Bank of America Unveils "Keep the Change" Plan to Boost Savings

Bank of America, a leading financial institution, has launched a program called "Keep the Change" to encourage customers to start saving money. The service allows customers to round up their debit-card purchases to the nearest dollar and deposit the change into an interest-earning savings account. The bank will match all contributions to the savings account for the first three months and then match 5 percent of the total thereafter.

Key Takeaways:

The "Keep the Change" program allows customers to round up their debit-card purchases to the nearest dollar and deposit the change into an interest-earning savings account.
The bank will match all contributions to the savings account for the first three months, and then match 5 percent of the total thereafter.
The program aims to help customers save money by making it easy and automatic, as customers don't have to think about setting aside money.
Customers can enroll in the program by setting up a savings account with a minimum balance of $100.
The bank has an annual cap of $250 for "Keep the Change" deposits.

Diane Morais, senior vice president of deposits and debit products, said that the bank designed the program to make it easy for customers to save, as they have told the bank that they are not saving the way they wish they were. However, Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for Washington-based U.S. Public Interest Research Group, has expressed concerns that the bank is trying to increase the use of debit cards to increase its profits.

Statistics:

The bank matches all contributions to the savings account for the first three months.
After the first three months, the bank matches 5 percent of the total.
The program has an annual cap of $250 for "Keep the Change" deposits.
The minimum balance required for customers to enroll in the program is $100.

Sources:

Bank of America news release, date: (no date provided)
The Associated Press, Paul Nowell, date: (no date provided)