Comments on: Wachovia’s “Way2Save” and Bank of America’s “Keep the Change” Saving Programs http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/ Got Money? Milk the most from it... Fri, 11 May 2012 17:36:29 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Lane Yarbrough http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-3358 Lane Yarbrough Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:10:06 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-3358 B of A sold me on the Keep the Change and U.S. Airways debit card. I kept getting errors on my savings profile, "invalid purchase for KTC program". The debit card is a specialty card, it can't be paired with any other program and each canceled the other out. Yep, the airline miles card made me ineligible for the KTC program, and the KTC program made me ineligible for the airline miles. I fought tooth and nail and sat in their lobby for hours dealing with this. It's now a year later, I'll see $8 gross ($44 minus one OD) from the KTC program, still no air miles either. My debit card somehow has become "disconnected/detached" too from my account, I've been through a couple very embarrassing situations due to declined purchases. I'm currently battling B of A because I've had one overdraft ($35). Some of the responsibility is mine. But I covered that responsibility by signing up for email and mobile alerts. I've NEVER received a single low balance alert (among others), I have it set at $40. I only receive alerts when money is added to my account, regular current account balance alerts, but no "below" a certain $ balance or online purchase alerts. Basically, I get no alerts that pertain to a falling balance, only alerts that give me a flat balance or a rise in my balance. This sets up a false perception that my account balance only rises, never falls. It may be my imagination, but did B of A start holding weekend purchases back? I made purchases over that overdraft weekend starting Friday evening and hitting all at once Monday, how in the hell do alerts work over the weekend? And there's the rub, B of A doesn't have to inform anyone of "pending" purchases via alerts, and there's big money in that. B of A sold me on the Keep the Change and U.S. Airways debit card. I kept getting errors on my savings profile, “invalid purchase for KTC program”.

The debit card is a specialty card, it can’t be paired with any other program and each canceled the other out. Yep, the airline miles card made me ineligible for the KTC program, and the KTC program made me ineligible for the airline miles.

I fought tooth and nail and sat in their lobby for hours dealing with this.

It’s now a year later, I’ll see $8 gross ($44 minus one OD) from the KTC program, still no air miles either. My debit card somehow has become “disconnected/detached” too from my account, I’ve been through a couple very embarrassing situations due to declined purchases.

I’m currently battling B of A because I’ve had one overdraft ($35). Some of the responsibility is mine. But I covered that responsibility by signing up for email and mobile alerts. I’ve NEVER received a single low balance alert (among others), I have it set at $40. I only receive alerts when money is added to my account, regular current account balance alerts, but no “below” a certain $ balance or online purchase alerts. Basically, I get no alerts that pertain to a falling balance, only alerts that give me a flat balance or a rise in my balance. This sets up a false perception that my account balance only rises, never falls.

It may be my imagination, but did B of A start holding weekend purchases back? I made purchases over that overdraft weekend starting Friday evening and hitting all at once Monday, how in the hell do alerts work over the weekend? And there’s the rub, B of A doesn’t have to inform anyone of “pending” purchases via alerts, and there’s big money in that.

]]> By: tracy http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-3194 tracy Sat, 28 May 2011 20:45:12 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-3194 I do not like Bank of America they do all kinds of things that I personally consider shady and underhanded to get money from you. However I do use my debit card for my local hometown bank. And I miss the old drop the change in the jar thing. So I started doing my own keep the change program. As I can easily transfer the money myself for free online. So every couple of days when I balance my checkbook. I figure out how much money each transaction would round up to and transfer that money to savings. It only takes a minute. The first 24 hours I did this. It added up to $4.44. Then about 2 days later it added up to $1.98. No I can't retire early on this money. But every little bit of savings does add up. No I won't get any magic promised free money from my bank. But my small hometown bank does not charge me any fees for checking or savings. So I like the idea just not the banks associated with it. I do not like Bank of America they do all kinds of things that I personally consider shady and underhanded to get money from you. However I do use my debit card for my local hometown bank. And I miss the old drop the change in the jar thing. So I started doing my own keep the change program. As I can easily transfer the money myself for free online. So every couple of days when I balance my checkbook. I figure out how much money each transaction would round up to and transfer that money to savings. It only takes a minute. The first 24 hours I did this. It added up to $4.44. Then about 2 days later it added up to $1.98. No I can’t retire early on this money. But every little bit of savings does add up. No I won’t get any magic promised free money from my bank. But my small hometown bank does not charge me any fees for checking or savings. So I like the idea just not the banks associated with it.

