Bank of America
Email alertsSet Bank of America alerts to arrive by email.
Bank of America charges nothing for alerts and lets you tune both the dollar threshold and the delivery frequency — which is where the real control is.
The feature is called
Alert settings
You can switch per-transaction email alerts on yourself, from online banking or the app.
By Rohtash Singh and Taniya Das, co-founders of Numero
Bank of America offers a wide range of account activity alerts — available balance, direct deposit posted, debit card payments over a dollar amount you choose, and more — with mobile notification, SMS text or email as delivery options. Bank of America does not charge customers to receive alerts, though your mobile carrier may charge for text messages sent to your device. That is a straightforward argument for choosing email.
What sets the implementation apart is the customisation: you can personalise alerts by selecting delivery frequency and dollar amounts where applicable, rather than accepting one global setting.
Security alerts work differently. Bank of America automatically sends notifications including unusual account activity and change of address, so you can identify unauthorised activity promptly. That makes keeping your email address current important even if you configure nothing else.
Step by step
What to do, in order.
AOnline Banking (web)
01
Hover over Profile & Settings at the top of the page
Bank of America's documented path starts from the top navigation rather than from within an account.
02
Click Alert Settings
This opens the alert configuration area for your accounts.
03
Click the account you want to set alerts for
Alerts are configured per account, so repeat this for each account and card you want covered.
04
Click the alert you want, then the toggle to turn it on
Bank of America's own example walks through ‘Direct deposit credited to your account’; the same pattern applies to the spending alerts that matter for tracking.
05
Select your delivery preference, then click Save
Choose email. This is also where you set delivery frequency and dollar amounts where applicable — set the dollar amount low so routine spending is captured.
BMobile Banking app
01
Log in and tap the mailbox at the top of your account overview screen
The app route starts from the mailbox icon, not from a settings menu — this is the step that is hard to guess.
02
Tap Alerts, then Manage Alert setting
This opens the same alert configuration as the web version.
03
Select Account Activity, then the account
Account Activity is the category holding the spending and deposit alerts.
04
Tap the alert, then the toggle to turn it on
Same pattern as the web: pick the alert, switch it on.
05
Select your delivery preference, then tap Save
Choose email so there is a searchable copy, and save.
Alert settings
Alert | SMS | Push | |
|---|---|---|---|
Debit card payment over amount | selected | not selected | not selected |
Direct deposit credited | selected | not selected | not selected |
Available balance | selected | not selected | not selected |
Unusual account activity | selected | not selected | not selected |
Alert on payments over
$ 0.00Set low so routine spending is captured
Set the dollar amount low — the default will skip your everyday spending.
Worth knowing
The things that catch Bank of America customers out.
Bank of America does not charge for alerts, but your mobile carrier may charge for text messages. Email sidesteps that entirely.
Security alerts such as unusual account activity and change of address are sent automatically — so a stale email address on your profile is a real gap.
The app path starts from the mailbox icon at the top of the account overview screen, which is not where most people look.
Delivery frequency and dollar amounts are set per alert, where applicable. Leaving defaults in place is how people end up missing routine spending.
Menus move. If this does not match what you see:
Bank of America’s own page on thisThen Numero turns those alerts into a record.
Once Bank of America is emailing you reliably, Numero reads what you authorize in Gmail or Outlook and organizes it — merchants normalized, subscriptions detected, refunds tracked to completion. It never asks for your Bank of America login, card number, or OTP, and there is nowhere in the product to enter them.
Connect an inboxQuestions
Bank of America alerts, answered
Does Bank of America charge for account alerts?
No. Bank of America does not charge customers to receive alerts. The only possible cost is from your own mobile carrier for text messages sent to your device, which is a good reason to use email as your delivery preference.
Which Bank of America alerts arrive without me setting them up?
Security alerts. Bank of America automatically sends notifications such as unusual account activity and change of address so you can identify unauthorised or irregular activity. Everything else is opt-in.
Where are alert settings in the Bank of America app?
Behind the mailbox icon at the top of your account overview screen — tap that, then Alerts, then Manage Alert setting, then Account Activity. It is not under a settings menu, which is why it is easy to miss.