Sunday, October 23, 2005

Another way to make money by spending money?

According to CNN.com, banks are destroying that timeless classic: A penny saved is a penny earned. Instead, banks are rewriting the lesson to state that a dollar spent could lead to a penny earned.

It may seem a bit confusing, but Bank of America and American Express both claim that their customers will actually save money by spending money with their respective "Keep the Change" and "One" program. Bank of America's "Keep the Change" program will allow its debit card users to round up the price of their purchases to the next dollar and will put that "extra change" into a savings account. American Express' "One" program will depost one percent of customer spending into a high-yield savings account (currently at a rate of 3.15 percent) every month and will allow consumers to put extra money into their account through their separate checking, savings or brokerage accounts.

Will these programs increase the consumer spending behavior of the average person? Will these programs encourage consumers to opt for "money back" credit and debit cards?

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