Bank of America Monthly Payment Plan — a UX case study
Providing flexible payment options to help people cope with any financial hardship.
Disclaimer: This project is an exploration of an idea, not created for an actual deployment on the Bank of America app as I have no affiliations with Bank of America.
Under the heavy COVID-19 situation, its impact on the economy and on consumer behavior is shifting what causes financial distress for credit card users struggling to pay back their credit card loans. This inevitably leads to mounting debt and interest payments in the form of penalties and other fees.
According to the J.D. Power Financial Services COVID-19 Pulse Survey conducted in May, one out of five American households (22%) is having difficulty with paying minimum monthly payments on credit cards.
As a response, many credit card companies have rapidly come up with financial relief programs such as relief from late fees, temporarily lower interest rates, and more.
However, the biggest drawback of these programs is that they do not reduce people’s debt in any way. Although people no longer have banks pestering them for payments, they will still have to pay off the exact same amount of money topped with interest payments at one point.
I decided to take a stab at this problem and come up with a solution that would work regardless of the pandemic situation. I have used Bank of America as an example among many credit card companies for this project as it’s one of the largest credit card issuers in the market.
Like other credit card companies, Bank of America has been making profits by extending credit to people who may not be able to pay it back.
However, wouldn’t it be a relief if Bank of America generously offered more flexible payment options to help people cope with any financial hardship by saddling them with unnecessary interest payments and reducing their debts?
Introducing Bank of America Monthly Payment Plan: a flexible monthly option payment to help people cope with any financial hardship
With the escalating concern and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 situation, the number of people experiencing financial difficulties is growing exponentially.
To be responsive to the needs of consumers as the situation evolves, the Monthly Payment Plan makes it easier for consumers to pay off purchases over time with a fixed monthly payment. Consumers will have control of creating a strategy that’s right for them as they will clearly see the progress of paying off smaller debts to reduce their credit card loans.
Let me walk you through how this works!
Progressive Onboarding
Once you have logged in to the app, the onboarding walks you through a step-by-step tutorial of the new monthly plan payment feature. As you understand the basic functions of the feature, it will take you to a deeper dive into how to utilize the feature.
Step 1.
Once you make a purchase either online or in-store, there are two ways you can access the Monthly Payment Plan feature.
A. Select a plan through notifications immediately after a purchase
If you’ve chosen to pay for your purchase with a monthly payment, you can click on “Choose Plan” when the Bank of America transaction notification is displayed on your screen after your purchase.
B. Select a plan anytime before your statement closes
If you would like to keep your balance down before your statement closes, you can set up the Monthly Payments Plan on the eligible transactions on the app by navigating to the transaction section at any time.
Step 2.
Choose the plan option that works best for you! There are various durations offered ranging from 3 to 12 months for purchases over $100. The payment plan duration and interest options vary based on factors such as the purchase amount, your account history, and your credit.
Step 3.
You’re almost there! All you need to do is review and confirm the new payment plan! Once you confirm, the Monthly Payment Plan will be automatically reflected on your statement balance.
Now, you are one step closer to reducing your credit card loans by clearly seeing the progress of paying off smaller debts at your own pace!
So… would you use this feature?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments :) Through this feature, I hope that Bank of America can provide flexible payment options to help people cope with any financial hardship. This way, people experiencing financial difficulties can be purged with unnecessary interest payments and reduce their credit card loans at their own pace. I hope you enjoyed this case study.
Reflection & Moving Forward
I was very satisfied with the project outcome in that I was able to turn an idea into a working prototype for the Bank of America app. It was my first time tackling a Fintech industry challenge and it was an opportunity for me to uncover and to understand complex financial transactions.
I recognize that I am many milestones away from turning this idea into a more viable feature. I need to conduct a substantial amount of research on whether this Monthly Payment Plan is a strategic and beneficial move for Bank of America. I need to develop an understanding of the various applicable technologies, along with their capabilities and limitations. Most importantly, I need to conduct user testing to ensure that the overall flow is understandable for everyone, no matter their financial or educational background.
To conclude, personally, it was a great opportunity for me to address the inherent complexity of financial transactions and to tackle a challenging Fintech UX problem.
If you have any questions relating to this case study, feel free to reach out on Linkedin as well.
Authored by SooHo Choi
