Take Advantage of Bank of America's Keep the Change Program
Bank of America offers a program for many customers with debit cards, called Keep the Change. In the program, each purchase is rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the difference is moved to an interest-bearing savings account. In addition, Bank of America will match that amount 100% for the first 3 months, and 5% thereafter. By following these steps diligently and patiently, you can get Bank of America to give you up to $250 (the maximum amount under the program)!
Steps
- Keep track of the amounts of your purchases by adding the prices on a calculator as you shop. You will also need to figure in sales tax as you go. The idea is to always have your purchase total to just over a given round dollar amount (for example, $49.01). Another, somewhat lazier method is to have a few small items available that are worth, say, 80 or 50 cents, and then be prepared to void the purchase of one or more of those items, in order to make your purchase total as close to (but still above) a given dollar amount.
- It is a waste of money to buy something you don't really want in order to push your total above a given dollar amount. So for instance, if your total is $23.50, don't buy a candy bar to push the total over $24.00; subtract an item instead.
- Gas station pumps display the total purchase amount including tax; stop the pump at $XX.01 and bank 99 cents.
- Try to generate $250 worth of change in the first three months. Bank of America imposes a $250 matching limit for that period. Of course, since the most you can generate in any one purchase transaction is 99 cents, it might be impractical to reach that amount.
- Do not abuse the program by breaking up normal purchases into several transactions simply to get the change rebate. Many merchants are charged for each debit card transaction. Plus, you will delay other customers from making their purchases (even if you use self-checkout), and will add to the workload of the store's employees (not just the cashiers, as all debit card transactions need to be logged and processed).
Tips
- You can transfer money back from your savings account without a fee up to a certain maximum number of times per billing cycle, usually three; check with your bank. Such transfers will not affect your matching, as you will be matched for the total amount in change generated, not the balance in your savings account.
- Tips in restaurants are part of the total bill paid by debit card, so round your tips up (or down) to make the total bill $XX.01.
Warnings
- Some accounts eligible for this program have maintenance fees and/or a minimum balance.
- Any money given to you by Bank of America will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099, which means it is considered taxable income.
- You will not receive your change until the end of your first year with the checking account.
- Please be aware that programs such as this will not last long if they are abused. The costs to the merchant from processing debit card transactions are significant and therefore, multiple debit card transactions significantly affect the merchant's bottom line, particularly for grocery stores, which only realize a profit margin of 2%. Excessive debit card use could easily cause the merchant to lose money on every transaction.
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