I’m unhappy with my current bank for a couple of reasons, the primary one being the fact that it routinely takes over a week for deposited checks to clear into my account. They even made us wait 48 hours for CASH to clear, once. So we are in the market for a new bank. But I’m not really sure what I should be looking for. What should my criteria be, generally speaking? We chose our current bank because my brother-in-law recommended it, so we haven’t really done a lot of research on this topic before. Any suggestions?
Also, I have a 401(k) that needs to be rolled into an IRA because I’m now self-employed instead of an employee of the company that maintains the 401(k). How do I pick a good one? What are my options? Do I need to go through a bank, or what? I’m a total noob when it comes to this topic, so any advice or suggestions would be helpful.
Well, what’s important to you? What do you mainly use your bank for?
I like Bank of America simply because they’ve always given me excellent customer service, and that’s something I value. When I first opened an account with them, they sent me a hand-written letter welcoming me to BoA. (Yes, of course I know it’s a business ploy that ultimately doesn’t mean much but it was cute and made me feel good, so it worked)
Disclaimer: I do not work for BoA nor am I associated with them in any way (other than being a customer).
I came in here expecting people to be bashing BoA. I love them especially since they are the ones that bought my old bank (Fleet) and they are much better. BoA is huge and very efficient. They aren’t like a credit union obviously but they do have good personalized service when it counts. We had to take out a rather large home equity loan this year because our house was partially destroyed and I have never seen a more efficient banking process. They basically told us to name and amount we needed and they would personally have someone meet us wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted and all the paperwork would be done for us as much as possible. They did and we met with a very knowledgeable and personable banker close to our house on a Saturday morning and 3 or 4 signatures and we had as much money as many people’s mortgages with several ways to get to it at all times.
If you just want routine things handled consistently and well and the whole catalog of services to choose from when you need them BoA is a good bet.
Sounds like the first thing you need to look at is a bank’s funds availability policy.
At most banks, cash is available the instant you deposit it (before close of business), or at the very latest, at the close of business that day, typically somewhere in the range of 4:00 - 6:00 PM.
Some banks will let you at the entire deposit - cash or checks - that day if your account is in good standing, but some will only let you have the first $100 of a check deposit for a day or two.
The last time we looked what was important was free checking, and the number of ATMs. When I was looking for my father-in-law I chose another bank. I didn’t find a lot of information on their websites, so I had to visit. Some seemed totally uninterested in consumer checking.
As for the IRA, it depends on what you’re looking for - growth, lack of risk, diversity? It also depends on how much you have. The planner we have now put us into stuff I never would have thought of, and it paid off well. The one before that was a totally idiot. It really depends.
Check out different banks’ Web sites. This gives you a good idea of the types of accounts, available services and rates offered.
Compare fees for ATM usage, balance inquiries, seeing a teller, flat monthly fees, per-check fees, overdraft protection fees, fees for going below the minimum balance, bounced check fees, fees for using another bank’s ATM, placing stop payments on checks, providing canceled checks with monthly statements and even closing your account.
I had a good experience with US Bank. They’re in Cleveland/Akron, I assume you’ll have them in your town.
Had to close the account due to a bankruptcy, but that was NOT their fault, and they were very nice about the whole thing.
Then again, I have bankers for customers, so banks I don’t get along with are rare.
I just went through this in January. We got fed up with our savings making NO INTEREST to speak of. I got on line and called the local banks. I’m getting 4% on a standard savings account, almost 3% on my checking, and I’ve got all kinds of nifty other benefits that I didn’t have at the Evil Bank. We’re pleased as punch! When the 12 mo. special ends, if we don’t get a comparable deal, we shop it again.