Bank of America website problems resolved

NEW YORK — Bank of America's homepage and online banking service experienced problems for about two hours early Friday before being fully restored.

A company spokeswoman, Tara Burke, declined to give a reason for the difficulties or say how widespread they were. But she said some customers were unable to log on starting from around 9:15 a.m. Eastern time.

Some visitors who tried to sign onto their accounts were greeted with the message that the site was "operating slower than usual" and that the bank was working to restore service. Burke said the website was never completely offline.

The problems came a day after the bank said it would start charging a $5 monthly fee for debit card purchases. Burke said the problems weren't the result of hacking.

Customers were still able to bank via text message, at ATMs and at branches during the slowdown, Burke said.

Bank of America offers customers an eBanking account, which is free if customers do all their banking online and at ATMs. Customers are charged an $8.95 monthly fee if they use branch locations.