Bank of the West changes tune on iPod promotion

It used to be that banks gave out toasters to attract new customers. Bank of the West brought that idea into the digital age with a recent offer of a free iPod Touch if you opened a checking account.

But, as Glassell Park resident Phyllis Chiu discovered, getting that iPod wasn’t always as easy as the bank would have had people believe.

“It seemed like a wonderful offer,” Chiu, 58, told me. “I had been interested in getting an iPod Touch. But it didn’t turn out as I expected.”

Bank of the West announced in July that it would give away a $200 iPod Touch — the one that looks like an iPhone but isn’t — to all new customers who opened checking accounts with a minimum deposit of $100.

To qualify, the customers would also have to either establish minimum $500 direct deposits each month, make at least 10 online bill payments or make 20 debit card transactions by Oct. 31.