Looking for a new bank.

[bullox]

Recently I've read some scary things about my current bank, Washington Mutual. That combined with the fact that for whatever reason my accounts will not sync with Quicken at all since late May, has led me on the path to a new place to stash my cash.

 

Two prevalent banks in my neck of the woods are Wells Fargo and Bank of America. Anyone use either of these? Pros/cons?

 

I'm happy with my 3.75% APY savings account at WaMu, but there has to be something comparable elsewhere where I can keep a somewhat liquid savings account and get around the same APY.

 

I'm looking just for a basic checking & savings account.

 

Advice?

[nate82]

I have my personal checking and savings account at Wells Fargo and my business account at Bank of America. I live in Franklin and the only Wells Fargo that is decently close to me is the one at the air port that is the only con for me. Pros I can't really think of any other than I love their check card system. Currently I get rewards for buying things with my check card even though you have to pay a fee every year for it and you have to have a checking account with them for a certain amount of time I believe it is 5 years or something like that and you get a gold card. The point system works just like a credit card one.

 

Bank of America I just started that account over there so I can't really tell you any pros or cons about it. I want to keep my personal and business accounts separate after having a teller screwing up the transaction and putting the money into the wrong account after that I switched I don't need that head ache.

 

For a savings account have you looked at E*trades saving account? If you go to the etrade website they have a rate of 3.30% APY which is less than what you are getting now though.

[craigharmann]

Go with a credit union. They are much better to use, as they are basically customer owned. Wells Fargo and BOA are focused on themselves and will fee you for everything.

[Diskono]

To be honest, I see just as many fees from my credit union (Great Wisconsin) as I ever had with any bank. Not sure if other CUs are similar.

 

I'm considering using E*trade for everything. I have a generic securities account, which sweeps your "cash" into a money market fund that generally pays between 1-4% APY (depending on the fund and various other factors). You can still use that money just like checking account - they give you checks and a debit card, and refund all ATM fees. I don't have one of their savings accounts yet, but I'm sure I'll add one eventually. I'll probably keep an account open at a regular bank, just in case I need to deposit the odd personal check, but otherwise I don't have a real pressing need for a bank with branches nearby.

[Brian the Automator]

For the love of God, don't use Guardian Credit Union.

[fondybrewfan]

I fail to see how credit unions are any better than a bank. Customer owned is a huge crock of you know what. I have seen how they treat their "owners" and they can be much harsher than a bank (especially commercial customers). If you want good customer service try to find a locally owned bank, there are plenty of them out there. But if you want the best rates (at least on the deposit side) you pretty much have to look at the larger banks. In this environment small banks can compete in the loan rate environment, but they are behind in depository rates.

 

Don't believe the credit union schtick, they are essentially banks with less regulatory pressures and less capabilities with worse customer service. They try to get you in the door and once they do you are completely forgotten.

[ajgodson]

I had WaMu when when I lived in Cali and they're on my top 10 list of companies to never, ever do business with. I do most everything with ING Direct. Their saving accounts pay solid rates and the checking account pays slightly lower rates, but has decent features. I like the feature of writing checks online...I type in the info, they mail it. I haven't been inside an actual bank in years.

 

That said, my wife does have a Credit Union account that we use to deposit checks, which happens about twice a year. All my accounts are linked (ING, Credit Union, Paypal, retirement, etc.) so I just push money around the web and never have to deal with tellers.

 

If you have to choose between BoA and Wells Fargo, I'll state that BoA is a fee monster, or at least was a few years ago. Schwab is getting into the banking side, too, with their main draw being refunding all ATM fees while giving 3%+ APY. Just my thoughts.

[lodiness]

For the love of god don't use Amcore, don't know if they are down in the Milwaukee area, but I had to go there to secure my WHEDA home loan, and they sucked. Every time I was supposed to close, they moved my closing date, and jacked up my closing cost, and not a little, I'm talking my original closing costs were supposed to be 3k, and by the end of it, it was 7k. Rediculous. They kept on blaming WHEDA, but my uncle works there so he investigated, and my loan had been approved through them for 3 and a half weeks. I would keep my money under my matress before I kept it with them!!! My folks have also had some really bad problems with them, with there personal, and business accounts.

[Ando Calrissian]

Since WAMU is FDIC insured, you probably don't need to be concerned about your money unless you've got more than $100,000 with them.

