BANKAMERICA; MERGER NEWS GOOD, BAD.

Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer

The good news about the BankAmerica-NationsBank merger is that consumers will have greater convenience in accessing bank services and will be able to tap a wider array of them.

``This is a blockbuster win for consumers. This deal heralds unprecedented convenience,'' said Cary Walker, BankAmerica spokesman.

The bad news is that fees might go up and personal service could decline, consumer group advocates say.

``NationsBank and Bank of America have a history of charging the highest fees in the nation. So how can this be pro-consumer?'' said Angie Farleigh, spokeswoman for the California Public Interest Research Group, a consumer watchdog that surveys bank fees.

Pro-consumer or anti-consumer: Who's right? They might both be.

The merger will create 4,800 bank branches and ATM locations nationwide. In addition to telephone and online banking, one day the banks hope to offer services through interactive television.

Clearly, customers of the combined banks will have every service imaginable at their fingertips. But it's also a marriage between two banks not known for low fees.

``They have been very aggressive about finding new fees,'' said Gail Hillebrand, a consumer affairs attorney at Consumers Union in San Francisco, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

For example, she said, NationsBank tried last year to charge a $1 fee to customers who don't fill out their deposit slips when they deposit money.

``That's a fee that even Bank of America and Wells Fargo didn't think of,'' Hillebrand said.

In a survey of ATM surcharges by CalPIRG, bigger banks charged higher fees than smaller banks. A 1997 CalPIRG report on account fees showed that high-cost big banks charged 15 percent more in fees than low-cost small banks. Credit union fees were half those charged by big banks.

As for what Bank of America customers in California should expect after the merger, Walker didn't have any details but said the banks will try to make it as smooth and painless as possible for consumers.

But with deals this size, glitches can occur.

When BankAmerica bought Security Pacific, customers were switched into accounts that carried higher fees, Hillebrand said. When Wells Fargo bought First Interstate, money disappeared from people's accounts that the bank had to restore, said Eric Withrow, an analyst at SNL Securities, a Charlottesville, Va.-based firm that tracks bank mergers.

Consumers can protect themselves by carefully reading all the information sent to them by their bank, Hillebrand said, including their monthly statements.

Also, they can take advantage of special deals offered by the merging banks, Withrow said. Initially, these are offered to keep clients from fleeing to rivals.

In the midst of acquiring Barnett Bank, which was Florida's largest bank, NationsBank so far has frozen certain fees and even lowered others, said Bill Anderson, president of Bank Rate Monitor, a banking research firm in Florida.

Meanwhile, other banks, thrifts and credit unions will be on a promotional campaign to lure Bank of America customers.

Sanwa Bank California, the state's fourth-largest bank, has been campaigning to attract customers who are dissatisfied, angry or frustrated with the latest round of mergers. It's offering customers ATM usage without surcharge fees, which is one of two fees customers have to pay when they use the ATM of another bank.