The Major Central Banks of the world each have their own characters. People can usually predict their behavior in various circumstances based on who is in charge, or the decisions they have made in the past. For instance, it is well known that the European Central Bank is generally against dropping Interest rates to very low levels, if they can help it.

In normal markets, lowering interest rates generally reduces the value of a currency, as the return rate of owning or investing is now less. This also raises the possibility of issues with inflation. There are valid reasons for reducing the value of a country’s currency. Exports are a good one. When a country’s currency is strong, other countries have to pay more for any products they wish to acquire from the country. This might be good when things are alright, but when a recession comes along, the you start to have real problems. People might go to places where they can pay less.

During this time of economic turmoil, Japan’s currency has risen in value considerably. While it might be for a variety of reasons, it still raises issues for them since they are a large exporter. China is another example. They basically allowed their currency to stay quite low in value via a technicality which we can’t get into right now. The end result was that they managed to keep their export industry relatively competitive. It prompted the US Treasury secretary to accuse them of a artificially fixing the value of their currency. Unfair tactics, they claimed. At the following meeting of the G8, some people even expected that they would say something to China about it. No one did, Even the US took a softer stance. All of this highlights how controlling currency rates can be critical.

Central Banks Rate cuts are used as a weapon during a financial crisis such as this one. It helps to ease rates for businesses who need to borrow money to stay afloat. It gets money flowing a bit more. However, there are times when the effects are skewed. Let’s return to the example of the ECB above. Late in 2008, and again early 2009, investors awaited currency rate decisions from the Central Bank of England and the ECB respectively. As we said above, a reduction in the rates tends to have a negative effect on the currency’s value, at least in the short-term. However, when the CBE cut rates aggressively, it had the opposite effect on the British Pound. The value increased because people felt that the CBE would do all it could to fight the recession, and by implication help the British economy recover faster. A strong economy is needed to support a strong currency. The ECB rates should have had similar effects on the Euro,but it didn’t. Investors didn’t believe that they had cut rates far enough. Therefore, they were unwilling to go all-out to fight the recession. The Euro lost ground. Even though this loss would be the general expectation in normal conditions, in that economic climate, more aggressive cutting would have had the opposite effects.

It’s a fine line that central banks have to walk when they make these decisions. When a rate decision meeting approaches, investors and traders (of all kinds, Forex included) try to make an informed guess where rates will go, and consequently what the effects will be on the market. Needless to say, it doesn’t always go as planned. This is a hazard of trading.

Learning about forex trading means understanding the all the factors that c

Here’s the $100 promotion page for new checking customers: promo.bankofamerica.com/getmore100. Enter offer code WIWGASINT for personal account or SBECASH for business account.

And here’s the $25 promotion page for bill pay: billpayoffer.bankofamerica.com.

Some of the important small print to qualify for the $75 includes:

You get $75 when you open (1) qualifying new checking account with an opening balance of $250 during the eligibility period and (2) use your debit card for the new checking account to pay for a purchase from a merchant within 30 days after opening the new account.

This is a special limited time offer available to new customers who open an eligible new personal or business checking account online or in one of our banking centers.

Offer does not apply to second or multiple accounts.

A new customer is a person who is not currently a signer and who was not a signer within the last 6 months on a Bank of America checking account.

Important small print for the $25 bonus includes:

For new customers: To get the additional $25, use the online bill payment service to pay two bills from your new checking account within 30 days after opening the account.

For existing customers who have not made a bill payment with Bank of America Online Banking within the last 6 months: Customers will get $25 if they use the Online bill payment service to pay two bills from their checking account within 30 days.

Credit for this find goes to SlickDeals member Iqleon who mentioned this promo in this SD thread.

Hard Credit Pull

There are some things to note regarding BofA. First, many have reported that BofA does a hard credit inquiry on your first checking account. A reader noted in a previous BofA post that he received two pulls when he did this promo in early 2008. A hard credit inquiry can ding your credit score a little for a few months.

Receiving the Bonus

It can take patience and persistence to receive the bonuses. The bonuses that I’ve received only came after reminding them using their online message system. Others have had to make many calls to a banking rep. Not everyone has been successful.

Old and New Fees

According to the online application page, MyAccess Checking is “free with no direct deposit requirement. No minimum balance required.” Make sure you keep an eye on your statements to make sure no fees start popping up. You might want to make a copy of the application where it states that the MyAccess Checking will be free.

BofA charges for things that you might expect are free. For example, if you make an outgoing ACH transfer, there’s a $3 charge (see BofA page).