]]> By: Todd http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-3073 Todd Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:12:25 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-3073 @ David: Thanks for the Wachovia info. Chase just notified me of their new $12 per month fee starting in Feb. of '11 and I am shopping for another bank. This may just be the way to go and the way2save! @ David:

Thanks for the Wachovia info. Chase just notified me of their new $12 per month fee starting in Feb. of ‘11 and I am shopping for another bank. This may just be the way to go and the way2save!

]]> By: David http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-3066 David Tue, 30 Nov 2010 01:25:17 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-3066 I've had a Wachovia Way2Save account for years now and I fail to see what the complaints here are. For one thing, not only can you save money through purchases, but you can deposit up to $100 monthly through automated transfer on top of each $1 that goes in. Secondly, as long as you set your Way2Save account up as your Overdraft, there are NO overdraft or transfer fees to and from this account. So if you accidentally contribute too much, it will just filter back to your checking account. What's the point you might say? Well it helps out tremendously as a cushion. Think of it as free overdraft insurance. Let's say you build up $200 in two months. In month three you miscalculate your finances and your checking falls below $0. Your Way2Save account will kick in and you will not pay ANY overdraft fees. Ever. So even if I was not able to budget my finances properly because money is sporadically filtering out of my account, its still always available to me, I pay NO transfer or overdraft fees, yet I earn 5% interest on it. I can't speak for BOA's program though. Wachovia's is fair, helps me save, and also has probably saved me hundreds in possible overdraft over a 3 year period (and these overdrafts were usually caused by miscalculated credit card payments, not the $40 or so dollars that filters out of my account through debit transactions). I’ve had a Wachovia Way2Save account for years now and I fail to see what the complaints here are. For one thing, not only can you save money through purchases, but you can deposit up to $100 monthly through automated transfer on top of each $1 that goes in. Secondly, as long as you set your Way2Save account up as your Overdraft, there are NO overdraft or transfer fees to and from this account. So if you accidentally contribute too much, it will just filter back to your checking account. What’s the point you might say? Well it helps out tremendously as a cushion. Think of it as free overdraft insurance. Let’s say you build up $200 in two months. In month three you miscalculate your finances and your checking falls below $0. Your Way2Save account will kick in and you will not pay ANY overdraft fees. Ever. So even if I was not able to budget my finances properly because money is sporadically filtering out of my account, its still always available to me, I pay NO transfer or overdraft fees, yet I earn 5% interest on it. I can’t speak for BOA’s program though. Wachovia’s is fair, helps me save, and also has probably saved me hundreds in possible overdraft over a 3 year period (and these overdrafts were usually caused by miscalculated credit card payments, not the $40 or so dollars that filters out of my account through debit transactions).

]]> By: David http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-2934 David Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:39:36 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-2934 Johnyyyy, Right idea, wrong program. Why go for 5% when you get ~99%. Keep the change is much easier to exploit. Just pay your online bills 1.01,1.02...one at a time online or do your selfpaying method... You need ~$83 a month over 3 months to fully exploit it for your $250...after the 1st 3 months it's 20 times less efficient so don't bother. Cool thing is you are allowed to get 5 cards and do it 5 times. So that's $1250. I'm on #4. I know somebody that is on #8 or so, so that 5 card limit might not be real. My concern is with overdraft fees becoming less of a moneymaker KTC might go away. I'm guessing they'll be able to sucker enough people into still paying overdraft fees that it will stay. Johnyyyy,
Right idea, wrong program. Why go for 5% when you get ~99%. Keep the change is much easier to exploit. Just pay your online bills 1.01,1.02…one at a time online or do your selfpaying method… You need ~$83 a month over 3 months to fully exploit it for your $250…after the 1st 3 months it’s 20 times less efficient so don’t bother.
Cool thing is you are allowed to get 5 cards and do it 5 times. So that’s $1250. I’m on #4. I know somebody that is on #8 or so, so that 5 card limit might not be real.
My concern is with overdraft fees becoming less of a moneymaker KTC might go away. I’m guessing they’ll be able to sucker enough people into still paying overdraft fees that it will stay.

