Banking help?

[Beacon]

I may move my checking account away from my current bank, Bank of America. The main reason I used them so long is they carry my mortgage loan, but since I will refinance I am considering all options.

I am wondering if any of our California PSers have any good recommendations or good warnings against any banks.

I have had BoA for a long time and they are ok, but I am not in love with them. Does anyone have any good ideas or good experiences with a personal checking account bank, preferably one that I can get a safe deposit box - gosh I guess we know why!

 

[Skippy123]

what about a credit union?? I would never go to a commerical bank. I love my credit union.

 

[Sundial]

My suggestion would be Wells Fargo. They have fantastic online banking.

 

[KimberlyH]

I''ve banked with Wells Fargo for 15 years and it''s been a positive experience overall. I did have someone duplicate my ATM and they wouldn''t replace the $$ stolen until an investigation took place (15 days later), which was a terrible experience as I was living paycheck to paycheck at the time, but other than that they''ve been decent to bank with.

 

[poptart]

If I were you I would try a credit union. Overall, they treat their members very well and although I am biased (mom works for a CU), none of my friends or family has had any problems with other credit unions they went to. I don''t know if you have BBT in Cali, but we have an account their, my first bank ever, and they have been pretty good. DH and his family have all had Wells Fargo accounts and haven''t had any trouble.

*M*

 

[Moosejaw]

The best bank is...

USAA

They dont have any brances but you dont pay any fees. The only stipulation is you can only get an account if you have a parent/grandparent/spouse in the military. I get to use them through the wife, whos grandfather was in the military. They rule in banking, loans, mortgages...I love them.

You can now scan checks and email them to deposit.

 

[FireGoddess]

I have Washington Mutual and don''t have any complaints, other than the fact that they don''t charge other people to use their ATMs but DO charge WaMu customers if they use ATMs from other banks.

 

[codex57]

Credit unions are good. I''ve never found a reason to bank at BOA except for the convenience of their ATMs. They''ve got fees and restrictions up the wazoo.

I prefer Washington Mutual here in CA. Wells Fargo is fine too, but WaMu seems to have just as many atms as Wells Fargo and they barely have any charges or other stupid fees. I''m not eligible for any credit union that I''m aware of, otherwise I''d check those out. May still want to keep a Wamu account for ATM access when I travel outside of my local area (credit unions tend to be pretty local).

 

[LAJennifer]

We have Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo. About a month ago - someone copied my husbands ATM card, went shopping and spent $7000 of our money at 10 different retailers in Bakersfield, CA (we are in LA). WAMU have not demonstrated themselved to be very competent. They made mistakes at every level during this process.

1) Didn''t alert of suspicious activity - when my husband used his card to buy lunch in LA on the same day as all these transactions.

2) We call to alert them of the activity - cancel my husbands card. They inform us they will mail us a form to start a dispute.

3) We go in a branch the next day (didn''t want to wait for the form in the mail - good thing, because they never sent us the form). They give us the form to fill out for the dispute and fax it to the claims department on our behalf.

4) We call a week later to get the status - the form was never faxed. I have to fax the copy that I have.

5) We call a few days later to get the status - they tell us they need the police report number.

6) I go get the number and call them back - now they need a faxed copy of the whole report.

7) They issue a provisional credit. A few days later - we receive in the mail a notice in response to our call above in number 4. It says thanks for calling but we need you to fill out the enclosed dispute form - there is nothing enclosed.

Receive another letter in the mail notifying us of our provisional credit - which will become permanent on May 8 if they decide the charges are fraudulent.

We''re moving our money to our Wells Fargo account.

 

[Beacon]

Thanks for these responses.

I am doing the refi w/ Wamu. They gave me a good negotiated rate.

Reading the experience of LA Jennifer is pretty scary. I was thinking of putting a checking account with Wamu, but now I don''t know. LAJen, did you ever find out how they managed to copy your ATM card?

I totally forgot about USAA, which I am a member of. But I need some ATMs so I have to see about that.

FG, from what I read, Wamu wasn''t charging anything if you used an outside ATM. Now I guess the bank that owned that ATM could charge something, but it seemed like Wamu wasn''t charging for it. I''ll have to review.

 

[bujiatang]

I have had nothing but trouble with Wells Fargo. They can''t change an address to save their souls. After graduating from college, I moved to my parents for a couple months, and then out to an apartment of my own. For four months I had to do my banking online because that was how long it took to change my address. When my statements did catch up with me the address was a hodge podge of the three addresses I''d had. I had called the bank to confirm the new address. I went into a branch and we changed it manually. What finally worked was saying "This sounds like fraud. Who in your offices is monkeying with my account. Surely you track what computers are accessing my accounts. Find that person." And now I make payments to my student loans in cash. I get a receipt, and I bank through Oak Trust for checking, and ING Direct for savings.

Wells Fargo does not get my seal of approval.

 

[indecisive]

Date: 3/12/2007 12:46:51 AM
Author: Moosejaw
The best bank is...

USAA

They dont have any brances but you dont pay any fees. The only stipulation is you can only get an account if you have a parent/grandparent/spouse in the military. I get to use them through the wife, whos grandfather was in the military. They rule in banking, loans, mortgages...I love them.

You can now scan checks and email them to deposit.

I use USAA too. They are great with online banking and they are the nicest and most helpful people on the phone. They make everything so easy.