Bank of America Review: Checking, Savings and CDs

Bank of America’s Advantage Plus Banking option is the standard choice of its three checking account options to get convenient checking account features — including check writing and overdraft programs — with fairly easy ways to avoid the $12 monthly fee, including receiving monthly direct deposits of at least $250 or maintaining a minimum daily account balance of at least $1,500. Being a member of the Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program also helps you dodge the monthly fees on all three checking accounts.

Bank of America also offers the SafeBalance Banking® account, which can help frequent overdrafters. In lieu of charging overdraft fees, the bank simply declines transactions if the account holder doesn’t have enough funds. But the account comes with downsides, such as the lack of check-writing privileges and a $4.95 monthly fee that’s hard to waive. The only interest-bearing checking account that Bank of America offers, Advantage Relationship Banking, requires at least $20,000 as a daily minimum balance to avoid a $25 monthly fee and pays minimal interest.

You can earn a $200 bonus offer for opening any of the three accounts. See more bonus options at NerdWallet's list of best bank bonuses.

Bank of America’s Advantage Savings has an unimpressive 0.01% annual percentage yield. Customers can secure higher rates by being a member of the Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program (which requires a three-month combined average daily balance of at least $20,000 across deposit and/or investment accounts), but those rates top out at 0.04%. The account requires an initial deposit of $100. It offers a potentially useful Keep The Change program, which rounds up debit card transactions from your linked Bank of America checking account to the nearest dollar and transfers the difference to your savings account.

The bank waives the $8 monthly maintenance fee on the savings account for customers who either maintain a daily balance of at least $500, link to a Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking checking account or are a member of the Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program.

Neither of Bank of America’s two types of CDs come close to matching the rates on high-yield CDs or savings accounts available elsewhere. Compare with NerdWallet's list of the best CD rates.

The Standard Term CD can be opened with $1,000. The annual percentage yield is a flat rate of 0.03%, no matter the term length and balance.

Bank of America shines with an easy online banking experience and digital tools. The website design is straightforward, and information about fees and rates is relatively easy to find. Its mobile app lets you deposit checks, pay bills, send money, monitor account activity and balances and use its virtual assistant, Erica. Android and iOS phone users gave the bank’s app high marks.

Customer service hours and channels are convenient. You can get a real human on the phone from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. ET on weekdays and 8 p.m. on weekends. The bank also provides live chat support for existing customers and answers questions on Twitter.