BofA recently notified customers of account changes which include new fees. Here’s their information page on this. MyAccess Checking monthly fee is going up to $8.95 per month starting June 5th if you don’t maintain a $1,500 balance or if you don’t have direct deposit. However, here are the exclusions listed:

Fee changes do not apply to customers who opened a free MyAccess Checking account during specific time periods at Bankofamerica.com: Customers in GA and TX after 11/1/2006; and customers in any state after 4/20/2007.

Customer Service

There have been many reports of bad customer service at BofA. Here’s an interesting one that was was posted at the Consumerist last year.

Other Bank Bonuses

Other Bank of America bonuses can be viewed in my Bank of America deals page. The last BofA bonus that I posted on was another $75 checking bonus. Unlike this new one, it required an initial deposit of $500 in a checking account rather than $250.

To find other bonus deals, please refer to my bank bonus page which has all of my recent bank bonus posts.

The article focuses mostly on brokered deposits. Brokered deposits are typically CDs that are sold to customers by brokerage companies like Charles Schwab. The brokerage acts as an intermediary with the bank which actually holds the deposits. The article has a good description of why brokered deposits are blamed:

Rather than simply wooing local customers, they have turned to out-of-state brokers who deliver billions of dollars in bulk deposits, widely known as “hot money,” from investors nationwide.

…

But the hot money also came with a high cost. To lure the money from brokers, banks typically had to offer unusually high rates. That, in turn, often led them to make ever riskier loans, leaving them vulnerable when the economy collapsed.

When a bank fails, brokered deposits make it more difficult for the FDIC to find a buyer for the bank. Even if the FDIC finds a buyer, they may still refuse to assume brokered deposits. Looking over my posts on this year’s bank closures, I’ve counted 12 banks that didn’t assume brokered deposits in their agreements to take over the failed banks.

For a bank who’s taking over the deposits of a failed bank, the issue with brokered deposits is that they can be easily moved from one bank to another as brokers seek the highest rates. The only thing that keeps those deposits is the high interest rates. To me this sounds a little like internet savings accounts. With electronic transfers it’s easy to move money from one account to another. Also, when accounts have little or no minimum balance requirements, you can move most of the money without the hassles of closing and opening accounts.

With the FDIC reviewing Ally Bank rates, it’s apparent that the regulators have noticed internet accounts can be another source of hot money. It’s likely that we’ll see more regulations on internet accounts. The article ends with the following:

Ms. Bair said she planned to ask Congress for greater powers to limit the role of hot money in banking – be it brokered deposits, listing services or simply Internet sales by banks offering unusually high interest rates.

In my opinion, the focus of regulators should be on risky loans and not high deposit rates. The problem with focusing on deposit rates is that it may punish banks which are not depending on risky loans. A good example is a bank offering a high interest rate on a reward checking account. Without understanding reward checking, regulators may see a 4% rate on a checking account to be hot money. In reality, the bank is able to pay 4% for a number of reasons unique to reward checking accounts. It’s not necessarily through the use of risky loans.

Bank of America “provides tools and services that give our customers more control and flexibility to effectively manage their accounts and prevent fees,” wrote spokesman Anne Pace who further stated that claims of the NACA and U.S. PIRG “misrepresent” Bank of America’s relationship with its customers and its associates.

However, the encouragement of Bank of America in bouncing checks and forgoing mortgage payments to keep credit cards current has been verified by a former employee of the bank in an interview on Monday. Similar statement has been made by Christopher Feener, who testified the making of false threats of legal action against delinquent borrowers for 15 years of working on credit cards for MBNA and Bank of America.

The reform of compensation policies of bank’s staff that pressurizes customers to purchase expensive products and services has been demanded by Representative Keith Ellison and the NACA and U.S. PIRG.

• $75 for direct deposit with a minimum of $500 a month for 2 consecutive months
• $75 for using your Visa check card to make 10 purchases or payments each month for 2 consecutive months
• $30 for enrolling in free Online Banking/Bill Payer and paying a minimum of 3 bills each month for 2 consecutive months
• $10 for signing up for e-statements

The promotion is scheduled to last through 3/31/2009.

$25 can be applied to the cost of new checks for giving the bank your old checks or check card from another bank. I didn’t include this as part of bonus since many banks offer free first order of checks. Some important small print of the offer includes:

• Offer is limited to one account per household
• Account holder will be responsible for tax implications
• Accounts closed by the customer within 90 days of opening are subject to a $15 early closure fee

Branches are located in Washington State, Oregon and Hawaii. The bank is FDIC insured (FDIC Certificate # 32489).

Via: http://bankdeals.blogspot.com/2008/12/190-checking-account-bonus-at.html