BoA how to legitimately waive BoA monthly fees — New York City, NY 2026 guide

By Pablo Diaz · I left BoA after years as a customer. Read the full story →

Bank of America fees in New York City, NY run on a tier system: most fees waive if you keep enough average balance or hit qualifying activity. The trick is knowing which thresholds apply to which product, and which fees the CFPB has flagged in public enforcement. Both below.

How to legitimately waive BoA monthly fees

Legitimate BoA monthly fee waiver paths per their published schedule: (1) maintain $5,000 average monthly balance on Business Advantage Fundamentals, or $15,000 combined on Relationship Banking; (2) meet qualifying activity tiers (debit spend + deposit volume + direct deposits — exact thresholds on BoA's site); (3) qualify for Preferred Rewards for Business based on combined balances across BoA + Merrill accounts. For a New York City business that does not naturally hit those thresholds, the simpler answer is often switching to a $0-monthly-fee alternative (Mercury, RHO, Novo, Relay, Bluevine standard). Compare structures at noizz.io/business-banking/new-york-city-ny.

New York City context

Most New York City business owners I see auditing fees compare BoA vs Mercury or RHO. The fee structure below is the BoA-side data. Mercury and RHO sides are at noizz.io/business-banking/new-york-city-ny.

Public regulator record on BoA fees

• CFPB 2023 enforcement order — $250M total — junk fees, double-charged overdraft fees, withheld credit-card rewards, fake accounts.
• CFPB Consumer Complaint Database — Bank of America — public, searchable, tens of thousands of complaints (a large share fee-related).
• BoA business checking fee disclosure — source-of-truth for current published rates. Verify before acting.

If you want to dispute a BoA fee in New York City

1. Pull the statement showing the fee. Screenshot it.
2. Compare against BoA's published fee schedule. If it does not match, document the discrepancy.
3. Request a written explanation through BoA secure message. Save the response.
4. If the explanation is unsatisfactory, file a CFPB complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint with the documentation. Free, public, and tends to get a documented response.
5. For overdraft-fee disputes specifically: reference the CFPB 2023 order in your complaint if your situation matches the practices it cited.

Other NY cities

• BoA fees in Brooklyn, NY
• BoA fees in Queens, NY
• BoA fees in Bronx, NY
• BoA fees in Staten Island, NY
• BoA fees in Yonkers, NY
• BoA fees in New Rochelle, NY
• BoA customer-experience review for New York City →
• New York City consumer-banking rights →
• Compare 50+ business banks for New York City (Noizz) →