topic Best checking account? in Personal Finance

Best checking account?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 03:41:03 GMT

Hello. I would like to know what bank do you use for checking account, and why?

For me, I use Navy Federal CU for my primary account ( direct deposit, cash deposit) and I also use Ally as an alternative.

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 04:09:27 GMT

I use different checking accounts for different things:

BRICK AND MORTAR:

I have an account with a credit union at my place of work. It's a good place to deposit cash or paper checks if I need to, and there are no minimum balances or fees. Free paper checks too. The branch is about 50 yards from my desk at work. They would be a terrible place to try to earn interest whether for savings or checking.

DISCOVER:

I opened three different accounts with them for some nice signup bonuses. Discover only gives you bonuses once -- you can't close them and get the bonuses again -- so I never felt impelled to close them. Again, free paper checks, instant transfer from savings to checking, good savings rates, really friendly interface.

CHASE, CITI, AND OTHERS:

I open checking and savings accounts (personal and business) with other places because of the signup bonuses. I close them 7 months later and do it again the following year or perhaps two years later. It's easy to make $1000 in bonuses every year -- you can make $2000 if you really try.

I also have a big savings account with Marcus, who has a slightly better interest rate than Discover. That's savings and you asked about checking, but I thought I'd mention that anyway.

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 04:59:13 GMT

If you pull cash out of ATMs often, Schwab Bank Checking may be the best choice. They refund all ATM fees.

Re: Best checking account?

j615 — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 05:25:26 GMT

Schwab. As previous post mentioned, all ATM fees refunded at end of month, even international fees. Customer service is also superb.

Re: Best checking account?

mongstradamus — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 05:46:07 GMT

I personally use alliant because they have very competitvie savings and checking rates, 2% for savings and .65% for checking. although i have never had to use it they also refund 20 dollars a month for out of network atm fees.

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 11:16:20 GMT

I have somewhat of a buffet of accounts... Chase is best for branches, Discover is best for free checks, etc., for example.

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 13:14:07 GMT

Wells Fargo Greenhouse and Chase Finn can also be alternatives if you want to avoid minimum balance requirements or Simple from BBVA Compass.

If you need physical branches, bank with someone where you frequent. You can often find banks clustered together in the same areas. Everyone seems to bank with someone different and no one size fits all. Check www.fdic.gov and make your own choice as to which bank to use or check out a credit union at www.mycreditunion.gov

Re: Best checking account?

pinkandgrey — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:44:07 GMT

I use my local bank for checking and Discover for savings.

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 16:22:13 GMT

I use BECU as my primary. It pays interest on the first $500, has fee free ACH and pillpay, and recently added Zelle (I don't use this yet.)

What I like most about it is the Money manager. It is probably similar to Mint or other money managers out there and gives me a good view of all my accounts in one place.

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 21:42:22 GMT

I have 1stBank (Colorado bank) as my primary... I have an NFCU checking but as I have had my bank account since 2013 and not had any issues and they don’t charge me any fees except $10 a year for my debit card (which I’m going to cancel), I really can’t see moving to NFCU. I do Zelle to Zelle when I need to move money between the two and my bank’s bill pay works flawlessly.

Re: Best checking account?

CAS2019 — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 02:53:39 GMT

I use Chase for my man checking—I like the fact that there are many branches and I like their mobile app. NFCU as my secondary.

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 03:10:24 GMT

I think WF offers a pretty good checking account if you want good branch locations. I keep some cash in there but have most of it in an account with Marcus by Goldman Sachs. Its still 100% liquid and earns 2.25% with no fee ACH transfers to/from any bank or account.

Re: Best checking account?

Andypanda — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 03:41:07 GMT

I use Wells Fargo. I do not pay any fees, not even for checks. I was not effected by the scandeles at all. Their app and web site is wonderful. But since i have 7 figures in a Wells Fargo advisors acount, that is associated with my other acounts, that negates and minumum balace, and never overdrafting on account, makes sure I don’t have any fees. The banker in tge branch are friendly and helpful. What impresses me is they admit when they don’t know something ( instead of making something up, and screwing things up) and will ask someone else on how to do it right. They were also very helpful when my father died, and had to settle the accounts.

Re: Best checking account?

expatCanuck — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 06:50:22 GMT

TD for hours, ATM and branch locations near me, cross-border convenience and reasonable minimum ($100 balance = no fees).

On the CU side, PenFed ('cause I don't qualify for NFCU).

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 15:16:30 GMT

I left Wells Fargo behind last year after banking with them the last decade. No shenanigans on my accounts that I know of. I just decided it was time to find more lucrative and reputable place to handle my cash.

Currently using Alliant as my primary checking. It earns alright interest for a checking account 0.65%, no minimum balance, and I can easily ACH push/pull to any of my other accounts fairly quickly.

