The eBanking account had offered customers a checking account without any monthly fees, provided they conduct their business online or at ATMs. If the eBanking customers wanted to get their statements by mail and speak with tellers in person, the accounts would carry an $8.95 monthly fee.
Now, the bank has swapped those remaining customers into Core Checking, an account that requires customers to maintain a minimum daily balance of $1,500 or at least one direct deposit a month of $250 or more — which comes out to $3,000 annually. Customers in these accounts are charged $12 a month if they cannot meet these requirements.
“This is one of the lowest qualifiers in the industry and a great value,” Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess told CNBC. She added that the Core Checking option “provides full access to all our financial centers, ATMs, mobile and online banking” and told the Chicago Tribune that — in the newspaper’s words — “only a small number of customers still had eBanking accounts.”
That has done little to assuage critics’ worries the move will disproportionately hurt the bank’s low-income customers, who would be the likeliest to struggle to meet the Core Checking requirements.
“The debate over Bank of America’s accounts and fees points to a larger economic justice issue — people with less income pay more to get cash, make payments, and conduct their business,” Dory Rand, president of the Woodstock Institute, told the Tribune.
“Without access to safe and affordable bank accounts, low-income consumers often turn to costly alternative financial services, such as currency exchanges or check-cashers,” she continued. “The bottom line is: the most financially vulnerable need more and better options to transact their business and participate in the financial mainstream.”