Let’s get one thing straight. I hate banking with Bank of America. The customer service is horrible. They place unreasonable holds on checks even though they’ve already cleared. Their interest rates on savings account is paltry. I could go on and on. If you’re a happy BoA customer, more power to you. I’ll admit the only reason I hold accounts with them is for their bonuses. They seem to be throwing money around these days to try to attract new customers. Sadly to say if you can’t retain customers you’re paying so much to aquire, what’s the point? Bank of America does have the benefit of branches and ATMs throughout the country but I don’t see myself traveling much anymore so that benefit is useless for me.
Bank of America is clearly a bank that rewards shareholders more than the customers itself. This is why I’m a Bank of America (BAC) shareholder. Sadly, despite all their faults, they do make money. I bought in at $44.55 on July 26th of last year. After the one year mark passes, I’ll definitely be looking to liquidate this stock. My target price for selling is $49, which would represent a 14.8% gain (10% in capital gains, 4.8% in total from dividend gains). Current price is $48.80. They continue to make money, but my feelings about banking with them are so negative that I can only see them losing customers in the long term. Another reason I would be looking to sell is there are a lot of other better opportunities I would rather have my money in.
Other prospects I am considering: fannie mae (FNM), cocono phillips (COP), and Altria (MO).
I agree completely. Bank of America’s services are substandard, and there are many banks that are smaller that offer better services. I’m currently in the process of finding a new checking account to replace my BoA one.