She said that when she moves money from our saving account to our checking account, she could see on the computer that the money shows up immediately on our checking account. So she trusts this transfer.
For the transfer to his checking account, she could not see the money showed up on his checking account immediately. She wants to keep some “paper trail” in the old way by writing a physical check and deposits it. She thinks she could track the money transaction better in this way.
I have zero chance of persuading her to move the money from our saving directly to his checking. She is very stubborn on this. It does not help when our “free” