| Bank of America Launches Microsite
Bank of America Corp. has launched its "Bank the Way You Live" mircosite today in an effort to attract customers who want to do mobile banking. The site features characters that lead users through interactive demonstrations of each online and mobile banking product. Customers can find information on how to access accounts, pay bills, transfer funds, locate branches or ATMs and receive account alert text messages on their mobile phone. Customers can also see how to gather information and accounts for a clearer financial picture, all with layers of security to keep customers personal finance information protected. .
In a dicey market, many turn to banks
For the risk-averse who are weary of stock market turbulence, a bank account or a long-term CD may seem the safest place to park money these days. The Federal Insurance Deposit Insurance Corp. insures accounts at thousands of banks nationwide, up to $100,000 per account. Not every depositor is savvy enough to use them. According to the FDIC's Web site, less than two-thirds (63.13 percent) of America's $8 trillion in deposits are insured. When NetBank, an online bank based in Alpharetta, Ga., failed in September, $109 million in 1,500 deposit accounts exceeded the FDIC's $100,000 insurance limit. According to ING Direct, the Wilmington, Del.-based online bank that took over NetBank's accounts, one elderly customer had more than $1 million in CDs. Depositors with $100,000 or less found their money seamlessly transferred to ING Direct.
Check It Out
Bob in Pittsboro continues to defend the lame Bank of America greeter. (If you're new to this debate, a couple of weeks ago we wrote about being faux customer-serviced by a BOA greeter, who pretended to be concerned about our needs. Bob shot back that we were a "grouch" for not appreciating BOA's interest in us, its valued customer. We responded with a list of things we could have done in the 15 minutes we had to wait to see our senior personal banker.) Today, Bob continues to portray BOA as the victim."Not only a grouch," writes Bob, "but a poor planner. From BOA's Web site, here's what you could have done online ... . " He goes on to list several things that can be done with online banking -- which we have and use, thank you very much, Bob. Several things except what we needed to do, which was transfer funds from a CD account to checking, a simple task that we should not have to enlist the aid of an SPB in the first place! Which adds to our, yes, grouchiness!Bob concludes by offering one more thing we could have done in the 15 minutes we waited to see our SPB: "Try doing the 15-Minute Desk Workout (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKCPcRcJmqc) in the bank lobby.
New BofA site touts online, cell-phone banking
Bank of America Corp. has launched an online site to instruct customers about online and cell-phone banking. "Our customers lead mobile lives, and they need a bank with options, products and features that can keep up with that fast pace," says Lance Drummond, e-commerce and ATM executive. "With Bank of America, all you need is Internet access through your computer or mobile phone to be connected to your finances anytime, anywhere." The site features characters that lead visitors through interactive demonstrations of each online- and mobile-banking product. Customers can learn how to access accounts, pay bills, transfer funds, locate branches or ATMs and receive account alerts via text message on their mobile phone. The Web site, dubbed Bank the Way You Live, is at bankofamerica.com/anywhere.
Turning up heat on retirement savings
Bank of America Corp. plans to launch on Sunday a $35 million advertising campaign to promote its retirement savings accounts, as the Charlotte, N.C., bank stakes its claim in one of the fastest-growing areas of financial services. "We're in this to win," said Jeff Carney, the bank's chief of retirement products. About 54 million households have a relationship with the bank, but it manages individual retirement accounts for just 1.5 million people. Next year the print and online campaign may expand from IRAs to include the bank's 401(k) retirement savings plans and similar products. "People realize that 401(k)s and IRAs are the two most important vehicles for you to save for yourself," Carney said. The bank's spending would dwarf the $11.6 million that all banks collectively laid out last year to promote retirement products, according to New York data firm Competitrack.
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