How does the Bank Of America Keep The Change program work? This is a type of rewards program that rounds up the amounts of your purchases on qualifying debit cards and transfers the amount rounded up to a Bank of America savings count of your choice. Bank of America describes this as a way to use “everyday purchases as part of your savings plan”.
This program, aimed at consumers and not businesses, offers a fun, low-key way to save extra money. It’s not a money challenge, but the same kinds of savings can be realized once you identify where your spending habits might earn the most rewards.
Bank of America Keep the Change Program
The first step to using this program is to sign up--Keep The Change is not an automatic benefit or perk of account ownership or new account creation. You need a Bank of America debit card/checking account and a Bank of America savings account to join the program. Those who do not have one are required to obtain them first.
If you have never used a system like this to save money before, remember that you’ll get the most mileage out of using this program when paying online and setting up recurring payments. The more payments you make with the debit card associated with the Keep The Change program, the more potential earnings you qualify for.
Keep The Change While Shopping Online Or In Person
The Bank of America Keep The Change program has rules determining what purchases qualify for rounding up; the BofA official site advises you to use your Keep The Change-associated accounts for everyday things like drug store purchases, fast food, impulse buys, Amazon.com shopping, etc.
When you make your purchases, your final total will likely not be a round number. Instead of making a $20 purchase, your total may come out to $20.15 or some other figure.
Keep The Change rounds up the total to the next highest dollar amount and transfers the difference between your actual total and the next highest dollar amount--the money is transferred into a Bank of America savings account you have set up for this purpose.
However, you should know that this is a consumer-level program and Bank Of America Keep the Change is not available for small business accounts or small business debit cards.
The Fine Print
As mentioned above, commercial and business accounts do not qualify for this program. Those who start with a BofA savings account associated with Keep The Change and later decide to convert that savings account into a checking account still qualify to have their Keep The Change deposits placed into that account.
Bank of America reserves the right to change, modify, or cancel the Keep The Change program at any time. BofA rules for this program state clearly that you must be enrolled in mobile banking or online banking in order to participate. “Select co-brand credit cards are not eligible” according to the official site and “Earned cash back will be credited into an eligible checking, savings, money market or credit account in the next month following redemption”.