HSBC's online banking has a great savings APY right now and have heard people speak very highly of their experience with them.

I've got an ING savings account that I love so far. They also offer an interest bearing checking account.

[hawing]

Don't believe the credit union schtick, they are essentially banks with less regulatory pressures and less capabilities with worse customer service. They try to get you in the door and once they do you are completely forgotten.

I've been a UW Credit Union customer (member, whatever) since 1990 and this has not been my experience at all. I'd say that results can vary widely at both credit unions and banks - which I realize does not help bullox.

[temke]

i have been a credit union member in madison and milwaukee...both were fantastic.

 

i am currently a member of educator's credit union. they are terrific.

[bball123h]

I'll go on the record as saying avoid Wells Fargo like the plague (I've been with them since I was 10, but am shortly going to make the switch to something local). I went in for an auto loan yesterday and, while they are happy to give me a $20,000 loan for a new car, they will not give me $5,000 for a used (with a nada value of $6600). With underwriters like these, I am not shocked that many home and auto loans are failing. They're begging for them to fail.

[ewizabeff]

I love the UW Credit Union. I never get a fee from them to use an ATM (although most other ATMs will charge me) and on campuses they offer lots of ATMs that are completely free...even for people with other banks. The customer service is really great too.

 

My parents bank with M&I, and they have only good things to say about it. I think they have the gold checking account, so they get all of their ATM fees refunded.

[bullox]

For the love of god don't use Amcore, don't know if they are down in the Milwaukee area

I'm in Las Vegas.

 

Thanks for all the advice so far everyone.

[The Active 33]

I second the ING Direct post. They are great and have a checking account with debit card that pays around 1.8% interest. If you want more info let me know, you could get $25 just for signing up.

[bullox]

I actually have an ING direct account and have had it for years. I am looking for a brick and mortar branch type bank to use for everyday banking.

[Diskono]

I've been a UW Credit Union customer (member, whatever) since 1990 and this has not been my experience at all. I'd say that results can vary widely at both credit unions and banks - which I realize does not help bullox.

My wife opened an account with them awhile back, deposited $50, and mostly forgot about it. A year later, she got a note in the mail saying that her account was being closed due to inactivity, and that the balance was $1. I have no idea what happened there.

 

From the stories I've heard, people seem to have the most luck with smaller, local banks. Of course, there are always going to be a few people that have problems with any bank. FWIW, I had the best luck service-wise with TCF (which won't help you in Las Vegas, I'm assuming).

[temke]

My wife opened an account with them awhile back, deposited $50, and mostly forgot about it. A year later, she got a note in the mail saying that her account was being closed due to inactivity, and that the balance was $1. I have no idea what happened there.

i would think looking through statements would solve that. they have to account for your money somehow

[nate82]

I'll go on the record as saying avoid Wells Fargo like the plague (I've been with them since I was 10, but am shortly going to make the switch to something local). I went in for an auto loan yesterday and, while they are happy to give me a $20,000 loan for a new car, they will not give me $5,000 for a used (with a nada value of $6600). With underwriters like these, I am not shocked that many home and auto loans are failing. They're begging for them to fail.

Actually they should have rejected you. Giving a loan for $5,000 for a car that has a value of $6,600 wouldn't be a wise decision for them. With a new car if you miss payments and go into default with them they at least have a new car that is worth close to the original amount compared to the used car which is probably at a higher loss than that $20,000 they loaned you for the new car.

 

This also has to go along with insurance. Someone is more likely to put insurance on their $20,000 car compared to a car that only costs $6,600. This creates a bigger risk for the bank than if they were going to give you a loan for $20,000 for a new car. Even if you do get insurance for the car that costs $6,600 are you going to get as much insurance as you would for a $20,000 car? That $5,000 loan is more risky for Wells Fargo than the $20,000 new car loan is. You have to take into all the factors for this.

[RyDogg66]

Whatever you do, dont go to Associated Bank. They are terrible. I have them and I am considering switching. For example:

 

If I have $100.00 in my checking account and I fill up for gasoline for $50.00, buy two coffees for $2.00 each on seperate days, lunch at Subway for $6.00 and then I forget I had a scheduled cable bill due to come out for $100 and all 5 transactions come through on the same night, I get hit with 4 over draft fees because they go:

 

100

-100

- 50 (OD fee $34)

- 6 (OD fee $34)

-2 (OD fee $34)

-2 (OD fee $34)

 

They claim they do it so "they dont have to return a large ticket item as NSF" and it is therefore their policy to pay ;argest first.

