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Bank of America Announces New Online Banking Alerts to Increase Security and Help Customers Monitor Their Accounts

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 March 2006, 12:00 CST

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Customers can detect possible fraud and keep track of their money with new alerts that Bank of America is providing for free to its online banking customers -- the fourth major security initiative in the past year.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050720/CLW086LOGO-b)

The 18 new alerts are available now in most markets, adding to eight that already exist. All alerts will be available in California late in 2006.

"We're giving customers more ways to detect fraud and keep an eye on their accounts," said Sanjay Gupta, e-Commerce executive. "They can decide what they want to hear about and where they want to be told. This is another important step to help protect our customers online and give them greater peace of mind."

With the new alerts, customers can: - Get notifications immediately about changes in sensitive information such as passwords or customer information. These alerts are sent automatically, though customers can choose to turn them off. - Set dollar limits to determine when they would be told about potentially suspicious activities on their debit or credit cards. - Receive a daily e-mail about available account balances to help prevent fees. - Choose whether alerts would be sent to an e-mail address, or as a text message to cell phones or PDAs.

Bank of America has launched three other free security initiatives in the past year:

- Customers can now use a combination of letters, numbers and special characters such as underscores, hyphens and asterisks to create an even stronger online ID and passcode. When customers sign up for online banking or decide to change their ID or passcode, they will not be able to use any portion or combination of their Social Security number or ATM/debit card number, or use their ATM/debit card PIN as their passcode. - The bank provided SiteKey(TM), which gives customers an extra level of security using two-way authentication. The bank launched the service ahead of the industry, as well as months ahead of federal guidelines that urged extra security. - The Bank of America Toolbar, powered by EarthLink, is available to consumers for free at bankofamerica.com. The toolbar helps identify fraudulent Web sites and includes a pop-up blocker.

Bank of America won the No. 1 ranking for online security among a study of 28 banks by Javelin Strategy & Research in December, including No. 1 for prevention and resolution of identity theft.

Bank of America has the largest number of online banking customers in the world. The bank's 15 million customers make up 34 percent of all people who use online banking in the United States.

To sign up for online banking, go to http://www.bankofamerica.com/. New alerts for checking/savings - Debit transaction over a threshold amount. - Intrabank transfers, debit cards, checks, online bill pay and other payments automatically withdrawn from the account. - Available balance notification New alerts for credit cards - Credit card transaction threshold reached - Cash advance on a credit card - Irregular credit card activity New alerts for online banking - New account setup for intrabank transfers - Check reordering - Account lockout - Credential changes: - ID, passcode, passcode reset, ID look-up - E-mail change - Address or telephone change Current alerts - Primary e-mail address change - Credit to accounts - Low balance - Insufficient funds/overdraft fees - Welcome alert - Credit card payment posted - Credit card payment due - Credit card limit reached About Online Banking

Bank of America is a leading provider of online financial services, and its online site, http://www.bankofamerica.com/, has received widespread recognition. Bank of America has the most online bankers in the world, according to Financial Insights. The site is among the top 50 of all U.S.-based Internet properties in terms of unique visitors monthly, and No. 1 among business and finance sites, according to comScore Media Metrix. Bank of America ranked No. 1 for online customer experience among top 10 banks, including the best online customer support and online bill pay satisfaction, according to Keynote Systems' Customer Experience rankings in August 2005. Bank of America ranked No. 1 in Javelin Strategy & Research's Identity Fraud Safety Scorecard in 2004 and 2005. BusinessWeek called the SiteKey(TM) security service one of the best products of 2005. Global Finance magazine named bankofamerica.com the best consumer online banking site and the best information security initiatives in North America. In the spring of 2005, the site was ranked among the Forbes Best of the Web. In the summer of 2004, The Customer Respect Group ranked Bank of America No. 1 among commercial banks for the way it treats customers online and Vividence ranked bankofamerica.com among the leaders in experience for customers and prospective customers. The Gomez Scorecard ranked the Small Business Web site No. 1 in the Single-Owner Home-Operated (SOHO)/Micro category. comScore Networks, Inc. called Bank of America "the clear leader" in the rate of adoption of online bill payment and the leader of the industry based on overall number of active online customers.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050720/CLW086LOGO-bAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Bank of America

CONTACT: Betty Riess of Bank of America, +1-415-622-6397, orBetty.Riess@bankofamerica.com

Web site: http://www.bankofamerica.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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