Bank of America’s No Checks Checking Account

The Bank of America is seeking to introduce a checking account system that will see customers charged a standard and one time maintenance fee of $4.95 per month but won’t allow customers to write checks.

With the new checking account that the Bank of America wants customers to sign up for, customers will not be allowed to write checks anymore. The Bank has fronted two major benefits to this new account. Firstly, customers will only pay a maintenance fee of $4.95 a month and there will be no more fees charged. The other benefit is that customers will never again have a bounced check and suffer the $35 penalty that the bank charges on overdrafts.

On the other hand there are a number of benefits that the customer will have to give up in order to enjoy this flat fee arrangement. For instance because most banks will charge a customer anyway for maintaining a checking account, many of them may be prepared to waiver the said fees if the customer can satisfy certain conditions such as directly depositing their paycheck directly or if a customer agreed to a number of debit card transactions every month or even agreed to keep a substantial amount in the account.

The other downside is that it is very likely that a customer will not be allowed to overdraw on their checking account. Trying to pay out more money from their account than is actually there will result in the transaction being declined. The Bank of America defends the lack of checks with this checking account by urging customers to use other forms of payment options such as Online Bill Pay or cash and debit cards.

The Bank of America may be trying to encourage a lot of people to use this account although it is likely that most people who worry about overdraft fees will most likely find a number of other ways to prevent this outcome without necessarily having to stop the use of paper checks indefinitely. For instance keeping an accurate assessment of the amount of money in a customer’s account will offer an easy solution to this problem.

Alternatively a customer can be allowed to keep their current checking account but ask their bank not to allow an overdraft as one way of keeping check on their finances as opposed to a no checks checking account.