 

I called them out on that and said [expletive deleted], it is so you can clean out my account the quickest to get overdraft fees. The customer service rep did not refute that.

 

I hate my bank.

 

 

(edit: language --1992)

[jazzytrav]

That's actually really interesting Rydogg. I didn't realize they did it that way. We always base it on what item comes out first. It may end up happening that the largest one goes first even though you "transacted" that one last, but that would be by pure chance. If all of it is done by debit, it goes in order of when the transaction is processed.

 

Sounds like a sneaky way to get an extra buck.

[bball123h]

nate82 wrote:

Actually they should have rejected you. Giving a loan for $5,000 for a car that has a value of $6,600 wouldn't be a wise decision for them. With a new car if you miss payments and go into default with them they at least have a new car that is worth close to the original amount compared to the used car which is probably at a higher loss than that $20,000 they loaned you for the new car.

 

This also has to go along with insurance. Someone is more likely to put insurance on their $20,000 car compared to a car that only costs $6,600. This creates a bigger risk for the bank than if they were going to give you a loan for $20,000 for a new car. Even if you do get insurance for the car that costs $6,600 are you going to get as much insurance as you would for a $20,000 car? That $5,000 loan is more risky for Wells Fargo than the $20,000 new car loan is. You have to take into all the factors for this.

Insurance is required by law, so that should have zero impact. The state minimums are the state minimums, and do not vary by make/model/year. And if you are implying that a new car depreciates slower than a used car, why do you lose 15-20% of a new car's value the second it is driven off the lot?

[bball123h]

If I have $100.00 in my checking account and I fill up for gasoline for $50.00, buy two coffees for $2.00 each on seperate days, lunch at Subway for $6.00 and then I forget I had a scheduled cable bill due to come out for $100 and all 5 transactions come through on the same night, I get hit with 4 over draft fees because they go:

 

100

-100

- 50 (OD fee $34)

- 6 (OD fee $34)

-2 (OD fee $34)

-2 (OD fee $34)

 

They claim they do it so "they dont have to return a large ticket item as NSF" and it is therefore their policy to pay ;argest first.

Sadly, most banks are like this now (a 2nd strike for Wells Fargo). You should read the awesome bank stories on consumerist.com. They will also never decline your card to "save you public embarassment", whilst charging rediculous overdraft fees.

 

Note to self: open a bank, ???, profit!

[RyDogg66]

That's actually really interesting Rydogg. I didn't realize they did it that way. We always base it on what item comes out first. It may end up happening that the largest one goes first even though you "transacted" that one last, but that would be by pure chance. If all of it is done by debit, it goes in order of when the transaction is processed.

 

Sounds like a sneaky way to get an extra buck.

Yes, and as posted above this one, they NEVER reject a payment, while telling me that they do the largest ones first so they dont have to reject them. I called them out on it and said, fine, I want you to start paying all my small ones first, and if you want to send back the large one, that is fine, I will deal with it. Well, they still paid it and charged me for one overdraft.

 

They told me the same story jazzy (although it sounds like you work for a bank, maybe even associated). "We base it on what comes in first, only in my instance, I have NEVER had a small one come first, always the large ones. Sounds pretty convenient to me. Then they tell me they do checks, phone checks and auto debits first, then regular transactions, until I had to write a $6.00 check for some subscription or something, it comes in with some gas purchases and a few other large items that were regular debits...guess which one was bringing up the rear? Yep, the $6.00 check, this was just a month after they justfied paying a larger check first in order to screw me.

 

Associated Banke = evil.

[TSack27]

For what it is worth - my credit union (and I know of at least one other in town, Wausau), that pays 4-6% interest on CHECKING account balances - no minimums and about as fluid as you can get. But to qualify for that rate, you need to have electronic payroll deposit and receive monthly statements electronically, plus use your debit/credit card as a credit card at least 10 times in a month. Using their debit card as a (VISA) credit card is easier than writing a check, and does not have interest fees applied, as it is still coming out of your checking account.

 

Pays better than most savings accounts, so I've even moved my savings balance to that account. Not sure if anyone is offering packages like that in your neck of the woods, but if you can meet those electronic requirements, it seems worth it to me for that extra money every month.