I was opening several checking accounts recently and now need to close several. It took my attention that some banks provide faster external transfer (ACH) e.g. the next day delivery but some banks were doing it after 4 business days.
My parameters for a good checking account in priority: FDIC insured, monthly fee can be waived easily, fast free external ACH transfers, receive DD from employer 2 days early, sufficient check with limited or no fee, no fee for ATM.
Which checking account(s) do you suggest to keep (pls add to the list)? Is it better to use brokerage as checking?
- BOA (~3-5$ fee for external transfers, DD>250$/m to avoid monthly fee, may be needed to keep BOA tier).
- US Bank (no monthly fee if having CC, external ACH~4 days).
- Chase (DD>500$ to avoid monthly fee).
- Citi (any DD to avoid monthly fee).
- Discover (free, 1% cashbak if using debit).
- SoFi (using plaid that might be concern for transfers, good APY for checking, does it provide check?).
- KPCU (no fee, external ACH~1 day).
- WF (DD>500$ to avoid monthly fee, provides monthly Fico9 score/report).
Fico8: EX~EQ~TU~810 (12 month goal~840).
I have a variety of bank and credit union accounts and almost all drag out inbound (and outbound AFAIK) ACH. Further, pending -> posting is also slow with most of them, even if just paying a CC account from a deposit account within the same FI.
The exception to those is Schwab HYCA.
I don't do direct deposit so can't comment on that or what 'x days early' actually boils down to or why scheduling adjustment(s) is considered a marketable benefit. Some of the info I read seems to indicate the FI just fronts the money.. or maybe the FI just doesn't delay the inbound $$ posting like others do?
@xenon3030 wrote:I was opening several checking accounts recently and now need to close several. It took my attention that some banks provide faster external transfer (ACH) e.g. the next day delivery but some banks were doing it after 4 business days.
My parameters for a good checking account in priority: FDIC insured, monthly fee can be waived easily, fast free external ACH transfers, receive DD from employer 2 days early, sufficient check with limited or no fee, no fee for ATM.
Which checking account(s) do you suggest to keep (pls add to the list)? Is it better to use brokerage as checking?
- BOA (~3-5$ fee for external transfers, DD>250$/m to avoid monthly fee, may be needed to keep BOA tier).
- US Bank (no monthly fee if having CC, external ACH~4 days).
- Chase (DD>500$ to avoid monthly fee).
- Citi (any DD to avoid monthly fee).
- Discover (free, 1% cashbak if using debit).
- SoFi (using plaid that might be concern for transfers, good APY for checking, does it provide check?).
- KPCU (no fee, external ACH~1 day).
- WF (DD>500$ to avoid monthly fee, provides monthly Fico9 score/report).
Of those on your list SoFi checks off all your boxes I believe.
Other accounts which fit the bill are Langley FCU, Digital FCU, Affinity FCU (only the cash back checking has the 2 day early direct deposit), and Chartway FCU.
Thanks. I opened a Schwab brokerage account (there is an ongoing SUB). It has expedite ACH (1 business day, excluding weekends) and free checks. It looks like it can be my primary checking account and they have several branches nearby 
I plan to keep BOA (to keep my tier), SoFi (good APY in this year), US Bank/Discover (no fee). I close the rest of the checking accounts. I may occationally open some checking accounts to collect SUB (>300$).
The high yield investor checking has suitable banking features for my needs. Transfer is instantaneous between it and the brokerage acct. Nice when wanting to wire money (domestic) using the wire fee waivers. (extra step to enable wire xfer on the HYIC account)
The xfer limit(s) for ACH are reasonable, unlike many online banks.
NOTE: some (most?) physical locations are brokerage only. Thus, deposit(s) there would be made to the brokerage account(s). IMO not an issue since xfer to their checking is quick and easy.
@xenon3030 wrote:Thanks. I opened a Schwab brokerage account (there is an ongoing SUB). It has expedite ACH (1 business day, excluding weekends) and free checks. It looks like it can be my primary checking account and they have several branches nearby
I plan to keep BOA (to keep my tier), SoFi (good APY in this year), US Bank/Discover (no fee). I close the rest of the checking accounts. I may occationally open some checking accounts to collect SUB (>300$).
I thought you wanted 2-day early direct deposit.
SoFi covers the 2 day early DD. If I need cash urgently, I may use that account. Since it has ~1.25% APY this year, it might be better to park some cash and use it for some monthly payments like mortgate and auto.
I am checking the ACH transfer speeds now between different accounts. KPCU to BOA was super fast~13h (started at 2pm on Thur --> arrived at 3am on Fri). USBank ACH to any bank was taking averagely ~4 days (they say the standard time is ~3 days while delay may happen).
I did some experiments and Chase checking had the fastest ACH transfer (real time). This feature is only available for transfers from Chase to selected external checking (e.g. BOA/WF but not all). The transfer from external to Chase is still up to 3 business days. Not sure whether it would work outside working hours or weekends.
KPCU/Discover/Citi had the next day transfer (the cut-off time might impact the delivery date).
My schwab account was closed a few days after opening, due to chexsystems (I wanted to open brokerage/checking). There is no negative info, except recent inquiries there. Is it Chexsystem sensitive? Does it work, if I try to open only brokerage? Does brokerage application require chexsystem?
