Is there any reason to keep an old BoA savings account?

April 8, 2013 7:25 PM

I am moving some savings to an online savings account to get a higher interest rate. I've had the Bank of America savings account for like 20 years. I'm going to keep my BoA checking account, but I'm thinking of getting rid of the savings account. If I have less than 2,500 in the savings account, I get charged a fee. Is there any reason to keep 2,500 in the BoA account - i.e. will the fact that it is an old account get me any leverage if I need to go to BoA for a loan or something down the road? The advantage of closing it would be for simplicity, and to free extra money up for investing or something.
posted by catquas to Work & Money (7 answers total)

$2,500 isn't going to make any sort of difference to Bank of America, so do with your money what's best for you.
posted by xingcat at 7:41 PM on April 8, 2013

I opened an account with Bank of America last summer. At that time, the relationship manager mentioned that BoA does not offer mortgages to people without BoA accounts. This policy may have changed since.
posted by jchaw at 7:42 PM on April 8, 2013

I would say keep it if you can. If anything happens down the road with your checking account, like an overdraft or bounced check, customer service is always more willing to waive fees for loyal customers. If they see that you recently closed an account...well maybe they won't be so accommodating. Plus that longevity may come in handy down the road for "unadvertised" loan rates, etc. If you apply in-person at a local branch, the loan officers definitely have a little leeway in the final rates, no matter what they say about loan terms being dictated by the computers. After all, they would rather have your business and collect interest off you than have you go elsewhere.

I know my BoA savings has a monthly fee that can be waived by maintaining a minimum balance OR having monthly recurring transfers from checking to savings. I set up the recurring transfer to avoid the monthly fee, then at the end of the month I manually transfer it back to checking and initiate a transfer to my (higher interest) online savings account. Could you do the same?
posted by trivia genius at 7:42 PM on April 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I did exactly this with Citibank last year, moving the savings account I had had for several years to a better one elsewhere.

I did this after speaking with three different people on the phone and one person in the branch about it. Basically, "give me a better interest rate on my savings account or I will no longer have a savings account with you." They weren't able to get me a better rate (at least, none that were as good as the competitor I was looking at).

I also told them that I didn't want to be charged any fees on my checking account (which technically I should be), because it wasn't my fault their savings account rates weren't competitive. I've had two months since then where they've tried to ding me with fees on my checking account, followed by my promptly calling them and being all "uh no" and getting them removed immediately with no hassle.

I know they're different banks (and from what I've heard, BofA is anything but customer friendly), but this was my experience and it has worked just fine.

So, Cliff's Notes: call BofA, ask if they can give you a better savings account rate, explain that you'll have to leave if you don't get it, tell them you intend to fully close your savings account but will be keeping the checking account, and tell them you don't want any bank fees ever. Then happily move all your savings to your new bank. Be prepared to call and chew them out occasionally.

Good luck!
posted by phunniemee at 8:02 PM on April 8, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks for the idea trivia genius. I looked at the fee schedule for savings account, and my account doesn't appear have the regular transfer provision, but if I changed to a regular savings account it appears I would only have to keep $300 in the account. Maybe I could change my account to that one.
posted by catquas at 9:37 PM on April 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

If it was any bank other than BoA, I would recommend keeping it in case you wanted to use your bank with a longstanding account to try and get a better rate on a home loan or car loan or whatever. But BoA is so terrible, that I can't recommend ever getting any type of loan from them, so if I were you I'd take this opportunity to move everything (checking included) to a better bank or local credit union or something.
posted by Grither at 4:36 AM on April 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

I used to have a checking and savings account at TD and an online savings account with a higher interest rate. I had the 2 savings accounts to have faster access to money because I'm always afraid I'm going to need 2k NOW or something. But when TD sent a letter saying they were going to start having maintenance fees on my savings account (what?) I closed the account, rolled it into my checking and just stuck withthe 2 accounts. No problems ever getting credit, loans, or mortgages from other banks.
posted by WeekendJen at 7:56 AM on April 9, 2013