Poll: What kind of bank do you belong to? And do you like it?

[DawnM]

Poll coming

[DawnM]

We used the Teacher's Credit Union in CA and loved it. When we moved to NC we thought that we wouldn't stay here long term, so I opted to go with a National Bank so that transitioning/moving would be easy.

 

Well, we have been here 7 years now and I don't see us moving back at this point.

 

I am VERY unhappy with our large bank and need to find a CU we can belong to.

 

Dawn

[TrixieB]

Our household banks with a large bank and with a local bank, and we're happy with both.

[DawnM]

If any of you use an online bank only, please help me figure out how you do it. Are ATMs free? Do you never have a need to go in for your banking needs?

 

Dawn

[tabrizia]

Other here. We belong to a large bank but are currently in the process of transitioning to a credit union, waiting for DH's office to switch where the direct deposit goes, it can take between 2 and 4 pay periods till it is done.

[FaithManor]

We have a small local bank. When I say small, I mean SMALL! There are four branches total and it's privately owned. Everyone knows the president personally.

 

We are treated quite well because this is a community in which, the number of potential customers is not endless. Therefore, if you mistreat the public, you'll be out of business due to word of mouth. Therefore, the customer service is the best we've ever experienced.

 

When we bought our mini-van last month, we found it, put money down to hold it, called "G" the main loan officer at 9:00 a.m. and had the check by 10:30 a.m. Interest rates were better than the big banks, terms of repayment were better, and hey, we didn't wait long to complete the process. :D

 

They treat our 4-H club kids very well and always have a teller train each year's new club treasurer how to balance a checkbook...free of charge. Very, very kid friendly organization.

 

Faith

[FairyMom]

We use a local Texas bank to deposit checks, get cash, etc. We love them. We also have a credit union for work; they have the best savings account interest rates for the kids. Happy with both for different reasons.

[FairyMom]

We have a small local bank. When I say small, I mean SMALL! There are four branches total and it's privately owned. Everyone knows the president personally.

 

We are treated quite well because this is a community in which, the number of potential customers is not endless. Therefore, if you mistreat the public, you'll be out of business due to word of mouth. Therefore, the customer service is the best we've ever experienced.

 

When we bought our mini-van last month, we found it, put money down to hold it, called "G" the main loan officer at 9:00 a.m. and had the check by 10:30 a.m. Interest rates were better than the big banks, terms of repayment were better, and hey, we didn't wait long to complete the process. :D

 

They treat our 4-H club kids very well and always have a teller train each year's new club treasurer how to balance a checkbook...free of charge. Very, very kid friendly organization.

 

Faith

 

This reminds me of my local very small bank. Everyone knows you, great customer service. :)

[Mergath]

We do our banking at a local bank, and we're very happy. They always remember me by name, and if I take money out at an atm from another bank, they automatically refund the atm fee to my account.

[Truscifi]

We use an online bank. We get reimbursed for any ATM fees, and can take pics of a check and email it for fast deposit, or mail a physical check. That takes about a week to be processed. The only issue we've been unhappy with is that occasionally someone writes us a check that we want to cash immediately instead of deposit. To do that we have to cash it at the bank it was drawn on, which then charges us a fee. But that doesn't happen very often for us, so it isn't too big a deal.

[VeganCupcake]

We recently switched from our medium-sized regional bank back to the credit union I had belonged to for years before we got married. The regional bank kept slamming us with new fees all the time and we were tired of it. The credit union is great! They have great customer service and really competitive rates for everything.

[Lady Florida.]

We use a credit union. I was with the teacher's credit union until I quit working. Since I brought debts to our marriage, I kept my account and used my salary to pay them off.

 

Once I became a sahm, I closed that account. Dh had been with the space center workers' credit union, which is what we still use. We're happy with it.

[Crimson Wife]

We have USAA from when DH was in the military and a couple of credit union accounts for the times when we need to do something in person like get a cashier's check. I would close the Boston area credit union account except that my folks have accounts there too and it's easier for them to transfer gift money into that account than to mail us checks.

