July 15 (
Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. has a novel way to lure more customers: Free checking accounts for folks who never again enter the bank.
The bank, the largest in the U.S. by assets, is introducing an account on Aug. 6 that won’t include a monthly fee or minimum balance requirement unless the customer wants to use a teller or receive a monthly statement through the mail, said David Owen, a senior vice president for checking and debit at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company. Visiting a branch to make a deposit will trigger an $8.95 fee per month, he said.
Bank of America has tested the program in Georgia for eight months with a third of new customers selecting the account, Owen said in an interview yesterday. “It has had a much broader appeal than we initially thought,” he said.
Bank of America is looking for more ways to make money from consumer banking amid a U.S. regulatory overhaul, which ratings company DBRS Inc. estimated may cut $1.9 billion from the lender’s annual debit-card and credit-card revenue. The Senate may vote as soon as this week on a bill that also establishes a consumer financial protection agency.
Bank of America views the new account as different from the mid-1990s programs by First Chicago Corp. and other banks to levy $3 fees on people who dealt with tellers instead of automated teller machines. The banks later dropped the charges after criticism from customers. ............(more)
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