Where do you bank?

[MaryKay]

I'm a little late to this party as I've just recently joined this forum but I wanted to say that my husband and I have dealt with large banks like Wells Fargo and Chase and BofA. These were all home loans or car loans and we had nothing but problems with all 3 of them. Last year my husband bought a new truck and they wanted to finance it with BofA and we said...NO! We got our own financing.

Our personal checking has been with small, local banks and they have been great to us.

We've had online banking for years with Ally because we traveled a lot and didn't have a home base until 2008. We kept our savings with Ally and never had a problem getting money when we needed it. Then we quit using an ATM card for everything when security was questionable with ATM cards and started using Ally's CC for everything. Unfortunately, they sold their CC services to TD Bank, which will take effect in Feb. We've gone back to Discover, which we used for years, while traveling.

Our next search has been where to put some of our savings from Ally, since interest rates have dropped again. Besides...we've been thinking about dividing up the savings into different places because you shouldn't have all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

[james.hendrickson]

Welcome Mary!

[disneysteve]

Our next search has been where to put some of our savings from Ally, since interest rates have dropped again. Besides...we've been thinking about dividing up the savings into different places because you shouldn't have all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

The "don't put all of your eggs in one basket" saying really doesn't apply here. It's fine to have your cash all in one account as long as you don't exceed the FDIC limit. Putting some in Ally and some in Capital One and some in another savings account doesn't provide any benefit or added safety.

The saying refers to diversification. Don't have 100% of your money in the bank. Some should be in US stocks, some in international stocks, some in bonds, etc. And within each of those categories you should be diversified. For example, you shouldn't have 50% of your retirement account in your company stock.

[scfr]

we've been thinking about dividing up the savings into different places because you shouldn't have all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

I agree that it's a good idea not to have all of your funds at one bank, as long as you have enough to have 2 bank accounts (or more if you want, though for the purpose I think you are talking about 2 banks may be enough) without being charged any fees.

During the Great Recession, our primary bank was Washington Mutual. After WaMu failed and was acquired by Chase, we had an account at Wachovia which also failed and was acquired by Wells Fargo. (And we had an account at IndyMac that we closed before it failed!)

We did not have to wait to receive funds from the FDIC, but that would have happened if the failed banks had not been acquired. Even if the wait had only been a few days, it potentially could have been a hardship. If you can't pay the rent because you are waiting for the FDIC to release your funds, hopefully your landlord would understand and waive late fees, but there's not guarantee.

My personal policy is to have accounts at a minimum of 2 banks. I also pay my bills early (I've experienced online banking down for an uncomfortably long amount of time).

[kork13]

During the Great Recession, our primary bank was Washington Mutual. After WaMu failed and was acquired by Chase, we had an account at Wachovia which also failed and was acquired by Wells Fargo. (And we had an account at IndyMac that we closed before it failed!)

....... please never open an account at my bank.... You seem to have a killer touch! lol

[scfr]

....... please never open an account at my bank.... You seem to have a killer touch! lol

HAH - This was a bit of a running joke on the blogs during the financial crisis. As in, "if you have an account at Wachovia you might want to make sure you're under the FDIC limit because I'm planning to open an account!" Gallows humor for sure.

[koelek]

I prefer Capital One Savor. Very comfortable web banking and small fees. I've analyzed other banks but that one offered me the best cash back credit cards. Really significant cash back because they were giving me 300 after I spent $3,000 in the first three months for my purchases. It was very useful for me because exactly in that time I've gone on a trip to Mexico and I was doing many payments by my credit card and as you know on vacation Americans don't save their money. So, that cash back was a very pleasant '' discount'' for my trip.

[MaryKay]

I prefer with Capital One Savor. Very comfortable and small fees.

Why would you want to pay fees?????????????

[Scallywag]

I've been banking with Wells Fargo for about 10 years now. I pay $0 per month for their fanciest checking account, which includes cashier checks, out of network ATM fee reimbursement and more. What I like most about them is when I use bill pay, the payment is issued from their account not from mine. (Not all banks do bill pay this way). This is absolutely my preference as I do not like to give out my account information.

We've been with Wells Fargo since 1997 and them paying bills out of their account, not mine, has been very helpful. My landlord has been trying to set up auto draft with them and even offered me $25 as "incentive" for letting them access to my WF checking account but nope. Sorry.

Our emergency savings is with a smaller local bank in another county. This also holds our downpayment account. It is just basic savings, does not pay much interest, and we have no access to it (they don't have any ATMs at my county) and I like it that way. It's truly unavailable unless SHTF.

[Scallywag]

....... please never open an account at my bank.... You seem to have a killer touch! lol

Lol

The more important question is where scfr is banking now?!

[jeffmem]

kork13 USAA seems only for military, it is a shame, but glad there is something like that for you. I live abroad so it is very difficult to bank in the US, the patriot act is abused by banks and gives them false reasons to just close accounts. I almost have not a checking account now to do my transfers in the US. We are still taxed, what a bunch of crap. I still need to pay US taxes living overseas, even though I use no US services, so paying the IRS is becoming difficult as I need an account to do that. I also have a small business that I use US banks for, but it is almost impossible to open a DBA account at any banks without walking in. Or who has no fees.

I have a local account I use now, only because I knew the manager, but he left, so now.... I am not sure how long that will last.

I have an Ally account, but rarely use it. And I use Redneck bank as my MMA for savings. I am kind of climbing walls right now as I have no backup for my business account... US banking is getting so bad nowadays. And the US being the biggest tax haven in the world right now I am dumbfounded by the regulations.

[Manjit Virdi]

I do have a bank account that's not based in the US. So I'm not sure how the banking system works in the US. Convenience is one thing I would be looking for when I would open a bank account. And for me, convenience today saves my time and no need to visit the branch for any banking service, but I have found the best bank for an account which runs end to end with my current requirement of time-saving in banking and saving our money is HDFC Bank. There are no charges associated with it, and they have been providing me with decent service over the years.

[myrdale]

I've had mine checking and savings (money market) with Regions for over a decade. They have screwed me once, signing me up for their Platinum Money Market account, $10,000 minimum deposit or you get hit with $20 per month fee. The minimum was waved while I had a mortgage with them, but when I paid the mortgage off, they applied the fee for (5) months before I caught on. I got (3) back from them but they insisted they couldn't do anymore because I was a "bad customer" for not checking my statement. You'd better believe I check it regularly now.

I have a second money market account with a Coosa Valley Credit Union. I've posted a couple of times about the shady dealings people I know have had with them (50% 7 year loan on a $13,000 car, and a $10,000 5% loan to "build credit").

I am convinced banks are not your friend. Educate yourself, keep them at arms length, and stay on top of your accounts. Their screw ups are your dollars.

[jenn_jenn]

We have 4 bank accounts: Bank of America, Chase, USAA, and Navy Federal. I’ve been meaning to look into opening a HYSA online so I’ll make that change soon.

I mainly use the first two. The last two are because we have other services with them and they required I be an account holder and my husband already had accounts anyway.

[ua_guy]

Still with a credit union, since late 2000's. I've come to appreciate that their staff are all local and when I need to call them, the phone tree is only a layer or two deep before I'm talking with someone who has autonomy. The credit union doesn't handle our investments, and we have credit cards through other banks for certain perks, but this particular CU has been excellent for checking/savings and mortgages.