account.

Kind of like an electronic piggy bank. Seems sort of stupid to me...

Err, they match 100% of the first $250 in the first 3 months, so there's $250 extra for free right there, and then they match 5% after that....
So how exactly do you work out they give you nothing?

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: AbsolutZero
I was thinking about this. If you make lots of very small purchases, it might be better. However, assuming the average change back is $0.50, your average purchase would have to be under $50 to come out ahead of the typical 1% cash back cards. LOL I can see some idiot in the Wal-Mart self pay line at 1am charging each item on his grocery list separately.

You don't gain anything except for the matching during the first 3 months. And that's only up to a certain amt (maybe $250 I think?).

So if you spend $1.25, BoA will take out $2.00 from your checkings ($1.25 to the purchase, 0.75 to your savings) and then they will match 0.75. So after the initial match, you're not getting any "free" money.

 

[MaxDepth]

I think this is in response to VISA rewards where you use your bank card's visa chargeback system instead of the debit transfer. So the bank and the store has to pay for using Visa. And you get your "rewards" which is like going to Frankie's or a Buster and Charlie's and spending $40 to get 100 tickets which you turn in for a giant plastic comb.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Every time you buy something with a Bank of America Visa® debit card, we'll round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the difference from your checking to your savings account free of charge. Because every bag of groceries, every coffee and every tank of gas adds up to more savings for you.

Uhhh...they don't give you ANYTHING. You buy something for $3.50, they charge your checking account $4.00 and transfer 50 cents to your savings account.

Kind of like an electronic piggy bank. Seems sort of stupid to me...

Err, they match 100% of the first $250 in the first 3 months, so there's $250 extra for free right there, and then they match 5% after that....
So how exactly do you work out they give you nothing?

wow, u get 5% match? Essentially thats better than ING or emigrant right? I guess the only thing would be that in order for you to put a lot money into your keep the change program is for you to keep making small purchases that gives you lots of change.

 

[Kelemvor]

Someone people, including myself, didn't read the 2nd paragraph right away... But here it is for those that missed it...

For the first three months, we'll match your Keep the Change? savings at 100%. That means for every Keep the Change transfer, we'll contribute the same amount to your Bank of America savings account. And when the three months are over, to make it even easier to save, we'll continue matching 5% a year, every year.