There were some great choices for this leadership portfolio assignment to choose from. The choices included commercial banking, personal finance, an investor or an employer. My first choice was an employer so I contacted the general manager of the House of Blues. My business model is similar to this company so it was my goal to discuss the business with him. I set up a meeting with him but he had to cancel and wanted to reschedule the meeting. The time constraints on this assignment prevented me from meeting with him on time to finish so I had to change my choice. I still plan on meeting the House of Blues general manager, but for assignment purposes I contacted a local banker. I chose Bank of America because I am already a customer and the assumption was that they would gladly help out an existing consumer. My assumption proved to be correct and they were more than happy to be of service. The only problem was I visited the bank on a Thursday to set up the appointment for the meeting. They are extremely busy near the end of the week so I ask the bank manager when would be a good time to meet. She said the following Monday at 2pm would be perfect.
I arrived at the bank twenty minutes early the following Monday. The bank manager was on vacation so the assistant manager, Sabrina Bakka, told me she would be the one I will be meeting with. I stated that I am a graduate student at Full Sail University and I wanted to ask her some questions plus get any feedback from her on anything that we did not discuss in the meeting. After introducing myself, I asked about her background in becoming the assistant manager of this branch. Ms. Bakka is from the Midwest and started out as a teller in Iowa. She helped establish the first in-store bank in Iowa located inside Cubsfood grocery store. In-store banking is having a branch actually located inside the store. Wal-Mart is an example of a store that has in-store banking. She is not a college graduate and said that she was promoted because of her knowledge of different departments in a bank such as a teller, sales and personal banker. “Experience is my degree” is a quote she stated to me. In 1997, Ms. Bakka moved to Orlando to accept a position with Nations Bank. Nations Bank merged with Bank of America in 1998 and agreed to operate under Bank of America’s name (Leahy, 1998). Ms. Bakka believes that the company chose Bank of America over Nations Bank because of brand recognition. Ms. Bakka became assistant manager around this time and attributed being knowledgeable about all departments in the banking system and being bilingual helped her obtain this position. She is fluent in speaking English and Spanish and this helps her with the diverse population in Orlando, FL.
We then moved on to discuss different services that Bank of America offered. Ms. Bakka informed me that this particular branch only handles consumer business as opposed to commercial. She could only offer little information about commercial loans. The answer I kept getting was it depends and she handed me a card of a loan officer. She said that this local branch refers a customer to an over the phone application to get the process started with a commercial loan.
She explained to me about the Keep the Change program Bank of America offers. A consumer would first have to open a checking and a savings account to benefit from this program. I asked if there were any fees for the Keep the Change program and she said no. She explained that every time a consumer uses a debit card for purchases the bank would round up to the nearest dollar amount and deposit the difference in a consumer’s savings account. Bank of America matches this amount one hundred percent up to three months. After the three months are up Bank of America matches five percent with a maximum of $250 a year (http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/ktc/).
I ask Ms. Bakka about what investments should I consider. She responded by saying that she could set up an appointment with a Merrill Lynch representative. Merrill Lynch handles investments now that they have merged with Bank of America (http://www.bankofamerica.com/merrill/). Although this merger happened in late 2008, she said that this deal went live on October 26, 2009. In addition, she informed me that a customer would not have to travel downtown to Merrill Lynch’s office and that a representative would meet with a client at a local branch of Bank of America of choice.
One investment that she did inform me about was a certificate of deposit. She explained that it was based on the term and amount that a customer deposits. It ranges from seven days to five years. The Risk Free CD program that Bank of America offers is a nine-month program where you can withdraw your money without penalty. It requires a minimum $5000 balance to open this account (http://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/checksave/index.cfm?template=cd_riskfree&context=tabpage_Rates_Fees).
Since Ms. Bakka is more familiar with the consumer side of banking, I now begin to ask about mortgages for a home. The only answer she would give me about standards is that Bank of America is an equal opportunity bank, but she did show me the average interest rate of a consumer loan. We walked outside of her office to the lobby of the bank to view a chart that was on the wall. The average interest rate on a home mortgage is 5. 975%. I personally am a veteran of U.S. Army so I asked about a VA loan. Ms. Bakka informed me that there is no down payment required for a VA loan for a home. Otherwise a consumer would have to have a 20% down payment to get a loan approved. One great thing that she shared with me is Bank of America has partnered up with Orange County in a program called Orange County Down Payment Public Assistance. This program is for consumers that do not have the 20% down payment. Orange County will assist consumers only with this payment. The next service that Ms. Bakka discussed was about equity line of credit. The terms and conditions of this program is that there is no closing cost but there is a $25,000 minimum requirement that a consumer can ask to be approved for. If a consumer asked for anything less than $25,000, then Bank of America would not consider it.
I asked Ms. Bakka about safe deposit boxes. She said they range in price from $65 to $180 a year depending on the size of box that a customer would need. One thing about Bank of America safety deposit boxes that she explained to me was unlike most banks a customer does not need a manager to accompany them to their box. Once the customer purchases a box then they are given a card that has a scanner on it. This scanner allows the customer access to the area where the safety deposit box is located. In addition, another safety service Bank of America offers indirectly is a credit monitoring service. This service is offered indirectly because it is outsourced to another company Bank of America works with. The fee for credit monitoring service is $12.99 a month with the first thirty days being free.
One of the last topics Ms. Bakka discussed was fees that Bank of America charges. We did not have time to talk about all the different fees or penalties with having an account with Bank of America but she did elaborate on a couple. First, Bank of America will not charge a customer no more than four fees a day if an account is overdrawn. Second, Bank of America will not charge an overdraft fee if the account is overdrawn less than ten dollars.
In the end, I learn some new things as well as revisiting things shared with me when I first opened my checking and savings account with Bank of America. I got a lot out of this informational interview and cannot wait to do again with the House of Blues general manager. I had a lot of fun plus made a contact. I will be sending Ms. Bakka a thank you card for her time.
In closing I would choose Bank of America and recommend them to friends and family. Even though the assistant manager, Sabrina Bakka, could not answer questions dealing with commercial property, it is good to know that they have loan officers that specialize in this type of property. If Ms. Bakka could not answer a question, then she either referred me to the Bank of America website or asked a loan officer to assist with the question. I was very well taken care of and appreciative of the time that Ms. Bakka granted me for this meeting. The last thing she wanted me to know was that Bank of America is always about change and always improving for the customer to be satisfied with their services.
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