@DaveInAZ wrote:Well, it depends on what you use your bank account for. I do bank account bonuses regularly so I do alot of ACH transfers, so Penfed is my primary bank - same day (if transfer made early) or next day, and instant credit/availability for pulls from external accounts. And not a bad place to park money, .70% for Premium Savings. DCU is also a good place to park money, 6.17% up to $1k for savings, .50% for checking up to $25k, you have to enroll in 'Earn More'. Marcus is also a good place to park money, .60% and fast ACH transfers, but 5 day hold on pulls and limit of 4 external accounts. I generally avoid big banks like Chase, BoA & Wells, except to hit them for a new account bonus.
But never go anywhere near Citi Bank.
+ 100
Some need a local brick & mortar for cash, coin, bank checks and notary services.
Others happy with on-line.
Need a loan, or high interest CD ?
Many have good benefits but if you look close have poor benefits in other areas.
I think one needs 5 or 6 places for banking if looking for a strong set with varied needs.
Have never found one that does it all.
Still haven't found the Goldilocks of Banking...
I like my primary CU, (HFCU) Interface is better than average once you get used to it, bit conservative for my liking....
I have a brick and mortar bank account with a bank I dont love,(Peoples United) but i can deposit a check in person and closer than the CUs branch or shared branch. Their staff is stellar in branch, And coin counting is useful.... But they charge for everything... Irony is they are offering me decent credit cards now.. and im like thanks but no thanks.. Where were you years ago? They have frozen my ACH twice on me and it was a fiasco.. plus they charged for it....
Was using alliant for a SSL as well as their HYSA.... and the free transfers in/out... It was good for that until the rates tanked.....
Another CU iv done buisness with for awhile, even though it was inconvinent has basically started a fee schedule as bad as a major bank.... and started putting an inactivity fee on their accounts... though every time i see it, just do a branch share deposit and poof it gets reversed... Still annoying... But iv had it so long i dont want to ditch it... (MIT FCU) But even back then, they never offered me a CC and other family members have had issues with their accounts.... (An inactivity fee on an account with a credit card thats used.... it was reversed on request but still) ..... am tempted to go for NFCU but they have very few deposit ATMs in this area, and it takes a few days to clear since the one or two I know of are envelope based... and they do NOT do branch sharing.....
I actually MISS Baybank student accounts... Checking/Savings/Debit Card and Small LOC/Overdraft LOC (You can draw on it) Was only 250$ but it did save myself a few times and the interest rate wasnt bad... They were a bit impersonal but you could do almost everything without a physical teller... First bank i ever used that everything was based off your card...
Also used Shawmut and their student checking which was interesting.. it was like 1$ a month and 6 checks written a month, but i could immediately withdraw a deposited check from the atm and my first debit card... Used that before the precursor to Santander *Soverign bank* bought them out... And quite a few folks went and closed their accounts and i even went to the banker and they were like.. cant offer you any reason to stay esp with all the fees.. And i walked .....
-J
I will reiterate what other have said. There are different accounts for different purposes and what is best for you will vary. I will say that I too have been looking to make some changes and over the next few months likely will be making some changes. I have to get out of the habit of parking money in Checking accounts that aren't earning anything.
From you list, I have experience with Chase as my primary checking for the last 10 years, no complaints they have a good app and good service and ATM's and branches are plentiful. I consider them a great direct deposit account. Their ACH's are pretty fast, IMHO (at least with linked accounts that I transfer to on a regular basis). I have never had any personal problems with Chase, if you are looking for all around good bank you can't go wrong with Chase, IMHO.
My wife had an auto-loan with Ally, no troubles there. I have thought about doing a savings account through them but haven't committed. Current plan is to open a DCU Savings account after we close on a house (don't want any HPs from new accounts right now) and park $1000 there, I mention that as if you are looking to open some new accounts you might look at DCU just for parking a grand if you can.
The other active accounts I have are with NASA Federal Credit Union, Share Savings (returns are terrible) and Checking. I have primarily used them for auto-loans and their credit card. I rarely talk to a person there, but when I have they have always been good. Will be considering them for my mortgage. There are certainly credit unions with better products, NASA I signed up for because the company I work for is a vendor and therefore I was eligible for membership and I am like a 10 year old with spaceships.
If you are goal is parking money, finding the best rates at the time is the way to go, if you need to access cash regularly finding a bank with no-fee ATMs or plentiful banches/ATMs is the way to go. Note some credit unions are on the Co-Op system and you can use ATMs for free at other CU's.
These days I feel with online banking, even if some UIs aren't pretty at some of th credit unions, you don't really need to talk to a person anymore so the customer services aspect of banking for the average joe is less of a worry. I will say though, I recently signed up for BBVA to take advantage of a SUB and did have a couple of chats with them about other products, obviously they are trying to grow their accounts so I take early good experiences with a grain of salt but the people I have spoken to were nice enough.
