I’m in the market for a new plain checking account. I am currently at a credit union, but the closest branch is clear across town and not convenient at all. Of the national banks, such as B of A, US Bank, Wells Fargo plus any others I forgot, which one is the best in your opinions? Good and bad.
Banks suck. Try to find another credit union if you really need to have a branch near you. Does your current credit union have online and/or phone banking? Because if it does, you don’t really need a brick n’ mortar bank.
Wells Fargo sucks.
I got rid of them once but the jerks bought out my new bank and I am stuck with them again.
They seem to add new fees every few months, and the fees get larger and larger.
And they remove features like getting your checks back, and then lull you with a way to see the check images (usually so grainy they are worthless to prove anything like who’s signature is on it, or what account it was deposited to), and later charge you to get the image if it “too old”, which of course is when you need it, when some payment is in question.
www.Netbank.com is good for checking, and you can use the card as a Visa debit card in stores to get cash out, and they pay interest on checking, and they have free on-line check mailing (provided you use that service once every three months. Who comes up with these convoluted rules?)
But they are slightly hard to make deposits. They have a list of free ATMs you can make deposits at, plus they have a system of free depsits made at UPS stores.
My favorite is an independent bank the Mercotans have been doing business with for nearly 100 years. It’s got one building, a few ATMs, and a network agreement so I can use a lot of other ATMS free.
I’m known and recognized by senior management, the board of directors, and most of the tellers. As is Mrs. Mercotan. They greet me by name, can spell Mercotan without any problems, and cover any bounced checks with a minimum of fuss. Personal service like you wouldn’t believe!! They donate something regularly to my wife’s charity fund-raisers.
My favorite is an independent bank the Mercotans have been doing business with for nearly 100 years. It’s got one building, a few ATMs, and a network agreement so I can use a lot of other ATMS free.
I’m known and recognized by senior management, the board of directors, and most of the tellers. As is Mrs. Mercotan. They greet me by name, can spell Mercotan without any problems, and cover any bounced checks with a minimum of fuss. Personal service like you wouldn’t believe!! They donate something regularly to my wife’s charity fund-raisers.
I’m very lazy. I’ve only ever had one bank. It just keeps changing its name.
When I went off to college in 1982 I opened a checking account at Interfirst Bank in Houston. My main reason for doing so was that it was the closest bank to my dorm.
In the late 80’s Interfirst got in trouble. In an effort to save it regulators merged it with RepublicBank to create First Republic. I kept going to the same branch I always had.
A few years later NCNB bought First Republic. They put up banners with the new name in the branch lobby.
Then NCNB changed its name to NationsBank. They changed the banners.
In 1993 I moved to North Carolina. I didn’t want to bother researching banks so I opened a new account at the NationsBank branch in Chapel Hill. When I got married my wife and I opened a joint NationsBank account together.
In 1997 NationsBank bought Bank of America and changed its name to match. My wife and I kept going to the same branch we always had.
In 2002 we moved to L.A. We didn’t want to bother researching banks so we opened a new account at the Bank of America in Westwood. We got a home equity loan from them last year.
I can’t wait to see what my bank is called next!
I don’t care very much which bank I use as long as there’s a local branch available if I happen to need it. (I’m currently with Wachovia, which is… well, they’re fine. They’re a bank, and they do… bank stuff.)
The exception is that I will NEVER use PNC Bank ever again. I had an account with them during college, and every month it was a nightmare to try and reconcile the statements. Somehow I was always a few cents off (in their favor). Then I switched banks after I graduated, and suddenly everything balanced correctly the first time every time. :dubious:
Bank of America rocks as far as big banks go. They have great online banking (with check images going back really far), they have a huge network, and their loan processing system is the most efficient and personable that I have ever seen. I am so happy they bought out hell-spawn Fleet and the string of banks that came before that.
The reason I asked about the bigger national banks is because of a bad experience I had with a “local” bank a few years ago. I had paid my bills writing checks as I always did. Well, for some reason, those checks bounced. I couldn’t understand why because I KNEW there was money in the account. Come to find out, my account was overdrawn because, as they actually told me, “you made $200 worth of ATM withdrawals and forgot to write them down in your checkbook”. I knew I had made one $20 withdrawal, not 10 of them. And I never withdrew more that $20 at any one time. I may have been possible to forget to write down one, but 20? Not in this lifetime. I told them I hadn’t made such withdrawals. So they told me to bring in my statement. :rolleyes: Well, of course the statement will show them because they were taken out of my account, obviously by mistake. They would not listen to reason and refused to reverse the bogus overdraft charges so I politely told them EXACTLY where they could put their account. I left and never looked back. They tried to collect their charges through collections but I disputed the charges and I told them why, that it was THEIR FAULT and I had no intention of paying them. Never heard another word. This same bank is now expanding all over the state and into neighboring states. Gee, I wonder where they are getting the funds to do that much expanding. Thieves.