Which banks suck the least?

The only thing that I have to add is that since switching to a local credit union, I could not possibly image going back to a bank.

Once upon a time, I banked with a local bank that was good to me and fair. I opened my first account with them back in the eighties. I had taken out several loans, and paid them all off with out a single problem. Over time that bank grew to become a regional bank, then an east coast bank, then they had some problems and were taken over by a national bank.

They promptly lost my automatic deposit paycheck, but had no problem calculating all the overdraft fees that that "lost" check caused. They acted indignant that I demanded that they fix the problem. I closed all my accounts with them the next week. They failed to properly shut down one of the accounts resulting in an overdraft fee for the monthly service charge. I refused to pay it. They reported it to my credit report!

credit union first, USAA if you can second.

Datsun1500 wrote: You don't rack up NSF fees at any bank if you pay attention to what you spend, and when you spend it. Thos fees are not the banks fault, they're your fault.

I'm not talking about using money that's not there and getting charged for it, I'm talking about getting charged to have a checking account. There are banks that still do that.

Datsun1500 wrote: Instead of using a check cashing place, why not just cash it at the bank it's drawn on?

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Credit union

EastCoastMojo wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote: Instead of using a check cashing place, why not just cash it at the bank it's drawn on?

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm guessing you haven't tried this lately. Most banks won't cash a check drawn on that bank unless the recipient is also a customer.

True, I haven't had a need to outright cash a check for some time, but I thought the standard dealio was they check your id and get a fingerprint. Otherwise, the check is basically worthless if the bank it's drawn on won't cash it.

Last time I tried cashing a check at the bank it was drawn on was at BOA.

They cashed it, but charged a fee because the check was from a business account and I wasn't a BOA customer.

I haven't had enough problems with Fifth Third to motivate me to leave, but I have heard great things about credit unions. I see a couple that only require that you live or work in the county after a quick "Cleveland credit union" search.

On a side note... Wow, banks must have gotten horrid when I wasn't watching. Not cashing their own check? That's crazy.

Dr. Hess wrote: Local or regional. I use 2 regional banks. I'm happy with their service level. Both have free checking.

This.

One has our savings/checking accounts, the other has our mortgage (yes they actually keep it vs selling it to a big bank/investor group).

Credit Union. My wife has worked for some big banks, including Centura/RBC/PNC and First Citizens. Through all of those, we stuck with the credit union she's been a part of since she was a kid. We still have a checking account at First Citizens because there is a branch down the street from both my house and work while the credit union is on the other side of town.

EastCoastMojo wrote: I use First Citizens. They have free checking if you sign up for estatements. You get a debit card too.

I use First Citizens too and have been relatively happy. But even they will change their criteria and send it to you with the statement in a document written in point 2 font. Nowhere does it say that are changing stuff, you have to figure out what is changing.

I use First Citizen's too. They have been good, but then about ten years ago we moved to a local bank. That local bank got bought out by First Citizen's this year, so we are back. No problems. Checking is free. Lot's of convenient locations (none in Ohio though). Many of the same tellers as the old bank. However, you must maintain a minimum amount in a savings account to avoid fees and to earn 0.000000000000000000001% interest.

Credit Unions are often a good choice.

I've been with PNC for over 20 years. Yes, I've had a few frustrations over the years, but nothing completely insane. I've also had lots of good experiences with them...I've taken out several auto loans with them. The process was as easy as can be. I make one phone call and 30 seconds later I have my instant approval, and their rates are in line with everyone else. That may be due to how long I've been with them and my history, but regardless it's great.

I don't have enough money to be a big player with any bank (not talking about 401k type accounts), there are plenty of ATMs around on the rare case I need one, and their fees are nominal so I've never bothered looking to switch.

CU … mine is the State Employee's Credit Union … and another account in the Navy Federal Credit Union …

and yes, I realize that neither of those might be open to you … but other CU's are

in the case of my main account, SECU, it costs me $1 a month for checking, offset by the minuscule interest they pay … works out to ~ $4 a yr +plus I have to have a min. of $25 in a passbook savings account … neither of which is likely to break me

as for ATM's … I haven't used an ATM in more than 20 yrs .. so I don't know what charges/lack of charges there are

A CU is your friend.

My credit union is 2500 miles away. Mobile banking and shared branch locations have negated any need to go into my specific branches.

Fees?!?! Filthy Peasant! Credit Unions are the way to go.

USAA doesn't seem to have any fees, at least that's what my wife tells me.

I use First Merchants. No complaints.

Most of my banking is Navy FCU, and their nearest branch is in Chicago, a 12 hr drive. My wife can deposit checks with an AP on her iPhone, but I have to use my scanner and desktop. Either way it's a 2 min task. Online banking is awesome.

Take your 3-6% fees and instead of paying them to a seedy check cashing place pay them to yourself. Put it in the checking account and "forget" it's there. Set the minimum balance of your checking account in your head to $300. Never touch that $300. I could do it when I was younger making dirt, you can do it too. Teach yourself the financial discipline not to spend every last cent you have. You've been wasting that money before, so why not use it to keep yourself in the black? How much in fees have you paid to the check cashing places over the years? Probably more than $300/year.

When I was younger making dirt, a lot of things were cheaper. My apartment was badass and only cost $475/mo, for example... I think they are up around $1200/mo there and I don't make that much more percentage-wise, and I didn't have any hobbies back then except for nookie and that's pretty cheap if you do it right.

Anyway, after discussing things with my employer, I'll just go to PNC because of various synergies involved. This doesn't rule out the possibility of a credit union some time down the road but right now I need something.

dculberson wrote: Put it in the checking account and "forget" it's there. Set the minimum balance of your checking account in your head to $300. Never touch that $300.

I did that years ago when our local bank had free everything as long as you had a daily balance of $500. But I went one step further. I put $600 in the account but never entered it in the check book. The $600 shows up on the bank statements but is not on the register in the checkbook. That bank has been bought out twice now by a bigger bank each time but that $600 cushion is still there.

Epilogue: I went with PNC. Everything is more or less free with their Virtual Wallet Performance setup, which has a bunch of things that will allow you to qualify for it. One of which is minimum $2000/mo direct deposit. Excuse me, may I make a phone call? "You mentioned a while back getting direct deposit set up. Could you be able to do that within, oh, 60 days?" Done!

Problem #1 down. Problem #2, fixing credit... which looks to involve getting the credit that will be extended at horrific rates, then not berking up. Oh well, I'm willing to go 20% APR on certain things, let's do this. I'm pretty good at not berking up money-wise, and I know people who have done dumber things like buying a $40k car at 30%.

The ONLY financial institution I'll deal with is Aggieland FCU.

$0 fees for everything. $25 flat O/D fee charged at the end of the day if you are overdrawn. Actually respects my preference to have my debit card refused if NSF, a lifesaver for a graduate student - berkeley YOU CITIBANK, AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON.

The nearest branch is 1,500 miles away. I don't care. My paycheck is direct-deposited and the local credit union will deposit other checks to my Aggieland account as a free shared-branch transaction. Everyone accepts a Texas check nowadays.

Over the course of my life I've lost over $1,500 in bank fees relative to what Aggieland FCU charges for the same thing. I'm 28.