I looked around pretty hard to find a bank that would work well for my limited and sporadic income. I specifically wanted to avoid those that would be constantly levying fees that would eat up whatever I had in there. I wanted to do everything possible online. I wound up going with NBKC. Their app and website work very well, and even though I frequently have less than $100 in my account, they accept checks via their app, and pay interest on the account. They have occasionally held a check until it cleared, which is completely reasonable. I’ve never had any reason to use their debit card with an ATM, but they are tied into several large networks.
My experience with US Bank is that service is branch-dependent. I’ve gone to some that will go above and beyond to give you the best service possible. I’ve gone to others that treat you like a commodity (moooooo) and there was that one branch that stole $500 from me, tried to get me to sign a paper so they could steal another $500 from corporate, the manager behind this lectured me on abusing her employees* and ultimately that “lost” money resulted in my credit card being cancelled.
- I said “Are you fucking kidding me.” when they said they lost my cashiers check. There was a history before this of:
We sent your check to the CC department.
OK, we actually sent it this time.
We just sent it.
It’s getting sent off tomorrow.
We lost the check.
She berated me for saying “the F-word” to one of her workers.
I almost forgot the best part. When I told the branch manager that I was walking out of her office to make 2 phone calls, the first to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the second to her district manager (who I called by name) telling him why one of his branches was going to be investigated by the OCC she immediately pulled my check out of her desk.
Yes I still made the calls and got a check for the cost of the cashiers check ($3) that the manager refused to give me when she returned my check. And yes, I did cash it at her branch.
It’s not hack the cables per se, but an unattended machine is easier for some ‘evildoer’ to install a skimmer on. You’re right in that the best place to do this is at a free-standing one, preferably w/o video cameras nearby. The ones at a bank are easy enough to install a skimmer on in the off hours when there’s a low likelihood of a customer coming in to the ATM room on the side of the bank building but there’s probably video cameras around, which a smart criminal probably wouldn’t want to be filmed on. However, a place like Wawa or 7-Eleven always has someone in there; even at 3am when there’s no customers, there’s at least a clerk, as well as video surveillance equipment. A criminal would be concerned that even a bored clerk might notice someone doing something unusual, for a longer than normal period of time at an ATM inside their store. Criminals don’t want to run that risk; therefore, the Wawas & 7-Elevens are probably safer than any other ones.
As Marvin the Martian stated, Wawa has a deal with PNC Bank. 7-Eleven used to have a deal with Citibank but I believe that ended & they have some other ATM provider now.
7-11s around me have “CO-OP Network” ATMs. They don’t charge any extra fees.
+1 recommending Credit Union.