Banks...

[Trompe le Monde]

Originally Posted by mkarim

Worse than BoA? Is that even possible?

not possible, though both are terrible; last month i closed both of my boa and chase accounts on the same day

 

[mkarim]

Originally Posted by Trompe le Monde

not possible, though both are terrible; last month i closed both of my boa and chase accounts on the same day

You guys make Wells Fargo seem like the best of breed.

 

[CyanideDragon]

Originally Posted by mkarim

You guys make Wells Fargo seem like the best of breed.

I recommend a small local bank. They will give you better service and not screw you in the next 12 months. I'm a private banker @wachovia & this wells fargo merger is making the people who made wachovia so great, leave or getting fired for the lack of churning. All the mega banks in the next 12 months will be charging fees for everything besides buying more products that will charge more fees.

 

[mkarim]

Originally Posted by uNiCoRnPriNcEsSx

this. for the motherfucking win. you may have to mail in your checks, but if damn, you can withdraw monies from anywhere for free, and no need for a minimum balance in your account.

tldr: SCHWAB

True, but you can have an account at a bricks-and-mortar bank, deposit money into it and just have it transfered as ACH to Schwab. From my recent research, Schwab seem to beat banks in every other respect.

 

[Michigan Planner]

There's always a lot of complaints about Chase but my wife and I have been banking with them for years and have had 0 issues during that time. I have never been charged a fee for anything and have had nothing but outstanding customer service every time we enter our local branch or the one near my office and/or anytime we call them. We also have a few hundred k in various money market, checking, CDs, etc. with them though so that could help influence how they treat you at the local brick and mortar.


Honestly though, if it weren't for the insistence of my wife, all of our banking would be done at one of the two credit unions I belong to. Sure they have relatively few physical locations but I can do just about anything with them over the phone or online that I can do with Chase, they have better rates on their investments and savings and mortgages, charge me no fees for ATM withdraws (and one of my credit unions reimburses up to $20 a month in ATM service fees if I use something outside their network), have given me awesome personal attention over the years, have no minimum balances, etc...

The only thing I get from Chase that I cannot get from my CU is physical branches all over the country, a steady supply of fifty-cent pieces and $2 bills (yes, I'm the weirdo who likes to use those at the bar and Starbucks), and a safe deposit box.

 

[BP348]

If you qualify USAA is pretty good.

 

[ThisCharmingMan]

NatWest (National Westminster - British bank)

They're quite helpful whenever I go to my local branch and I have no major complaints, but the interest rate is pathetic.

I'll be transferring the equivalent of $20,000 to another bank as a result, but will keep my current account there for the time being.

 

[cretaceous_cretin]

Originally Posted by BP348

If you qualify USAA is pretty good.

+1

 

[Big T]

Don't want banks to piss with you? #1. be a depositor and #2. be a stockholder.

 

[mkarim]

Originally Posted by Big T

Don't want banks to piss with you? #1. be a depositor and #2. be a stockholder.

Exactly. That's why I would invest in Chase but never bank with them.

By the way I decided to go with Schwab as the primary bank for my checking, brokerage and Roth IRA needs and with American Express for my savings. It takes some time to set things up at Schwab (eg links to external accounts take 2 weeks to set up) but once its all done iys a breeze.

Most of my deposits and bills are processed electronically so I don't really need a physical branch. In the rare case where I have to deposit paper checks, I do so in my Wells Fargo account and promptly transfer it to Schwab or Amex. Love Schwab's no-fee ATM policy. I no longer have to look for specific ATMs. That's what I call "freedom"

 

[Frost410]

anybody use Regions? great service, open late on saturdays and no charges as long as you do minimal transactions (business)

i used to have BoA and that was a pain **********. Their branches are like starbucks but not worth the horrible customer service.

 

[Biggskip]

Originally Posted by Frost410

anybody use Regions? great service, open late on saturdays and no charges as long as you do minimal transactions (business)

i used to have BoA and that was a pain **********. Their branches are like starbucks but not worth the horrible customer service.
Regions is in pretty serious trouble right now. It's not clear whether they're gonna pull through or not. If the do, good for them. If they don't they'll get thrown into the FDIC meat grinder.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Originally Posted by mkarim

Worse than BoA? Is that even possible?

I haven't banked with BAC on any level other than Business, so I can't say for certain how I like them.

Chase was and still is absolutely horrible to deal with, they have a web platform that is completely outdated along with overdoing the security so that you can't log in anywhere outside of your initial computer without having to jump through some hoops and the customer service that you get when you call is nearly harassment.

My GF uses their brokerage which offers very little in terms of research yet charges $20/trade which is up there with the full service brokerages. They also setup your accounts so that they only have cash in your savings and charge you to transfer your cash when making a trade. If i'm paying that much for a trade they should setup a Bloomberg in my house!!

I like Scottrade which is one Brokerage that I use, they have a branch 5 min from my house that is always willing to do research on trades for me and fallows up immediately when i have a question.

I also enjoy using Vanguard which has treated me very well and offers excellent research and an excellent cost structure where you are paying nearly nothing when you have over 1M. And they offer enough free trades over 500K that you might as well be paying nothing. Some of their funds have high requirements to get into (about 100K) but they are charging you very very little to run those funds.

Fidelity has also been easy to deal with and has been inexpensive to deal with while offering excellent research.

 

[mkarim]

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

I haven't banked with BAC on any level other than Business, so I can't say for certain how I like them.

Chase was and still is absolutely horrible to deal with, they have a web platform that is completely outdated along with overdoing the security so that you can't log in anywhere outside of your initial computer without having to jump through some hoops and the customer service that you get when you call is nearly harassment.

My GF uses their brokerage which offers very little in terms of research yet charges $20/trade which is up there with the full service brokerages. They also setup your accounts so that they only have cash in your savings and charge you to transfer your cash when making a trade. If i'm paying that much for a trade they should setup a Bloomberg in my house!!

I like Scottrade which is one Brokerage that I use, they have a branch 5 min from my house that is always willing to do research on trades for me and fallows up immediately when i have a question.

I also enjoy using Vanguard which has treated me very well and offers excellent research and an excellent cost structure where you are paying nearly nothing when you have over 1M. And they offer enough free trades over 500K that you might as well be paying nothing. Some of their funds have high requirements to get into (about 100K) but they are charging you very very little to run those funds.

Fidelity has also been easy to deal with and has been inexpensive to deal with while offering excellent research.

Thanks for the analysis, SG. My research also showed that Scottrade is a good brokerage and I will probably go with them. After a couple of conversations with brokerages at large banks (Chase and Wells), I am staying away from them!

Thanks again!

 

[Towers]

Just open a small unsecured line of credit in lieu of your chequing account, the banks want you to use it so they will link it to your debit card and issue cheques for you and as long as you keep it in the positive there are no fees.

I shut down my TD infinity account in favour of this option and haven't had any problems, the interest you would lose from most standard cheque accounts is far outweighed by the fees you no longer have to pay.