<p>My son and daughter are both in college and use the Charles Schwab High Yield Checking Accounts and have no fees and the ATM fees are rebated every month. Plus they receive interest on the accounts. It has been rated very highly by some consumer groups.</p>
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<p>I’ve been a credit union member for over 30 years. The credit union is located about 45 minutes from here. I have NEVER been there…not once. My employer set up direct deposit for me…and also had the enrollment forms for my credit union account. I do ALL of my business with them either online or on the phone…or by direct deposit. They are very responsive to phone calls when needed. I’ve done car loans and personal loans through them without ever going to the building itself.</p>
<p>I’m quite sure you could do most everything you would need either online or by phone…don’t let the distance get in your way.</p>
<p>If one joins a local credit union, is there a way to make deposits if you are away? For instance, my college has a credit union that I’m interested in joining, but there are no branches nearby my house. So my parents (or myself, when at home) would be unable to make deposits or bank at all really.</p>
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Poor choice of words…the end result is the bank I have been at for many years and hold over a dozen accounts at, including a mortgage, is now Wells Fargo. We are not impressed. Even their UI irritates me. :mad:</p>
<p>CIA - we are strictly credit union customers, associated with H’s large employer, so neither of our daughters had credit union access when they were away at school. On the few occasions they had a deposit to make, they could just use an ATM that accepts deposits near their school. </p>
<p>Our credit union only has one location off property from the employer and it’s almost a 30-minute drive for me, so if I need to make a deposit and H isn’t available to do so (traveling, etc), I just go to one of our local ATMs in town and make the deposit. It probably doesn’t get credited as fast as if he were to make it at one of the on-site branches, but I don’t have to drive almost 30 minutes each way. I probably have the need maybe once or twice a year to have to go to the off-site location and one was actually a couple of weeks ago when I needed to wire some money. Everything is direct deposited. I do have to maintain a small savings account at a local bank so that I can rent a safe deposit box. But I pretty much keep it at the minimum amount required to avoid a monthly service fee.</p>
<p>CIA - sorry for not addressing all of your questions. You would need to request two ATM cards and have your parents keep one at home to make those deposits for you. </p>
<p>When my kids were still students, I had one debit card from each of their accounts in case I needed to do business for them. However, since we all had our accounts at the same credit union, we could do most business online, including any transfers. If for some reason a check came to the house for them while they were at school, I’d sign their name and make the deposit at the ATM (or H would take it in to work with him and go to one of the on-site branches).</p>
<p>I thought they said they were just thinking about it. No date yet to implement, right?</p>
<p>Im an ING Direct customer. Love it! I was terribly disappointed that it’s being bought by a low class credit card company…Crapital One.</p>
<p>Jym, they’re testing it in select markets now.</p>
<p>toblin, we are TD Bank customers, and very satisfied!</p>
<p>Our home mortgage is with a credit union. It’s OK, but they neglected to tell us, as far as I can tell, that WE were responsible to calculate the escrow amount to pay each month in order for the property taxes to be paid. I just paid the amount on the coupon each month, which did include escrow. Out of the clear blue, I got a notice from our town that we were late in payment! When I called the CU, they said, “Oh, well, you didn’t have enough in your escrow account when the bill was due, so we didn’t pay it.” Grr.</p>
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<p>Wachovia itself paid top dollar to take over World Savings at the height of the real estate bubble.</p>
<p>The article states they will be testing this is in five states this fall, and not for those who meet certain balance reqs. The states named are Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. Most don’t have to worry for now- change habits or change banks when it is no longer the best deal.</p>
<p>My state is one of the test markets-- will start in October. I’ve already emailed my banker to be sure none of us will be hit with this fee. Waiting to hear back.</p>
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<p>That may have been the beginning of the real downfall of Wachovia. It wasn’t a prudent deal and analysts agreed. Due diligence was lacking and the rest is history.</p>
<p>I read about the fee in the paper and went into the bank to talk to someone about it. The manager was busy and the teller knew nothing about it. I then went home and called customer service. Since I carry a high balance I supposedly was not going to be charged. The service rep stated that it was ONLY $3 per month, not per transaction. I laughed at the attempt to make me think it was a bargain. I told her I could easily take my money to the credit union. </p>
<p>I then complained about the non Wells Fargo ATM charges and she took them off. She said if I call every month they would take off the charges. I had called before and they would not take them off. Hit and miss here.</p>
<p>I also called USAA where I have another account. They said they could give me free checking with all the perks. I could send them a scan of my checks, take them to any UPS station or take a picture of them with an Iphone and they would deposit them.</p>
<p>Think I will just go to the credit union.</p>
<p>Wells Fargo is testing these fees and other banks are apparently right behind them. </p>
<p>We have to educate our kids about all these fees as they just think its a normal charge and pay it.</p>
<p>The beauty of the ATM card is that it saved the banks money–they no longer had to process checks and people no longer had to see a live teller to do many transactions. Now they want to charge us for something that saves them money. The cheek!</p>
<p>I have a small business account with them. Never actually been charged the correct amount for service fees. I was told it was X amount and then it was almost double, each month. Aggravating. It wasn’t going to ruin my life for that amount of money, and the amount of time on hold probably negated whatever savings I could get back!</p>
<p>Yet, I tried. Several phone calls and lots of time on hold with customer service to figure it out when I was a new customer. They reversed the fees. Then a month later, got them on again. And again, each month. Eventurally, I cancelled a savings account with them because I wasn’t using it. Months later my banker called me to tell me he could give me a savings account that would save my account monthly fees, by automatically transferring funds from checking into savis. I reluctantly said yes. Of course, after a few months of the correct fee stated for my checking account, it reverted back to what I was being charged, wrongly.</p>
<p>I am currently looking to switch to another bank or maybe a credit union. Haven’t had a credit union account in a while due to location of the branch. I guess it is time. $3 isn’t a big deal…it’s the principal of the thing. Couldn’t they just add this on to their checking fees? How many of us even write checks anymore? When I was first married I probably wrote 25 of them a month. Today, I write maybe 1 or 2 - everything else is done electronically.</p>
<p>Almost all credit unions are members of a shared branching network - so you can use other credit union branches and ATMs to conduct transactions without charge when away from home.</p>
<p>sax, you might want to give USAA a try. They have a fabulous online checking account – all free and deposits are easy as pie.</p>
<p>Whenever businesses get slammed due to regulations or taxes, the costs always get passed on to the consumer, the little guy, one way or another.</p>