I will give my bank a free endorsement. I’ve had a Schwab account for about five years now. No fees for anything, they refund ATM fees at the end of each cycle. Very competent people on the other end of the phone, 24 hours a day (I think, I’ve never been able to not reach someone). I have an IRA account and brokerage account with them, but I started with just a checking account and everything was free then, too.
Every time I need something, I’m treated well by a reasonable adult who is not difficult to reach. Basically, I have never been pissed off by the institution or any of its employees. Sad to say, but when it comes to banks these days, that qualifies as a ringing endorsement.
The downside is of course, lack of brick and mortar bank facilities which is something most people hardly ever need anymore, but it’s really annoying when you do. You can take a picture of a check on your phone and deposit it, but you can’t do that with a stack of cash. Again, not a common problem for most people, but it’s definitely a drawback.
Are ethics and scandals affecting your patronage decisions? They certainly affected mine.
A tiny and boring part of my job includes receiving bulletins from the US Department of the Treasury about companies that violate OFAC SDN laws. What are those? In a nutshell, the US government keeps lists of companies and people that US companies are forbidden to do business with, from selling materials or equipment to handling financial matters. When a company gets caught doing business with a Specially Designated National it gets slapped on the wrist to the tune of a few million dollars and the matter is announced in a bulletin (which I receive and file away).
But after Chase showed up in several bulletins over just a couple years, I decided they were not people I wanted to trust with my money. It’s not that I’m a great patriot but that I didn’t like that my meager funds were part of the massive pool that was being used for loans to major drug cartels and shipping companies and such. I just got the feeling that they knew full well that it was illegal and didn’t really care so long as they continued to make their profit.* It seemed like they were taking those penalties in stride as part of their profit-making pattern.
And that irritated me enough to take my money elsewhere.
—G!
*The fact that US law allows companies to write penalty fees off their taxes as “part of the cost of doing business” is enraging enough. But I won’t derail this thread for that discussion.
We actually have a Schwab account attached to a brokerage account. That was one of the ideas my wife and I have been pondering. Their ATM policies are very convenient to not worrying ATM fees. I am a little wary of having the ATM card attached to an institution with a lot of my retirement savings. I believe that the Schwab agreement say they can move money from the brokerage account to cover bank account shortfalls.
On side of Wells I personally have never had an issue with them I check in online once every week or so I think that I would have noticed another account in my name or funds moving out of my checking account. I suspect that inertia will dictate that I keep the checking account.
Probably, but the odds of someone accessing your ATM card qua ATM card are minuscule and credit card transaction use has pretty much the same protection as an actual Visa credit card. $0 or $50 liability, I’m not sure which.
They refund ATM fees unconditionally as far as I know, even internationally. They do charge international transaction fees, like most financial institutions. My Discover card is the only one that doesn’t hit me with international transaction fees. Accounts are discrete and summarized. When I log in I see three accounts, each with its own balance.
Anyway, I’m not trying to sell you a Schwab checking account. I’m just telling you that as far as completely free checking accounts go, I don’t think I could be more satisfied with an alternative. Again, with the very rare issue of lack of physical presence. That’s been an issue for me once in five years.
Way back when, I opened my account with Crocker National.
WFB bought Crocker
OK, I’m a WFB customer
Then I noticed the little nickle-and-dime service charges WFB was instituting.
I went into a WFB branch to close my accounts. “Any outstanding checks?” etc. Then the teller pulled out a hand calculator and came up with trivial “deductions”. “What’s those dings?” “Service Charges”.
“And, when we get to the ‘reason for closing’, we know the answer”.
He seemed genuinely embarrassed.
I took my business to a small bank which got bought by a bank which got bought, etc and I now use USBank. No complaints.
(and your “Bill Pay” reference was amusing - I wrote a large chunk of code for WFB’s “Bill Pay” service - for which they charged money.)
You might not need a bank, except for trivial purposes.
I have a very good credit card (Citi) which has served me well for over a decade, easy to contact, and usually the right answers when I do. No problems.
I have my income direct deposited to a bank that Ive had an account with for 15 years, which got bought out once by a regional, but painlessly so far. It is over 1,000 miles away now that I’ve moved. My rent has to be by check, and they don’t mind the out of town check. I write one check a month, and have free checking.
I pay for everything with the Citi card, including all PoS and online purchases and monthly recurrings, then I pay off the entire balance in full every month with an online click from my bank. The CC sends me a free accounting every month of every purchase.
As I mentioned upthread, I keep a local account at a mall branch, in case I ever have a paper check I need to cash. Couple times a year, but a PITA without a walk-in bank.
Untouched savings and investments are handled in a large safe bank, which I contact less than annualy.
So, if your affairs are no more complicated than mine, it won’t matter much. If they are more complicated, judge a banking service by what you need it to do for you.