Subtle Changes

Those of you from the Boston area probably know that Fleet Bank was bought out by Bank of America in the recent past. I noticed a few interesting differences between Fleet's online banking and Bank of America's online banking. When I used to use Fleet's online banking for my credit card, I used to log in and immediately see my balance. I could follow the "Pay Bill" link and it would take me to a web form to make payments. This web form would have my default checking account set to make the payment from, and the amount to be paid would be the current balance. Bank of America's payment application is a little different. In order to pay, you first have to select a specific bill to pay. Each of your unpaid monthly bills is presented to you to choose from. So far so good. When you have selected the bill, a payment page appears, with some interesting default values. The default date for the scheduled payment is not the next business day, but the last day before the payment is actually due. The default amount to pay is not your balance, but the minimum allowed payment. Your current balance appears nowhere on this page for you to refer to. Some may argue that these different choices for the default values in the payment form are just a matter of taste, but the more cynical might think that they are a subtle attempt to influence the way a customer uses their credit card.