Which Bank Won't F*#! Me Over!?

I bank at Wells Fargo and they've been great. But basically, all I do is put checks into an ATM then take money out using checks and debit cards. Sure, I do most of my stuff on the net -- bill paying (free), transfers between savings and checking, stuff like that.

I have had nightmare experiences with Bank of America and CitiBank, but that's just my experience.

I also live in SoCal and for me, one of the best parts about Wells Fargo is that they have those wonderful little mini-branches at the back of Ralphs stores. Oh, two other things -- you don't need envelopes to deposit checks and the receipt shows a scan of the checks you just put in.

There is no best bank, best credit union, or best bank account. You need to look at the totality of the bank’s services, accounts, and fees. Every bank offers several accounts with different features and different fees. Some banks may have low overdraft fees, but high fees in other areas. Some accounts waive all fees if you maintain a minimum balance. Other accounts have a monthly fee, but no fee on each transaction. Other accounts have no monthly fee, but a fee for each transaction.

Some banks have a large number of ATMs which you can use without a charge. Other banks have a charge for ATMs.

I suggest that you visit several banks. Find out the features and charges of each of their accounts. Find out how many ATMs are available, and whether there is a service charge for using the ATM.

Make sure you get everything in writing. Do not accept anything the customer service person tells you verbally.

I like Chase. If you are military or military connected try USAA and by all means don't forget to look at Credit Unions!! They function like banks but don't have stock holders to keep happy. Plus, they are insured just like a bank.

Bank of America, they have my satisfactory of 98% the other percent is just hungriness. Any way you should go with BOA its a good bank


RJT

None of them will **** you over IF you know how to manage a bank account. That's up to you to learn.

Often, I've found credit unions to be better than banks. Credit unions are often not run for profit, so there's less incentive for them to F*#! you over. That's not always true, but I used to belong to BofA, but got tired of piss-poor interest and being dinged with little niggling fees for everything I did. I switched to my mom's credit union and have been happy ever since. Yes, there isn't a branch next to every Starbuck's, but since I have my paycheck direct deposited, and they belong to a network of credit unions that share ATM's, I can easily do all the typical banking stuff I need to. I get interest on my checking account that's typically higher than most of the major banks, and my savings account has even better interest. I've also gotten great car loans from them, and just got a Home Equity Line of Credit that has very good terms. I don't know where you're located, but if you go to Bankrate.com or google, you should be able to research ones close to where you are.

Just in case you're unclear about some terms, there's some basics you should know. Banks and Credit Unions have special insurance so that even if the bank goes belly up, you won't lose your money that's in a checking or savings account. Many banks/CU's also offer a "money market account" which you can think of like a blend between a checking account (you can usually write checks from it) and a savings account (gives higher interest rates). Technically, money market accounts aren't insured, but unless REALLY bad things happen, you won't lose money on them (the government doesn't have to step in, but they have in the past to prevent people from panicking). You'd likely want to go with a money market account, it gives better interest than a checking account, but it depends on the details of your bank/CU (minimum deposit you ned to keep, etc)

With CU's, you can often set up your paycheck to come automatically into your checking account (direct deposit) and then have automatic transfers into other accounts. Assuming you are making enough money to survive, I can't recommend enough starting to have some money siphoned off every week/month, even if it's just like $10. You want to build a nest egg as well as a stock pile of what I was told is "F*#! you" money (so you can say it to your boss), ie about 3-6 months worth of money to get by (food/rent). If you start now when you're young, it's easier to keep up the discipline later in life. Put the money into a separate account so you don't easily see it and count on it. Some people even will put it into short term (3-6 month) CD's which are like savings accounts where you give your money to the bank for some time in exchange for a higher than normal interest rate. That keeps you from sucking your money away because you JUST had to have that coat or TV, but you can still get to it if you really need it (you'll pay a small penalty if you take it out early). Once you've got that 3-6 month cushion, start putting small amounts away every month into something called a ROTH IRA- it's a special kind of account your bank can help you set up. Once you put money into it, it can collect interest (you can invest it into stocks if you want) and as it grows, the government can never tax it again. Since you're young, if you start now, you could grow that money into a big pile and take it out when you're ready to retire completely tax free. You can even take out the original money you put in if you need to to do things like buy a house, etc, without penalty.

Someone early on in my career told me to start doing little bits of investing and slowly increase it as my salary increased. I'm a teacher, so I've never been OVERpaid, but of my circle of friends, many of whom work for Silicon Valley tech companies, I'm the most financially secure with my own house and a sizable nest egg. I'm on track to make more money once I retire than I make right now while I'm working. You can do it too.

If you feel so venomously towards banks.......just keep your money under your mattress..........then you won't have to worry about being mistreated........