B of A planned a low-cost checking account.

The San Francisco-based bank thus joins a number of banks, including Los Angeles-based Security Pacific National Bank, offering checking accounts aimed at lower-income customers. The new Self-Service Checking account, to be piloted in the Sacramento area beginning this spring, will cut the monthly fee to $2 instead of $5 as long as the customer does not use a branch for routine transactions that could be handled by an automated teller machine.