]]> By: johnyyyy http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-2788 johnyyyy Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:31:55 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-2788 put 1,200 into the checking and set it up to automatically deposit 100 a month(1,200 a year),, i also put in another 3,800(thats all i have to work with) into the checking for a total of 5,000. i then went into bill pay and put my own name as a biller. this is the crazy part... you cant make the same monetary amount payment on the same day.. in other words you cant make 10 $1.00 payments,, but you can do like i did,, take an hour and do this. make the first payment $1.00, then next $1.01, $1.02, $1.04 etc... the point i am making is your sending money to yourself and every payment moves $1 from checking into way2save, hard part is you will receive hundreds of checks in the mail all for increment amounts starting at 1.00 then 1.01.... go to bank, cash all the checks, then deposit cash back into wachovia checking,, in my first month i moved $1,100 from checking to way2save plus the $100 automatic deposit. so far wacovia hasnt caught on.. good luck put 1,200 into the checking and set it up to automatically deposit 100 a month(1,200 a year),, i also put in another 3,800(thats all i have to work with) into the checking for a total of 5,000. i then went into bill pay and put my own name as a biller. this is the crazy part… you cant make the same monetary amount payment on the same day.. in other words you cant make 10 $1.00 payments,, but you can do like i did,, take an hour and do this. make the first payment $1.00, then next $1.01, $1.02, $1.04 etc… the point i am making is your sending money to yourself and every payment moves $1 from checking into way2save, hard part is you will receive hundreds of checks in the mail all for increment amounts starting at 1.00 then 1.01…. go to bank, cash all the checks, then deposit cash back into wachovia checking,, in my first month i moved $1,100 from checking to way2save plus the $100 automatic deposit. so far wacovia hasnt caught on.. good luck

]]> By: Shelley http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-2298 Shelley Wed, 13 May 2009 12:27:59 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-2298 I fail to see what all the complaining is about. BOA recently dropped $179 into my savings account due to my enrollment in their Keep The Change program. And you cannot deny Way 2 Save's 5% APY plus the 5% bonus in year one... I fail to see what all the complaining is about. BOA recently dropped $179 into my savings account due to my enrollment in their Keep The Change program. And you cannot deny Way 2 Save’s 5% APY plus the 5% bonus in year one…

]]> By: Christa http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-2184 Christa Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:22:34 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-2184 I meant $10 a month. I meant $10 a month.

]]> By: Christa http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-2183 Christa Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:21:57 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-2183 If people have so little money in the account that rounding up their purchase to the nearest dollar will trigger an overdraft, then yes, don't use Keep the Change. But if you have a cushion, I find it quite simple to use this program. All you have to do to track your own spending and stay within your budget is to round your own receipts up too. How hard is that? And checking in on your account on a daily basis online, isn't a bad idea either. I do it just to make sure I'm not missing anything. It's really not all that difficult and it helps me save an extra $10 a year, which is nice. If people have so little money in the account that rounding up their purchase to the nearest dollar will trigger an overdraft, then yes, don’t use Keep the Change. But if you have a cushion, I find it quite simple to use this program. All you have to do to track your own spending and stay within your budget is to round your own receipts up too. How hard is that? And checking in on your account on a daily basis online, isn’t a bad idea either. I do it just to make sure I’m not missing anything. It’s really not all that difficult and it helps me save an extra $10 a year, which is nice.

