Discover the Top 5 Most Fascinating Fun Facts About Bank of America!
1. Toasters: The Bitcoin of Banking
Back in the old-fashioned days of banking, when toasters were the Bitcoin of their time: Bank of America and other banks used to attract customers by offering free toasters and other perks, as they couldn't offer interest on checking accounts due to regulations. This curious approach to woo customers eventually led to the modern, convenient banking practices we know and love today.
Source => businessinsider.com
2. Superman's Banking Buddy: A.P. Giannini
While Superman was able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and protect the immigrant workers of Metropolis, A.P. Giannini took a more practical approach in San Francisco by founding a banking institution for them: Bank of America, originally known as Bank of Italy, was founded by this Italian-American entrepreneur to offer loans and deposits to underserved smaller borrowers, particularly immigrants, and expanded the banking reach with the country's first statewide branching system.
Source => occ.treas.gov
Did you know the average federal student loan debt is $37,338 per borrower in the US, while private loan debt averages a staggering $54,921? How these loans are handled can make a world of difference! Discover more surprising facts about student loans. 💰🎓
=> Fun Facts about Student-Loans
3. Chess Match of Banking Giants
When banking giants played chess on the corporate board: BankAmerica Corp and NationsBank merged in 1998, forming the largest U.S. bank by assets at the time, with a whopping $62 billion stock deal, all in the name of bulking up to compete more efficiently in the world of financial Goliaths.
Source => nytimes.com
4. Sock Hop of Credit Cards
Back in the fabulous '50s, when sock hops and soda fountains ran wild, Bank of America and Visa leapt onto the dance floor and shimmy-shook the world of plastic cash with a nifty twist: Behold, the first general purpose credit card - BankAmericard - was born in 1958, bringing the magic of revolving credit to the masses! This groovy innovation quickly sent other institutions jiving to the beat, and by 1976, poof! BankAmericard transformed, like a graceful butterfly, into the ever-fashionable, ever-functional Visa card we know and love today.
Source => americanhistory.si.edu
5. Earthquake Handshake Loans
Bank on a handshake: Fueled by a "wharf" of faith, A.P. Giannini founded Bank of America, originally Bank of Italy, in 1904; the kind-hearted banker, after rescuing gold and silver from his vault following the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco earthquake, set up a makeshift bank on a North Beach wharf and lent money to residents with a simple handshake – helping the city rebuild in the process.
Source => occ.treas.gov