Which banks suck the least?

Knurled wrote: 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%.

you're looking at this credit thing all wrong … you can get a credit card through your bank, and build credit that way … no need to get 20% loans … use the credit card "wisely" … i.e. pay it off each month (WITHOUT FAIL) … and you'll start building a history of paying on time, which goes a LONG way towards establishing yourself as a decent credit risk

there are lots of folk on here that can help you with the "bad" credit thing better than I can, but the above is one way

Knurled wrote: 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*.

How expensive things have gotten don't enter into it if you've somehow managed to afford the 3% - 6% fees of a check cashing place so you can afford to set it aside in your own account instead. Like I said, pay that money to yourself and keep it in your account so you don't overdraft. Savings and building credit are good but they're useless if you're flushing money down the toilet of overdraft fees.

I made mistakes as a young one and learned from them. Instead of hiding from the "horror" of banks, I learned how to actually keep my money and make it work. It's a pretty simple, really, just a question of correcting some bad habits.

Don't carry a balance on your new 20% credit card. You can charge stuff on it, but only to the extent that you're able to pay it off 100% when you receive your statement. Don't make the minimum payment and don't accrue interest on it even once. You still build credit but it costs you nothing.

Money is simultaneously one of the most empowering and yet risky things in your life. Don't just ignore it, confront it head on. Learn about it.

Like I mentioned, I'm quite happy with PNC. The vitual wallet thing is nice, though I leave most of that stuff to my wife. PNC has a lot of credit card/bank card options. Use those, and just be smart about it and I'm sure it will help your credit score.