"Keep the Change" savings account

**Newsnerd68** · 10-16-2005, 10:05 PM

Has anybody else heard of this?
Bank of America is offering a new savings account for debit card users. They round up the price of your purchases and put the remainder in an interest-bearing savings account.

For example:
You buy milk for $3.69, the bank rounds the purchase up to $4.00 and puts the 31 cents in your savings account.

It's good on every purchase (groceries, gas, bills, etc.) and for the first 3 months, they match what you put in. That's free money! It pays 5% interest per year.

The bank says people don't have savings accounts like the good ol days and they want to encourage their customers to use them.

I think it's a great idea.

**mom2matty** · 10-16-2005, 10:49 PM

I had seen a tease about this on our local news last week but never saw the story on it!! Sounds interesting!!

**bamamomto4** · 10-16-2005, 11:59 PM

I hadn't heard about this.Sounds good though.

**hollyhill** · 10-17-2005, 02:35 AM

I haven't heard about it either. Hope it comes to Canada!

**pammy** · 10-17-2005, 05:58 AM

I've been doing this myself for the past few years. Figure I save about $500 a year buy rounding up in my checkbook, and I don't miss it. We use it in emergencies. Plus, it sure beats having made a mistake and getting charged for overdraft fees. But I like the idea of earning interest much better!! Wish my bank did this.

**hollyhill** · 10-17-2005, 01:36 PM

How do you balance your checkbook if you round it up? Do you just guess the total or estimate it?

**bee9984** · 10-17-2005, 02:24 PM

I started doing something like that last week with my online banking....If I have say$104 in my chequing account I will transfer the $4 to my other account and have it so that our chequing account is in multiples of $20 that can be taken out if needed......or if I had $121 in the chequing account I transfer the $1 to our other account and so on....it really does add up quickly

Heather

**pammy** · 10-17-2005, 02:26 PM

When I balance my checkbook, and after everything has been accounted for and checked, I subtract what I show I have with what the bank says I have, that's my 'buffer'.

A pain, yes, but it's saved me many times when I made a subtraction mistake and getting charged up the wazoo.

**Dedlered** · 10-17-2005, 02:52 PM

Here is the press release on it

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...4160485&EDATE=

**nodmicks** · 10-17-2005, 02:59 PM

what a great idea

**hollyhill** · 10-17-2005, 06:36 PM

Oh! Pammyboat I am going to try that. How much do you let accumulate before you transfer it into another account?

**bevjean** · 10-17-2005, 06:45 PM

I like this idea. My hubby doesn't always keep his receipts and has a habit of not remembering the exact amount of his debit purchases so I round up alot of the entries in my checkbook anyway. Maybe I should actually balance out my checkbook and see how much I have in there.

**SHOPGIRL** · 10-17-2005, 07:16 PM

Well, I found this whole idea extremely intriguing. I'm always looking for free money.

http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/...072g350000c103

Above is a link to the webpage.

I don't have Bank of America near me, but I do have a Bank of America credit card. I looked into opening up a savings and checking with them. I was hoping I could just electronically send money to them and open up an account that way. Accounts can be opened with them even if you don't have this bank in your area. If you have direct deposit, you can designate your employer to split your payment into two different banks.

Bank of America will contribute up to $250 a year. That doesn't include what you contribute on your own. The interest rate for the account is very low, but the idea is great!

I'm going to email my local bank about this program, maybe they'll consider something like this.

**pammy** · 10-18-2005, 06:38 AM

We've used it for vacations, mostly. I sure hate it when it's gone, though.

**Katybird** · 10-18-2005, 02:52 PM

It is a neat idea but I am a stickler for precision when it comes to my checking account. I like to know what is in it to the penny. It would drive me crazy to have them messing with it like that. I can save on my own and put my money in my savings, I just have a percentage of my paycheck direct deposited into savings each payday.