BOSTON -- FleetBoston Financial Corp. has introduced a no-frills 'checkless' bank account in an apparent effort to attract "unbanked" customers, according to a Boston Globe report.
The new 'Access Advantage Account' is designed for people who deal almost exclusively in cash. The idea is to have employers deposit paychecks directly into the Fleet accounts, and offer account holders unlimited access to the money at Fleet's 3,800 ATMs.
The new accounts have no monthly balance requirement and no monthly fee, although cardholders will incur a $1.50 foreign fee and possibly an additional surcharge if they use a non-Fleet ATM. They can also make purchases and get cash back at all online point-of-sale retailers. They will receive monthly statements.
Cardholders will not receive any checks, however, which Fleet says virtually eliminates the potential for overdraft or unavailable funds fees.
It is also free to employers making direct deposits to the accounts.
The accounts could help Fleet gain ground in Boston's poorer neighborhoods, as well as head off criticism from consumer advocates that New England's biggest bank hasn't done enough to attract minority and low-income customers.
'It provides a convenient and free alternative for individuals currently using costly check cashers to cash payroll checks,' Fleet's head of consumer banking, Brad Warner, said in a statement.
The bank estimates that its branches cash about 1.1 million paychecks each month from noncustomers. Fleet said yesterday that it expects to open 8,000 of the new accounts by year-end, which would eliminate an estimated 216,000 paychecks that its tellers would have cashed otherwise.
Fleet plans to promote the new accounts through brochures at its branch offices and at 1,200 seminars in target areas over the next 12 months.
