Here’s a neat idea from the Bank of America: it’s called Keep The Change, and every time that you buy something using their debit card, it rounds the price of the item up to the nearest dollar and transfers the difference from your current account to your savings account.
So it’s sort of like that big jar that you keep on your chest of drawers that you keep all your coppers in (tell me I’m not the only one who does this!?), and will help people to save without really having to think about it.
Obviously there will be some cynics saying that this is just a cunning ploy by a greedy bank to get you to save money with them without realising. But hey, they’ve done some clever marketing on it to make it look like a great idea so I’m overlooking that fact.
This may not necessarily be the best way to save, but it’d be interesting to see just how much the average person could put away like this. I’m more interested in the fact that a big bank (not always the most dynamic of companies) is trying something different and new. This is only available in the U.S. at the moment – how long until one of the banks in the U.K. adopts such a scheme? A while, I suspect.
The Bank of America “Keep the Change” program is a SCAM – a FRAUD!! Does anyone want to join me in a class action suit? If you’ve been ripped off by “Keep the Change” scam, please email me: doclawdoc@yahoo.com. I’ve been royally ripped off by B of A. I have a law degree and know a thing or two about fine print. When I signed up for it, there was no limit (100%) matching, but after I “earned” almost $1200 of matching, they matched -0-. Until I complained (after the 1-year waiting period). B of A then reluctantly put $250 into my savings account to “match,” but said that’s ALL they would match. Turns out B of A altered the plan (comparing the original brochure to later versions), and now limits reimbursement to $250 “per year” which is also ambiguous ($250 for everything matched in 1 year, or do they pay $250 each year until they fully match?). Please contact me if you have been ripped off in the Keep the Change Program. Thank you. Donald