<p>Any bank recommendations, for basic checking, online bill paying, etc? I am looking for no fees, of course. </p>
<p>I should clarify that we now have accounts at 3 different banks and would like to consolidate.</p>
<p>Credit union.</p>
<p>This is not a recommendation for any bank, but to say it is more beneficial to consolidate accounts to one bank instead of having them all over the place. </p>
<p>When my father passed away, I found out they had over 5 accts between banking, brokerage(s), retirement. I consolidated all of them with a large national bank. My mom now has private banking services, so most of her fees (wiring, trading, ATM usage) are waived. </p>
<p>We have our kids’ acct linked to ours, so they also get the same status and service as we do. When they are at school or traveling internationally, they could use any ATM machines for free and no foreign exchange charges.</p>
<p>Many banks have “premier acct” which has lower thresh hold than private banking, and still has more perks than regular accts. I think for a lot of people, between their IRA, savings and brokerage, could qualify for it.</p>
<p>Some banks have large sign on bonus, I’d look for that. </p>
<p>It really depends on what your needs are. I’d visit area banks and ask about what they offer. Compare notes and then decide. There is a bank near us that offers a nice deal for seniors (and I think they define senior as 50 years old!). My plan is to transfer to this bank as soon as we no longer need our kids’ accounts linked to ours.</p>
<p>Our current bank is Bank of America. I know that many don’t like this bank but I can say that over the (many) years, we have not ever had a problem with this bank. They have a very nice arrangement if you need your kids’ accounts connected to your account. They offer many ebanking services which my husband likes. They offer premier customers free notary service (which we’ve used a few times now). </p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. I don’t think we can or want to include brokerage accounts in the banking situation. We have non-IRA investments with a private manager and with Vanguard. I’d like to dispense with the private manager - after about 5 years the returns are not any better than Vanguard and the fees are much higher - but it seems complicated because those funds are all invested in individual stocks. I wouldn’t know what to do with the stocks, except just hold them or sell them, with perhaps negative consequences, and invest the money with Vanguard.</p>
<p>I would love a signing bonus! And a senior deal. </p>
<p>My experience in Boston with a national giant, a regional which is part of an international, a local bank and an internet bank is: </p>
<ol>
<li>All offer bill paying with similar qualities.</li>
<li>Some offer you money if you pay bills, so that’s worth reading their ads about. (These often require direct deposit as well.)</li>
<li>In terms of service quality, it goes from worst to best: national to local. The regional chain is ok; I can walk into a branch but otherwise it’s not better than the national, which is not saying much. The local chain has actually called me from the branch to ask questions about a check or deposit - like when I screwed up and forgot to fill in a line. </li>
<li>There seem to be three other distinguishing features: ATM network (and if they’ll pay if you use out of network ATM’s) and kind of ATM (meaning the most modern that take checks or cash without forms or envelopes) and mobile app (like you can deposit by phone). The local bank falls down on these while the others are fine.</li>
<li>There can be international issues but those depend on personal circumstances too much to discuss.</li>
</ol>
<p>BTW, these are current accounts, not stuff that was in the past.</p>
<p>We have a credit union. My daughter has an acct with a different credit union.
It is very easy to send money to either kid or to pay bills on their website. (& free)</p>
<p>Given that Chase recently demanded that my husband and his sister provide detailed financial information (all assets, home value, stocks/investments, income) in order to be <em>added</em> as signers to their parents’ substantial account, I would say any bank but Chase. They also wanted FIL to provide his info as well, and said it was the law. FIL closed his account there as a result </p>
<p>We have accounts with a credit union. It has served us well - good rates, no fees and all the technology pluses we need. The one thing it</p>
<p>That’s unbelievable, zeebamom! I would have closed the account, too.</p>
<p>You can transfer all the securities from a private wealth manager to Fidelity or other discount brokerage house. There should be no problem doing this. </p>
<p>I’m on the board of a local non-profit that was getting abused by a local office of big Wall Street brokerage house. It took me 9 months form when I joined the board to get this done. Took me many emails and presentations to other members of the board to convince them we were being robbed. (This is my business and they wouldn’t take my word at face value…ugh)</p>
<p>I’ve had nothing but good news with BofAmerica. Everything else is in Vanguard and Fidelity. </p>
<p>Bookworm…really? We have had nothing but bad news with Bank of America…mostly the credit card division…but also the fees, etc. </p>
<p>We have a local bank, and a credit union account.</p>
<p>Wow. Someone opened an account with my father’s name and mine, and BofA got involved and ended the theft ASAP. When 3 of my checks bounced, cuz took so long to cash Fidelity check, they waived all the fees. Many more examples, but they have been terrific for me.</p>
<p>Another vote for evil empire BofA. Years and years ago some of our accounts were sold to BofA, but I already had accounts there back to my Disneyland and USC days. If you keep enough to qualify for ?premium? the accounts are free and they have always been nice. Son still has a free account , separate from us sort of. We can transfer money to and from his account, he cannot touch ours. </p>
<p>I want a bank that after it closes Friday night, I am confident it will be open for business Monday morning.</p>
<p>citibank right now is promoting free checking providing the balance is 50K at all the time, but the sign on bonus is $400, after 3 mom with them. Few months ago it was Chase for $200?</p>
<p>Hate Bank America, but we still have our primary checking account there, as H doesn’t want to move it. (I used to work 25yrs ago for a bank that eventually morphed into them after 4-5 acquisitions, so the account used to be my employee account!). </p>
<p>They may have started to annoy H. We got hit w a $12 service fee this month. He called them and they admitted it was wrong. </p>
<p>I gave up after they kept charging fees on the kids UTMA savings accounts. </p>
<p>The final straw was when they charged my girl scout checking account for overdrafts from another troop’s accounts, because we had the same tax exempt number, our councils. Turned out that troop had thought they had closed their account a few years ago, but the bank never closed it, so it kept getting hit w monthly low balance fees. I was on council’s finance committee, so they picked the wrong troop leader to piss off. We got the CFO involved, plus another leader in town worked for BOA in marketing and we made not so sublet hints we were calling the WABC consumer reporter unless it was reversed ASAP. </p>
<p>Edit to add…I think many people are happy w TD Bank. Don’t know if there’s one near you. I find that local community banks are helpful, however their lack of convenient ATMs is a problem. </p>