Decent Banks?

[Razor Sharp]

I'm with Chase right now and they are just terrible. Customer service is slow and no one I talk to has a freaking clue about anything. I'm not thrilled with the fees they charge either

Is anyone out there actually happy with their bank? I'd love to hear about it.

In particular I'm looking for banks that I can connect directly to QuickBooks.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[Wiesman44]

I use Chase Bank and i'm 100% satisfied with them. I also used to work with them years back so I understand the in's and outs.

There's really no reason you should be getting fees unless you keep a low account balance.

Keep a balance of over $15k in Chase and you are treated quite well ! At least I am.

 

[Razor Sharp]

You could be right, I've usually got no more than $5k, but that's changing pretty quick now thankfully.

My main beef with them is that their Direct Connect service is really flaky. Often times it ignores a whole chunk of transactions making it a bit unreliable. Their tech support has been completely worthless in helping me resolve the issue as well. Lately I've just been downloading the OXF files and importing them manually - but that feels so 1995.

I have two friends with Charles Schwab and they love it. One is a fellow Quickbooks user and the other uses iBank for Mac. Niether has trouble connecting.

May give them a shot, but curious to hear from more satisfied customers.

 

[Julius_Seizeher]

Get away from bigbox corporate banks. Their banking systems are designed to rape you on hidden fees and charges.

You want to be with a regional bank or credit union. Once you get with a small bank, you will never go back to McBankers.

 

[sageproduct]

I'm with Chase right now and they are just terrible.

Really? Chase is my favorite. I was depositing $200 of cash into an ATM once and the machine ate my money without crediting me. I called Chase, they didn't put me on hold, I talked to a real person, and they gave me the benefit of doubt by crediting my account with $200 and investigating in the weeks to come.

 

[mpimpin]

Get away from bigbox corporate banks. Their banking systems are designed to rape you on hidden fees and charges.

You want to be with a regional bank or credit union. Once you get with a small bank, you will never go back to McBankers.

I agree. I'm with a local credit Union and very happy. Satisfies all my banking needs especially the electronic ones. The yield on different account types and CD's are higher than most places. I have great overdraft protection and no fees for checking etc.

I have been considering opening an account at one of the larger banks to suit my needs when I move in about a year, but I haven't specifically looked into anywhere yet.

 

[Razor Sharp]

Yo mpimpin good looks on that tip. I never even heard of credit unions before, and now I can see why banks feel so threatened by them.

The only downside I see is that they tend to have a lower insurance rate (100,000 NCUA vs 250,000 FDIC) Obviously this is not a show stopper right now, but I do plan on making a LOT of money this year.

I'm gonna shop around and find one to test drive.

Thanks again dude

 

[Alle_Gory]

You can always open up another account elsewhere when you need to store more money.

Most large banks suck for customer service, fees, interest on your balance... and pretty much everything else. The only good thing is they're "too big to let fail" so mama government bails them out to keep them alive. And you get some nice ATM coverage if you need it, but the ATMs have fees for the most part.

 

[mpimpin]

If you are going to be holding more than 100 grand in a local account you should be having some of that split up in a portfolio. Get some bonds, and mutual funds, and an IRA if you don't already. Unless you really need to have that much liquidity at one time. (which even in a bank you are likely to have a few days worth of waiting time to draw that much out) I think I heard banks can technically hold your deposits up to 30 days if you request a withdrawal. Obviously that doesn't typically happen, but you might encounter it with a super large amount. Which in a week you can liquidate bonds and funds if you have them depending on brokerage services.

 

[mpimpin]

Just checked. NCUA raised their limits to 250,000 as well at least set until 2013.

 

[SharinganUser]

Get away from bigbox corporate banks. Their banking systems are designed to rape you on hidden fees and charges.

You want to be with a regional bank or credit union. Once you get with a small bank, you will never go back to McBankers.

Agreed.

This video says it all.

Bill Maher on Dysfunctional Relationships.

 

[backbreaker]

USAA. best bank in america. and no you don't have to be military at least anymore.

 

[blackomen]

There's a ton of ppl suggesting credit unions on this thread. I highly recommend them over the big banks..

But..

Get any of those credit unions on the Co-op network (most are but you never know). Make sure they're on Co-op so you can use any of the countless co-op ATMs around the country for free.. otherwise, be prepared to live without ATM access when you're out of town!

http://www.cuservicecenter.com/
http://www.co-opfs.org/public/locators/atmlocator/

 

[theunflushables]

I also recommend credit unions. I was with 5/3 and they were raping my account all the time. As a low earner that especially hurts. Since switching over to a credit union I have seen my savings grow.