Bank of America (BOA) is one of America's oldest banks and offers an extraordinarily wide range of services. It is hard to find someplace that doesn't have one of their branches or ATM's. If you happen to be in one of those increasingly difficult to find locales their presence isn't felt they offer their services on line. Does easy availability make it good though?

About thirteen months ago I experimented with the idea of opening an checking account for our daughter with BOA. As it had a branch within walking distance of our home I reasoned it would allow her a better learning experience than the credit union we use which is a short drive away. Before enrolling her I wanted to test it myself first to see if it really was all it was advertised to be. In some cases it was, but not without a myriad of loopholes, errors, and neglect.

I opened a checking account for myself to test it out first. All the programs seemed wonderful on the surface, especially their "save the change" program which would kick back a small percentage of debit card point of sale transactions. The unlimited check writing was a nice feature although not a terribly important one for a young teen whom without state photo identification might have trouble writing them anyway. The on line banking feature seemed perfect, and we were assured there would be no fees. Satisfied with the tour of services I opened the account.

Immediately there was a problem. I requested a photo ID debit Visa card however they said their camera had a dead battery so I would have to come back in a couple days if I really wanted it. I said I did, but didn't have time to run back and forth for a photo and asked if they could simply go directly across the street to the pharmacy and buy a battery. I was informed they could not and no explanation was offered as to why. I returned in a week but the camera was then broken so I would have to return in another week or so to complete this. In the meantime they would send me a regular debit card. Finally after a month I got my photo taken along with several others whom had all been waiting as well as they called people waiting for photos and set up a block of time to accommodate everyone at once which was nice. What was not nice was getting a debit card with a different persons photo and my name. Finally after one more trip for a new snapshot and nine weeks passed, I had the proper card.

I had a small monthly direct deposit I had switched over to Bank of America

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