[Amira]

We move often so we have a bank than can accommodate that. I'd hate to have to find a new bank every year, and the bank we have has treated us well because it's used to mobile people.

 

 

If any of you use an online bank only, please help me figure out how you do it. Are ATMs free? Do you never have a need to go in for your banking needs?

 

Dawn

 

 

I haven't been to a real bank in 13 years. I take care of nearly everything online, and my husband handles the very few things that need to be done over the phone (usually insurance stuff). Usually we use credit cards so we don't have to worry about ATMs, but since credit cards aren't practical here, we use ATMs. In the US we usually get the ATM fees back, although we don't here (we usually pay 1% which is by far the cheapest way for us to get money). We can mail deposits in with prepaid deposit slips, or we can scan checks to be deposited and send them in online and they are immediately credited to our account.

 

I have absolutely no regrets banking exclusively online. The only time we have ever had an issue was when a friend of ours wrote us a bad check. We'd deposited the money electronically and it was credited to our account immediately, but when the check bounced a week later, the money was taken from our account without notice. It didn't cause us to overdraft our account, but it made me realize I needed to be aware that could happen.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Amira

[Mandylubug]

we bank with a local credit union and USAA online bank. We are very, very happy and have been for years with each!

[kalanamak]

We could only choose one.

I have a local credit union for the automatic bill pay, direct deposit, and what cash we need. I'm happy with it and it is very popular around here. Since it belongs to the national affiliation, you can use cash machines all over with no added expense.

 

I have an online bank for my "cushion cash". ING has better rates than money market funds and is insured. Not sure why anyone would do a money market account to hold a nest egg, considering the difference in interest.

Happy with ING, too.

[brehon]

we bank with a local credit union and USAA online bank. We are very, very happy and have been for years with each!

 

 

:iagree: This is us. I can't imagine switching to a big bank.

[Brenda in FL]

I voted for large bank although there are no physical branches in the state we live in. We have accounts at another large bank that I've had for years and although it is hated by most - I haven't had any problems with them. So we have accounts at 2 large banks - only one local.

 

I do a lot of my banking online except for deposits - and I like the online interface for both of these banks. I am the treasurer for a local bank and I hate their online interface. That would be enough for me to stick with the large banks.

[Sun]

If any of you use an online bank only, please help me figure out how you do it. Are ATMs free? Do you never have a need to go in for your banking needs?

 

Dawn

 

I think these answers vary from bank to bank. But for ours, here goes.

 

We use an online bank and love it. All of our ATM fees, anywhere in the world, are refunded at the end of the month, with no caps on how much they'll refund. All of our checks are free (no charge for ordering/printing), and I can also have the bank send checks for me through their bill pay service. (I love having the bank send checks because I can schedule checks for the whole year for people like DS's piano teacher, and then they just automatically get sent out on time.)

 

We have never paid service charges, and there are no international transaction fees.

 

We can take a photo of checks to deposit (up to $10,000), and they get credited to our account. We also keep an account at a local credit union, and we have it linked to our online bank's accounts, so we can also deposit that way and then move the money around.

 

We've had a couple of incidents over the years where we didn't recognize a charge on our account. The bank immediately credited them back and investigated. Both times they found in our favor and left the credited-back money in our account. It was very easy to do this; all it took was a two-minute phone call.

 

We love our online bank, and I can't understand why people stay with the big banks with all their fees!

[missmoe]

I choose large national bank in your poll. But we have accounts there as well as well as at two Credit Unions. We love our credit unions, but move quite often so the national bank makes those moves easier.

[Melissa in NC]

I joined a credit union in St Louis 20 years ago. Since then, I have moved to Maryland, North Carolina and back to Maryland and I was able to stay with the CU using share branches and ATM cards. I also belong to a local CU in case I need to cash a check.

 

A friend was telling me that she can use her copier to make an image of any check to email to her bank for deposit. I have not tried it yet.

