<p>USE A CREDIT UNION. </p>
<p>If you want to hit the greedy banks and politicians where it hurts, use credit unions. You have no one to blame but yourself about the greedy banks and their fees if you don’t use a credit union. It’s a myth credit unions are not convenient. They are much much better than they used to be.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s for ATM. However, my husband often mistaken them for a debit card and use it so we will end up paying somehow. I like BoA because of convenience. I was able to get cash withdraw in UK. I also have several credit unions checking account and one from Chase account. But the last bank run taught me not to close to many things prematurely. I was worry about Wamu/Chase having problem but it turned out BofA also had a problem. Now I just keep a little bit of money in each bank, enough so I won’t be charged any fee.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why one would ever use a debit card instead of using a credit card and paying off the balance in full at the end of the month. And with credit cards you can get miles on airlines. And I’m not teaching my kids to use debit cards either. Withdraw the cash and use cash, or use a credit card and pay it in full. I don’t get the appeal at all.</p>
<p>S2 has a free college account with BOA since it’s near us here as well as on campus. Sounds like he will get hit with the debit card fee, too. (?) He generally uses cash on campus and mainly uses his debit card for online puchases (books, etc.). He does not have a credit card.</p>
<p>Since S1 graduates next spring and loses his free Citibank checking, I suspect we will discuss setting up accounts at USAA when they come home for the holidays. USAA (at least in our area) now has ATMs at CVS locations, and they still reimburse for non-USAA ATM transactions.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because I don’t have a credit card. The debit card functions just fine in that manner…</p>
<p>Why do you want to spend your money in the moment vs at the end of the month? I’d rather play the float and get a little interest.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, I can’t speak for hops_scout, but I use the debit card for the same reason I used to write checks: It’s convenient, I prefer to pay as I go rather than put it on the credit card, and I’m uncomfortable carrying around large amount of cash. You prefer to use the credit card, and your reasons are valid. The point is, there’s now a penalty for my preferred way.</p>
<p>The debit card comes with the checking account. I have never applied for a credit card and having seen what my sister did with a credit card, I’m in no hurry to get one really.</p>
<p>D2 doesn’t have a credit card(no job yet) but she has a debit card to withdraw from her savings. That is one reason for using debit card.</p>
<p>I prefer using my debit card over my credit cards. I basically use my credit cards for hotel rooms or car rentals ( so as not to have any holds on my funds ) Also , no temptation to spend more than I should. It’s nice to be able to pay off credit card balances at the end of the month , but there isn’t anything wrong with using debit. I don’t like to carry a lot of cash either.</p>
<p>OK, just chill. </p>
<p>What B/A has done is announce three months in advance that it plans to impose a fee on some types of accounts for debit card use, in some states. So you have 3 whole months to figure out whether you can find a bank that will give you a better deal.</p>
<p>I have already ascertained via a call to customer service on another matter that the charge will not apply to me. (I have an account where I pretty much get everything free because I maintain a minimum balance in a linked savings account.).</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t really care one way or another about B/A… I bank there because it is convenient, they are really good to me, and I live in a place where nothing else is convenient. So credit union is not a viable option for me. </p>
<p>Now I have a family member who opted for the credit union route and has had all sorts of hassles which I won’t get into – just suffice it to say that I was not at all impressed with the customer service end of things. </p>
<p>Anyway, as I said, I really don’t care. I just think that it’s not the big deal everyone is making it out to be. If you don’t like the deal you are getting, shop around. </p>
<p>And by the way – the reason that B/A had that whole keep the change thing is that they used to want to encourage debit card use because of the fees they charged the merchants. It was a win-win situation for them. They were hitting up the merchants with fees and rewarding their customers with pocket change.</p>
<p>The govt and Fed Reserve totally screwed up by encouraging the 4 mega banks to acquire a number of large banks and brokerage firms during the credit crisis (Washington Mutual, Wachovia, Countrywide, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, etc). Now these 4 mega banks control nearly half the deposits in the country and enjoy monopoly status. If too-big-to-fail was a problem before, now it is much worse. Senator Durbin can scream all he wants, but if BoA fails the govt will be forced to bail them out again considering their size. If our politicians wanted to do something constructive, they should break up these banks and allow the marketplace to work. Of course, that won’t happen - don’t want to jeopardize the special interest money they are receiving from these banks.</p>
<p>I will either start using my credit union debit card or use a credit card. If you use a credit card I recommend you debit that charge from your bank account immediately so you have the funds to pay the card at the end of the month. I have seen people charge everything and not be able to pay it in full. That defeats any savings or points earned.</p>
<p>I use a credit card rather than a debit card because credit cards have stronger consumer protection laws in case of fraudulent use. (Just this month, a family member had to replace his credit card due to fraudulent charges.)</p>
<p>The credit union that we use has an ATM in my office building and there is a branch on my way to and from work (it’s about 1.5 miles from where I live). They give you 8 free ATM withdrawals out of network per month.</p>
<p>I have debit and credit cards from the Credit Union and I always use the debit card for cash withdrawals and credit cards for everything else. The protections offered by credit cards are superior to those of debit cards.</p>
<p>There’s a facebook graphic going around that shows in 1990 almost 40 banks existed and now those have been merged into four banks. Perhaps there are small local banks starting up that would have better policies. Time to read the fine print at the local places.</p>
<p>hugcheck, that graphic is neither meaningful nor accurate. There are thousands of banks in the U.S. Yes, thousands. It’s odd that people would automatically think that large banks, and a limited number, would be a necessarily bad thing. Canada has five big banks, period. A few small ones but just that, very few, and probably 99% of Canadians bank with the big 5, none of which had difficulties in the mortgage crisis, and all of which are very successful, and largely responsible for the most stable financial system in the world.</p>
<p>Alwaysamom, couldn’t disagree more. It is definitely not healthy to have 4 banks control almost half the deposits in the US. We have a situation where no matter what these banks do we cannot allow them to fail because of their size. Also, they have become huge bureaucracies with lousy impersonal service, pay terrible deposit rates and don’t really need to compete in the marketplace because of their large market share. I can’t think of any benefits to the taxpayers or consumers with the present structure.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You do realize that, if the debit card has Visa / Mastercard capability, your account is quite vulnerable to fraud? Visa / Mastercard fraud happens all the time (not necessarily requiring physical card theft; insecure merchants’ computers are likely leaks of the numbers); fraud on your debit card causes money to be missing from your account until you notice it (perhaps because your mortgage or rent check bounced due to insufficient funds).</p>
<p>Yes, the same fraud can hit credit cards, but generally money out of your credit line is less inconvenient than money out of your bank account.</p>
<p>These days, you have to specifically request a card with only ATM and PIN-debit capability (without Visa / Mastercard capability).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>parent57, so I’m guessing that you think that it would be impossible for large banks in the U.S. to be as successful as they are in Canada? It’s possible that you’re right, but I’m not sure why that would be the case. Maybe like providing healthcare, banking is something that is better in Canada? 
In fact, one of the largest in the U.S. now is a Canadian bank and it has none of the problems of the large American banks and is actually known for its great customer service. I’m not saying that the large U.S. banks who have had problems are well-run, I have no way of knowing that, but my point was that having a few large banks providing services to a majority of the population is not always automatically a bad idea.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The present structure, though, is that you have thousands and thousands of different banks in the U.S. No one is forced to bank with B of A or Wells Fargo or any of the large banks.</p>