New consumer offering from Bank of America

Consumer banking offerings provided by bank of America are changing as public buying behavior and government regulations are undergoing a lot of changes.

The company will soon switch to a ‘tiered program’ which is being tested for customers in Massachusetts, Georgia and Arizona for its checking products.  Once a pilot program in these states is completed, the products will be available in other states as well.

Consumers are looking at banking products that are straightforward and simple and will be available to them 24/7. In order to emerge from the downturn, the strategy being employed is to ask consumers what is important to them and delivering products to them by knowledgeable associates who will do what they expect them to do.

The consumer checking account packages will be four in number, the eBanking account, the enhanced account, the premium account and the basic ‘essentials’ account. There will be fees per month for each of these account types and these can however be avoided except in the case of the essentials account which has a $6 fee on it. By maintaining a monthly minimum balance or using credit cards regularly and internet banking procedures, other three account fees which may be anywhere between $9 to $25 can be avoided.

The packages are designed to offer consumers what they want and also according to what consumer behavior indicates about their needs. The packages give more at each level until you reach the top according to Consumer and Small business Banking president Joe Price.

The accounts aren’t completely different from those offered in other banks as the industry is always rolling out new products to acquire customers or hold onto them when there are financial reforms happening.

There is a basic checking account for students and also a premium version offered by Wachovia. There is however additional charges when account inquiries and ATM withdrawals are from non Wachovia accounts.  Minimum monthly balances, direct deposits, electronic transactions are all ways to avoid monthly fee on student accounts.

The new accounts haven’t been designed with the aim of recouping losses in Visa debit card transactions or new regulations made. Debit card transactions may also be reduced and rules by the Federal Reserve have recommended for a transaction cost to average 7 to 12 cents every time there is a debit transaction.

This proposal was considered too low and many banking institutions disagreed to the proposal. The banks debit card programs offer a lot of safeguards to consumers. If a debit card is misused or used fraudulently then a refund is given to consumers. Therefore such a proposal was unfair to the banking institutions.