 

I would not trade my CU for anything.

[DawnM]

I just looked at the CU I was with in CA. I still qualify to join back and they told me I could always come back and keep my same #, but online I see no affiliate banks or use of ATMs outside of their system. In fact, they are all in the Los Angles area only.

 

I am going to start researching other credit unions.

 

Dawn

[DawnM]

Do you have large sums with ING?

 

We have a money market account with Fidelity and DH said to shop around for better returns.

 

Dawn

 

We could only choose one.

I have a local credit union for the automatic bill pay, direct deposit, and what cash we need. I'm happy with it and it is very popular around here. Since it belongs to the national affiliation, you can use cash machines all over with no added expense.

 

I have an online bank for my "cushion cash". ING has better rates than money market funds and is insured. Not sure why anyone would do a money market account to hold a nest egg, considering the difference in interest.

Happy with ING, too.

[KrissiK]

We belong to a local credit union and have been very satisfied.

[Bluegoat]

We don't really have many local banks in Canada, at least in my province, so we are at a big bank. I would really like to switch to the Credit Union, but my husband is not so keen. I understand his reasons - it has engaged in a rather questionable take-over of another local credit union in recent years and seems to have fallen into the habit of acting a lot like a big bank. But I think it is probably better than staying where we are.

[TravelingChris]

We have been with USAA for about 15 years and are very happy. All of my kids have accounts with them too. Dh and I also have accounts at a non local credit union and I am considering getting another at a local credit union. I am happy with it all.

[Soror]

Local Bank here. They are in the southern part of our state and northern part of a bordering state. We did have accounts with a national bank, which was fine enough, just because that is where dh had accounts(as that is where his parents had accounts). However, this bank offered 5% interest on checking, no minimal balance, free nationwide atm, etc so we switched. We are happy, although not so happy our interest rate is now down to 4% it is still pretty good. Customer service is fine and it is nice having humans to talk to when needed.

[Tap]

We are happy with our 4 credit unions LOL (different accounts/different uses)..... and ING but I don't really count that one..

[Parrothead]

We pretty much online bank only since we do not have a branch office anywhere near by. We are quite satisfied with our bank. We changed about 7 months ago from Bank of America to the bank we use now.

[LaxMom]

We used a national bank and they.just.sucked. A shame, too, because my husband had been banking with them (or the original bank he used that they bought) for decades. So we went with a credit union, which doesn't have branches convenient to our home (but does have branches convenient to his work, about 45 minutes from home) and I thought it would be an issue... Nope. Free foreign ATM usage, plus local free usage ATMs, and I can scan deposits through online banking. Love our credit union!

 

So, I chose credit union / happy, but they really function more like an online bank for us. :)

[kalanamak]

Do you have large sums with ING?

 

We have a money market account with Fidelity and DH said to shop around for better returns.

 

Dawn

 

ING is currently at 0.8% (was over 2% a couple years back) and it is more than the money market account from Vanguard. I haven't looked at Fidelity, but I can't believe it is much more than Vanguard (the Prime Money Market Account there averaged 0.1% over the last year.) Granted, some MM accounts allow a few checks, and ING is a savings account, but I've found it easy-peasy to flip money to and from my local credit union.

 

As to sum, it depends on what you mean by large. :) I have 6 months of living expenses there. Anything beyond that (plus my checking account for bills etc at the credit union) I stash into tax-free or sheltered investments. I've got my eyes tight on the prize of retiring before my arthritis makes working a real burden.

[SebastianCat]

National large bank, and we are very happy with it. I use the drive up teller once a month and am recognized and remembered by the local tellers. No complaints about that kind of service, even if the bank itself is very large!

[Liz CA]

Small bank and Credit Union for savings. Thank God we are out from under one of the large banks...

[nukeswife]

Another military family. We have our accounts through USAA, but also have accounts at NFCU (navy federal credit union) that we have money in for my DH to use when on deloyment. I'm very happy with USAA and have had no reason to need a physical branch to go into for years.