Wells also gives 100 free trades to anyone with $25000 in their investment arm. But that sort of implies you aren’t the ‘little guy’ anymore.
I’ve been a CU customer and really liked it - but it wasn’t convenient banking for me. However, this was long ago in the dark ages when I regularly had to go to the branch because I didn’t bank over the internet, in dozens of ATM machines, etc.
You sure? I’ve been a customer for years and I have nothing but praise for them. One of my favorite companies to deal with.
Hah, both me and my girlfriend have been burned by Bank of America, though admittedly in both cases it started because we overdrew on our checking accounts by mistake (I wonder if anyone ever overdraws on purpose? Anyways…)
Basically, Paypal tried to draw a payment out of my BoA account, the funds weren’t there, so instead of switching over to my credit card like I always assumed they would (or else why have a credit card as a backup payment option?) they just tried the BoA account three more times.
Each time, BoA was kind enough to issue me a $30 overdraft fee. They were only willing to forgive two of those, so I ended up paying $60 for Paypal’s stupidity.
Now, currently, my bank is USAA. They’re great, they refund ATM fees from other banks (which is handy, cause they don’t have ATMs of their own), have awesome car insurance and renters insurance policies (they started as an insurance company, their full name is United Services Automobile Association), and you can even deposit checks using a scanner and your home computer.
The downside? It’s a little tricky getting an account. Basically you or a family member has to be a member of the military. From what I understand, the company was originally started by a group of Army officers who couldn’t get car insurance anywhere else. But hey, if you don’t mind enlisting, it’s a great option for banking! 
How is that BofA’s fault?
I was fine with the first fee, that was my bad, but it irked me greatly that they proceeded to fine me for each additional time that Paypal tried to draw the nonexistent money instead of switching over to the credit card. The customer service lady at Paypal, while quite useless at helping me out, at least did a good job of sounding like she felt bad for me, while the BoA guy mostly succeeded at sounding vaguely smug.
Again, I entirely own the responsibility for the whole thing being a problem in the first place, it was how they handled it from there which finalized my decision to switch to USAA (I already was using USAA for my car insurance, and everyone who used them for banking spoke highly of them)
I see. Yeah, that does suck.
But does USAA have a different policy? Will they not charge you for repeated overdrafts?
Dunno, I made sure that Paypal does not draw straight from my bank account after that, and it hasn’t come up since.
See, that’s the thing… in every dealing I have with BofA, they’re just assholes. Other banks have shown that you can allow your employees to interact with your customers without being total jackasses. Why can’t BofA? I understand that they’re a business and it’s their job to make money, but in dealing with any other company when I have a problem, the customer service representative at least feigns interest and an attempt to remedy the situation. At BofA, whatever my problem may be is just that, my problem.
I hate them with the heat of a thousand blazing suns. I’m so glad to see this thread and will keep it in mind whilst seeking a new bank.
I bank with PNC and TD (Commerce).
PNC is my main operating account. They have ATMs where I need them. Now that they own National City, I can use the ATMs when I visit my family in Ohio. As long as we have direct deposit for paychecks, I only pay a fee if I drop below $500 which isn’t an issue. If I make odd transactions, they will usually ring me and ask if the transactions were mine. So that’s all good.
TD is my recurring payment account (mortgage, cable, cell phone). I don’t pay any fees on the account. They count my change, they have great hours on the off chance I need to visit the bank. They also have lots of ATMs in locations where I need them.
I have no problems with either.
Switching to ING Direct was one of the better decisions I’ve made.
I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.
Seconding (etc.) checking out a credit union. You might be surprised at which ones you can join. There are often ones that are tied to geographic areas (there’s one that serves our county). If a family member is a member of a credit union, you can usually get an account even if you don’t personally qualify (e.g. our kids have accounts at our savings union).
There are some organizations you can join which are cheap or free, which get you into the “groups served” by various credit unions. We were told this when we walked by a newly-opened branch of NASA FCU and their people were encouraging us to look into membership (http://www.nasafcu.com/l2.aspx?ci=866). As we were walking by after visiting the branch of our own CU, we declined. And I know our own credit union has similar groups.
Perhaps this link will help you find one:
http://www.creditunion.coop/how_to_join.html
My most recent interaction with the credit union: I had goofed with a Paypal transaction, and as a result had an overdraft. The credit union covered it and hit me with a 25.00 fee. I noticed it a couple of days later, took care of it on the spot, and decided it was silly to not have overdraft protection (line of credit). I applied online, had an approval within 2 minutes online, had a phone call sorting out the details 10 minutes later, “and oh by the way would you like to open up a Visa account with us and transfer that balance we see on your Bank of America card?” (as it happens, I had been thinking of doing just that).
