I was very thorough when setting up my first bank account.

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You need: $25 minimum opening balance (otherwise it'll close after 1 month). 

Regarding direct deposit: What is qualifying mean? Just means from government, or work, etc. 

Regarding when you are at a low balance, this is what happens depending on the type of payment trying to bring it to negative: 
	•	Manual payment: if you make it a point of sale purchase (like at Target), and balance goes below $0, then it gets denied immediately. 
	•	Automated payment: paying your bills, via some automated method, if something brings it under $0, the bank evaluates you (like how good you are, do you usually pay, etc) and maybe let the thing go through (and charge you a fee of $35) or they'll just reject it if you're not good enough. This is them essentially acting like a credit card. 
	•	If you have another account, like a savings account, then it'll charge a one time fee and go through your savings account (this is less than the $35). 

There is no limitation on what credit card you can get when you have BofA.

Setting up in person vs over phone: just different ways of verifying. One uses in person verification (probably photo ID), the other asks you questions based on public record documents to verify your identity (that's via phone). Apparently setting up online takes longer, you are put in some sort of wait/application list. He could be biased, though, since he probably wants it to be over the phone. 

Had to give SSN during the setup profile. He says there was a shell profile, from maybe one time when I called in or something? To setup a small business account maybe?

To verify: they asked if I was ever associated with Class Checker LLC as a verification question (comparing it to other random company names). Asked where "Tino Puccio" lived. And asked to verify dad's age range. Interesting. It's all sourced on public records, it's essentially security questions based on public records. 

	•	Will get the PIN in one envelope, can change at an ATM or financial center. Will need the original one to do this in the first place. Will receive it 1 day before or 1 day after the debit card arrives. 
	•	Will get a debit card in 4-6 business. Sticker on the card, 800 number will call that to activate. 

Could technically put any name (within reason) on my debit card, because all that matters is that it's tied to my account. Could have put "Joe Puccio". 

When you swipe the card, at POS, you can make "Debit" which requires PIN number, or "Credit". Can run the card via either. Signature or PIN works fine. When running as credit, they use your signature to verify your identity. When running as Debit, they use your PIN to verify your identity. Technically, they are supposed to check your signature you write on the receipt against what's on the back of the card to verify you are the rightful owner of that credit card, but they never actually do that. That's why you have to sign your receipts, and why you have to sign the back of your card (so they can verify the signature). But the bank never sees those signed receipts.

Note: when you run a debit card as credit, it goes through a different network (taking longer to hit your bank, like a couple of days) whereas a debit card is immediate. Also, you charge the person you're buying from more transaction fees (up to twice as much) when using a debit card as credit vs using it as debit. 
	•	Swiping as credit: goes through the Visa and Mastercard network (offline transaction).
	•	Swiping as debit: goes through the Plus, Interlink, and Moneypass network (online transaction).

They do recommend when you make purchases, you should make purchases with a credit card (because it's not your money). You are liable for your entire debit. You're still protected, though, so if someone steals our bank account, they make small purchases then give them a call and they'll freeze the account and then give you a new account and move all the money to the new account, etc. The fraud department will give you back that money even though it's a debit card. But, the annoying thing is that with a debit account if there's fraud that means your account will be frozen for some amount of time and you won't be able to use the debit account. If your credit card is stolen on the other hand, then all they need to do is send you a new credit card and that's all you need to do. 

PIN is fully required for ATM. Never give out PIN in any case unless you're entering it at an ATM. Nobody should need your PIN online.  

	•	Will get a welcome package in the mail, including fees how to avoid them, account number, routing number. 
	•	Will also include Signature card (so that they have their signature on their record, so they had something to compare against the checks that I deposit) and W9 form. 
	•	W9 is just to again confirm my identity, it seems. Have 30 days to give it back to them.  This is probably so they can be sure that you really live at that address, since they mail it to you. 
	•	Could also drop it off when completed at a financial center. 

Online ID: jpuccio94 (changed)
Passcode: redacted (temporary)
Auth code: redacted

They have Touch ID on the app and can use that on the app. 

Guy we talked to: Nick. Very, very nice and very willing to help. Super cool. Rhode Island. Found out from packet, his name is Nicholas Bourdeau

Received first packet on: 8/11/17, which is 6 business days after opening account. He said the range is 6-10 business days. It's likely that this was the first one sent out by Nick. Will call back to confirm that the second request was cancelled. 

After dealing with all this W-9 stuff, which does have your social security number already printed on it, it seems like it would have been a good idea to go into an office to open the account.