conversation: User (BankWisdom): "Since I discovered a $12 monthly charge a while back when my account was automatically switched from a student account after I graduated and moved, I've been passing the warning along to those who might be unaware every year around graduation. Also a $5 maintenance fee on savings accounts.\n\nIf you are job hunting and don't have much money or have dipped into your emergency funds you certainly are [getting charged](https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a68a762e4b0dc592a0e91d6) without realizing it, or will be soon. This was in the ~~fine~~ print when you signed up for your free account, but most people don't tend to remember things that they agreed to as teens when going through crucial life changes like graduation or loss of a job. So I hope posting this again helps people like it did last time.\n\nA customer representative said there's nothing that can be done, so I recommend changing banks perhaps to a credit union if this may be a problem for you.\n\nEdit: TD Bank also does this as per another user.\n\nEdit 2: People are really salty that I've shared this information. If you are not job hunting, in really good financial shape, and already knew this then great, but this post isn't targeted at you. And yes, there *are* banks and credit unions that don't require this kind of fee to provide service. If you personally feel BoA is the best for your particular financial situation, that's totally okay too.\n\nEdit 3: Guys chill, I signed up for the account when I was 16. Yes yes, it's my mistake for not remembering. The point of this post is to help people avoid this mistake and to be aware that there are banks that don't do this. Last year I helped remind some people, and this year I hope to help some more people too. :)\n\nEdit 4: online banking and credit unions have been recommended (which I personally use), and if you absolutely need brick and mortar large chains for some reason USAA and\nCapital One Bank have free accounts.\n\nEdit 5: If you go to close your BoA account, be sure to withdraw or transfer all your money *before* you tell them you want to close your account. They often will try to charge you $10 for the cashier's check to get your money back when you close your account. If you are overseas you're out of luck, there is virtually no way to close your account from overseas and you'll continue to be charged, so remember this before moving abroad or moving back to a country with no BoA."
  Self: "I don't know if this trick will work on BofA but it works for my Chase "college" account that started getting the same fee. To avoid it I had the similar options of a minimum account balance or a direct deposit. The direct deposit actually just has to be an ACH Deposit and doesn't necessary have to come from your employer.\n\nSo I have an Ally account, that stores the majority of my money because they have way better interest rates, but I still keep the Chase account as a way to withdraw/deposit cash in amounts larger than $1k. Every month I have set up an automatic transfer from my Ally account to my Chase account for $20 and that triggers the "Direct Deposit" requirement and I never get hit with a fee. I either transfer the money back to my Ally account or just withdraw the cash from Chase."
  