In general, we’ve found that loan rates are better (except mortgage loans) than a commercial bank. Service is very good though of course they have limited locations - but then these days, how often do you go to a bank branch anyway?
Relatively few CUs offer safety deposit boxes (ours is not one of them) so we do maintain a small account at a bank near our house, in order to use their boxes.
Sounds like Paypal screwed up pretty badly too. I’d be pissed at both of them.
Re USAA: I too have heard wonderful things about them. Our only dealing with them was from an insurance standpoint, when the at-fault driver in a 4-car pileup was insured by them. They were very professional in dealing with our portion of the claim (3 of the 4 cars were totalled, and we asked for compensation for time lost from work - a few hundred dollars - plus personal goods which were destroyed in the car. We’re in no way eligible for their services, unless I can convince them that my late father’s 2 years in the Merchant Marines during WW II should get me in :).
Late to the party, but…
I like my credit union.
After my dad suffered a traumatic brain injury, he was beset by scamsters. When the credit union noticed the unusual activity they called me as the joint account-holder. Not only did they contact me, but they restored all of the $15,000 that was scammed. (I hope they got it back from the scamsters.)
They have always been polite, treated me as a Member instead of a number, offered great rates on my car loans, and have been generally friendly and helpful.
Since I see USAA mentioned above this text box (I haven’t read the thread), I want to say that I’ve always had USAA insurance on my cars. I can’t fault their service in that respect. I’ve only had two problems with them: They wouldn’t insure my motorcycles because they’re too fast, and they wouldn’t insure my house because it was built in 1934 and still has knob-and-tube wiring. (I’d have it rewired, but I’m afraid to even ask how much it would cost.)
Yeah, I wouldn’t do business with them at all after that, except that it’s hard to do business online without using Paypal.
Things that I looked for in a bank:
-Free checking… check
-Direct deposit…check
-Free online banking w/bill pay…check
-Free overdraft protection…check
-Dozens of branches…check
-Humongous network of ATMs…check
-Free checking debit/visa card…check
Had to go with US Bank. Ease of use, convenience, no fees are priority to me.
As an employee of one of the big banks mentioned more than once in this thread (for both good and bad), I say … go with that one. Every little bit helps.
(I would feel a little odd pimping it by name for some reason, but Regis and Kelly, as annoying as they are, can’t be all wrong)
Another thing to think of is how well the bank plays with your financial software (if you use anything). Quicken’s Direct Connect (where downloading can be kicked off from within Quicken) is a very nice feature.
Our joint credit card (through Chase) does offer the direct connect and it’s really, really nice. One click and it downloads that, plus all our Fidelity transactions, and my work-related Amex, and a couple of others. Some banks that offer this charge a fee for it, however (Chase does not, at least for credit card customers).
My credit union does not offer this - but I can go to their website and kick off the download from there. It’s just an extra step in keeping my finances caught up. It’s not a show-stopper by any means, but it would be a nice convenience. My understanding is that the free online version of Quicken offers interactions with more banks than the desktop version does, but we can’t switch to that for various reasons.
Anyway, beyond that: as others have said, look for low fees. Online bill-pay is nice too - our credit union has free online bill-pay.
Just like banks, there are good and bad credit unions. If you decide to use one, and there are more than one in your area, do a little research.
I’m pretty sure the credit union that I was once a member of was running some sort of illegal scam through their auto loan department (see below for details if you’re interested).
By and large credit unions may be better than banks, but don’t fail to do some homework.
(Details - I purchased a car through the credit union’s auto locater service. You tell the exact type of car you want, and they find it for you at a great price. So I got a very good deal on a '02 Ford Focus through the credit union. I went in and signed a ton of papers as one does when purchasing a vechicle and took home the car. A few days later the person I had dealt with called to tell me that he forgot to have me sign one of the forms. He said it would be mailed to me and I could sign it and mail it back. No problem - except when the form arrived in the mail for me to sign, it had the wrong VIN number on it. I didn’t sign the form, but mailed it back with a note telling them to send it with the correct VIN number. I then got a phone call form someone else telling me it was very important that I sign the form right away, and I explained that I had received a form, but I wasn’t signing anything with incorrect information. She argued with me about whether the number was correct or not - until I told her that I took it directly off the car. Then she said she’d re-issue the form with the correct VIN number, but I never got anything else in the mail. Odd)