I tried Discover Debit before I started putting all my spend through CCs, lured by the 1% cashback. I get better returns with CCs now and the little spending that can't be put on a card like the gas bill does not count towards cashback. My dreams of getting 1% back from my rent were shattered I like the android app, the integration with my Discover CC account, no monthly fee and no minimum balance. I'm not using it at the moment though. Balance $0 and debit card frozen.

I'm using Navy Federal a little bit since their CCs can only autopay min balance from internal accounts. I think I'll get the CLOC in the future and move that cash over to savings. It's another nice zero monthly fee, no minimum balance account though.

I have a handful of other credit union accounts and USAA too. I hear good things about USAA but haven't done much with it yet.

For now I'm satisfied. I don't have the inclination to go after the high interest checking accounts, meeting the minimum swipes seems annoying.

One day I'm going to have to figure out how to use the CO-OP ATMs. For now I'm just giving extra cash to my SO.

Re: Best checking account?

heyryan — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 16:23:13 GMT

I think "best" is a little subjective - it depends on what you're looking for out of it...

For me:

Best for bonuses:

Chase (well, till they changed it to every 24 months now) - I've made probably $3k churning bonuses over the past few years

WF - have done biz, personal, and CC

US Bank if they're nearby

PNC

Best for branches:

National: WF, BoA, US Bank, Chase

Regional: TCF, Regions, SunTrust, etc

Also, if your CU is a member of shared branching, you will be covered pretty much everywhere in the country

Best for rewards:

I use ETFCU and Consumers CU high-interest accounts really as savings accounts, but my main day-to-day account is Signature FCU's high-interest checking. Alliant CU also has some really good offerings.

Best customer service:

I've had really good luck with US Bank, PNC, SFCU, and Chase.

Best online banking:

Chase and WF have pretty good sites and apps. PNC's website is ugly, but the app is good. SFCU's website is horrible, and the app is mostly functional.

Good luck

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 16:29:08 GMT

There are so many physical and online banks and credit unions, so asking for specific advice requires more infornafion as to your preferences as to online vs physical and if physical is requires, which banks are in those locations.

Statistically speaking, the wealthiest people use banks ans do not use credit unions and the poorest are either without accounts or use credit unions.

For my own preferences, Wells Fargo seems to be the best large bank due to its online systems and branch accessibility along with Chase. I do not like Bank Of America. TD Bank I never liked and I do not need late hours for tellers. Capital One is a decent Regional bank where it serves. There are plenty of banks which have locations convenient to certain business centers and the like so people wind up choosing those as well,

Re: Best checking account?

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 17:10:38 GMT

HSBC may have advantages if you are global with a lot of funds, but their local branch network inside the USA is poor.

In some of the wealthier areas, they have the worst branches. I don’t recommend HSBC for local banking and am surprised they stay in business, although they have been closing many branches with not many left.

Investors bank seems to be expanding but I don’t know much about them and they don’t seem to offer any fee free accounts so I don’t know what they are offering for customers.

Re: Best checking account?

expatCanuck — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 18:09:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
There are so many physical and online banks and credit unions, so asking for specific advice requires more infornafion as to your preferences as to online vs physical and if physical is requires, which banks are in those locations.

Statistically speaking, the wealthiest people use banks ans do not use credit unions and the poorest are either without accounts or use credit unions.

For my own preferences, Wells Fargo seems to be the best large bank due to its online systems and branch accessibility along with Chase. I do not like Bank Of America. TD Bank I never liked and I do not need late hours for tellers. Capital One is a decent Regional bank where it serves. There are plenty of banks which have locations convenient to certain business centers and the like so people wind up choosing those as well,

In a nutshell, for me, an effective checking account is one that quickly & efficiently lets me get money out without unnecessary delay.. IME, TD is very good in this regard; CapOne & Chase not so much (indeed, Chase is slow to pay a Chase credit card, which I find reprehensible).

Re: Best checking account?

minski — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 03:47:16 GMT

Alliant: my primary checking account I use as ACH transfer hub. I also like that they reimburse up to $20/month on ATM fees and I have used that on rare occasion.

Signature FCU high interest checking: currently the account with the bulk of my money. I pay bills with it. Hate the website experience, though.

Bethpage FCU - one of my new jobs has an affiliation? With it and the credit union was offering a small bonus for opening up an account and doing direct deposit. I was led to believe that there was a branch close to my workplace but it was not so. Currently keeping it because it looks as if it offers decent loan rates in the future if I need it.

NavyFed - currently doing payroll allotment (although NF does not seem to realize this /big frown ) in order to be eligible for the Easy Start 1 year CD for 3%. Of course, not too long after I open the CD they raise the interest. /facepalm

Fidelity CM - for reimbursed ATM fees only. Interest rate is nefligible (although I was pleasantly aurprised to find out that it earned any interest in the first place. Lol)