However, several of the largest banks do not have much presence in NE (e.g., MA.) I have just learned that there is no retail branch for Chase in MA!
Some may claim that there is no need for a physical branch today. This could be true until some landlord or real estate agent demands a cashier check in a competitive real estate or rental market (and you are not given much time to get that check – because other bidders may get the check in no time if they can get it from their local bank or credit union.)
Do you know any banks which have convenient retail branches in that region? Is Citizens Bank one of those? BofA? It would be best that the bank has good presence on the west coast as well.
An issue is that sometimes there is a need to transfer money between family members in a short time. In this case, it is good if they share the same national bank.
So just went through this,. What we did, we have a bank and could write a check and deposit it to another person at the same bank. For another bank we had a cashiers check made and deposited at that bank. All this was possible because we went to the banks in town.
It’s not a national bank, but you might want to see whether M&T Bank serves the areas you need. It’s a growing regional bank mostly in the eastern part of the country.
You couldn’t pay me to bank at Bank of America. But yes, they have tons of branch locations.
I can order a cashiers check from my credit union and they will send it to me within 24 hours. I don’t even know where the building is located. I’ve never been there.
“Convenient” is defined by the paths/routes that you yourself travel, not merely by number of locations. I presume this is for your son. What banks does HE see along his daily route?
Fwiw, my D in New England (MA) banked with BofA and still does now that she’s back out here.
Regarding transferring money. We bank at Citibank. My s banks at Citibank and my d at BofA as mentioned above. We transferred their allowances electronically from our Citibank account. It was just as easy to do here as it was his. At any moment, if I were to transfer money to them, it would be as simple as a few clicks on my iPad for either of them. You should have your son get the best bank for his needs; transferring money electronically is no big deal in this day and age. All you need to do is set up that person as an external transfer and make a nominal payment and it’s as easy as transferring between your own accounts.
However, if you bank at the same bank, the transfer is instantaneous. If you bank at different banks, the transfered money is not available until the next business day or sometimes longer.
Sure, but on how many occasions is it going to be that necessary to have instantaneous access - that it couldn’t wait a day? I mean, sheesh, if heaven forbid my kid is lying on an operating room table and the knife won’t drop til they have their money, I’m putting it on my own credit card anyway and we will sort it out later.
I’ve used bank wire transfers quite often and the money I transfer is there within a few hours. My kids have accounts in banks other than mine–I bank with a small regional trust company–and they get any money that I wire within hours. Are there different kinds of wire transfers?
There is also Schwab, which has a lot of branches all over the US, including HI. They do have some banking services, as well as brokerage. When we were doing a solo 401k for S, we opened it in a HI Schwab, as we knew he had access to one in DC/VA.
They reimburse any ATM fees when you use their debit card.
Mcat - have your son find out what banks are convenient for HIM and his route. It’s of little concern how many banks they have in the total New England area if 98% of the time he will be in a certain area. As an example, Wells Fargo is a national bank with dozens of locations in Chicago but none happen to be on my particular beaten path, so they’re out for me. What does he notice as prominent banks in his area?
Our banks are Chase and BofA. But we like the former better (less waiting time.) We only heard Chase will likely be inconvenient in DS’s region in general, but do not know where exactly he will be at. We just want to learn some general method that could help us to transfer money conveniently and quickly, other than having a joint account (which we do not do. But we share one of our credit cards, which could be useful sometimes - even though he rarely uses that credit card.)
I mostly use Wells Fargo, but recently moved to a new state. There isn’t one very convenient to my daily activities. But I recently started using that new fangled approach to depositing checks using my smart phone ;), and pay my bills online. So I find that I very rarely need to go to a branch any more. Maybe once a month I need an ATM, and I did go use a notary last week (sold house – yes!!!).
What about Venmo? Yes, it will require you to do this money stuff online. But you can transfer from bank to bank using Venmo.
My bet is your son does all of his banking online now.
If you are looking for ease for yourself, have your son stick with a Bank of America account. He will have to keep a minimum dollar amount in the account for teller use. But if he does this…you can continue to go into a B of A branch and deposit money into his account.