Bank of America recently outlined pricing changes for personal accounts. Although I do not have a Bank of America account, a friend asked me how these changes would affect her MyAccess checking account.

Bank of America previously advertised their MyAccess checking with no minimum balance and no direct deposit. Their pricing changes show this account will have a $8.95 monthly fee which will be waived with direct deposit or $1000 minimum balance.

Perhaps the worst change is the revision of their overdraft fee which they advertised as a decreased to $10. However, this only applies if you overdraw your account by less than five dollars at the end of the day. They reserve the right to credit your deposit at anytime during the business day. Not only will this lead to many $10 overdraft fees, but also leads to sneaky advertising since the majority of overdraft fees will still be the standard $35.

Even worse, the small print says that they can charge you the overdraft fee up to 10 times in one day. If you lose track of your balance and make for purchases in and day or if you assume they will credit your account before you made purchases, even if you deposit or occurred before these purchases, you may still owe Bank of America $140 in overdraft fees.

Also, if you didn’t notice your overdraft within five business days there is an additional $35 extended overdraft fee.

I’m not sure that there are any other major banks that have better terms, but Bank of America seems to be leading the charge towards more and more asinine fees.

Consider checking out your local credit union or smaller local banks.

See the pricing changes outlined here.