]]> By: Syd http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-1340 Syd Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:08:37 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-1340 Another point is level of the limit. It would be hard to get to that much of a match. Take the Wachovia model, for example. It leads you to believe that you might get $300, but do people realize that to get that they will have to use the card 6000 times in one year ($1 * .05 * 6000 = 300)? Who can even come close to that? For Bank of America, if you assume $.50 per transaction, then for any year after the first 3 months you'll need 10,000 checkcard transactions to hit the match (10,000 * 5% * $.50 = $250). Does ANYBODY shop like that? Is something wrong with my math? Another point is level of the limit. It would be hard to get to that much of a match. Take the Wachovia model, for example. It leads you to believe that you might get $300, but do people realize that to get that they will have to use the card 6000 times in one year ($1 * .05 * 6000 = 300)? Who can even come close to that? For Bank of America, if you assume $.50 per transaction, then for any year after the first 3 months you’ll need 10,000 checkcard transactions to hit the match (10,000 * 5% * $.50 = $250). Does ANYBODY shop like that? Is something wrong with my math?

]]> By: Frank http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-834 Frank Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:40:26 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-834 @ Bobby - Your experience is exactly what I was afraid of when I wrote this article awhile back. The fact they would charge you $$$ to transfer $0.00 from one account to another in the form of an "overdraft" fee is ridiculous. Your right, nobody has the time and frankly money to mess with a program like this that can cause more harm than benefit. Again, you can't save money you do not have and these types of programs play to this type of thinking. Thanks for the great comment. @ Bobby – Your experience is exactly what I was afraid of when I wrote this article awhile back. The fact they would charge you $$$ to transfer $0.00 from one account to another in the form of an “overdraft” fee is ridiculous. Your right, nobody has the time and frankly money to mess with a program like this that can cause more harm than benefit. Again, you can’t save money you do not have and these types of programs play to this type of thinking.

Thanks for the great comment.

]]> By: Bobby http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-833 Bobby Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:47:24 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-833 The problem with this program is bank of america doesn't really care if you want it or not. They put it on several accounts regardless of anyone signing up for this program. Then when you have an overdraft the keep the change program takes $0.00 out of your account and then they charge you and over draft fee to move no money. Then they issue a cancel keep the change and charge you a second overdraft fee to not move the no money back to where it didn't come from. Confused? Good because you're not done yet. Lets say you have overdraft protection and actually had some money in the savings. Now they'll transfer that money into the checking account which will pay back some of or all of the money you had overdrafts on. But since you've got keep the change, they'll pull some change out putting you just a few cents over and now we repeat the overdrafts on the keep the change and it's cancellation. Great, because within moments this undesired, nearly impossible to cancel feature will sap out hundreds of dollars from your account. This is really nice on student accounts, because between working 50 hour weeks and going to school full time and struggling to pay back student loans with my now destroyed credit wasn't stressful enough. I really needed a bank to come steal as much money as they can get away with. So to sum up in what is appropriate comment size, These programs cause far more trouble and expense than will ever be useful to the majority of the population. The problem with this program is bank of america doesn’t really care if you want it or not. They put it on several accounts regardless of anyone signing up for this program. Then when you have an overdraft the keep the change program takes $0.00 out of your account and then they charge you and over draft fee to move no money. Then they issue a cancel keep the change and charge you a second overdraft fee to not move the no money back to where it didn’t come from. Confused? Good because you’re not done yet.

Lets say you have overdraft protection and actually had some money in the savings. Now they’ll transfer that money into the checking account which will pay back some of or all of the money you had overdrafts on. But since you’ve got keep the change, they’ll pull some change out putting you just a few cents over and now we repeat the overdrafts on the keep the change and it’s cancellation.

Great, because within moments this undesired, nearly impossible to cancel feature will sap out hundreds of dollars from your account. This is really nice on student accounts, because between working 50 hour weeks and going to school full time and struggling to pay back student loans with my now destroyed credit wasn’t stressful enough. I really needed a bank to come steal as much money as they can get away with.

So to sum up in what is appropriate comment size, These programs cause far more trouble and expense than will ever be useful to the majority of the population.

]]> By: Marketing Diva Deb http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/19/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-390 Marketing Diva Deb Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:01:13 +0000 http://milkyourmoney.com/2008/02/26/wachovias-way2save-and-bank-of-americas-keep-the-change-saving-programs/#comment-390 Bravo! These two programs make it appear easy to save just by "purchasing" when in reality you'll just save pennies, or maybe a few dollars a month - if that. Bravo! These two programs make it appear easy to save just by “purchasing” when in reality you’ll just save pennies, or maybe a few dollars a month – if that.

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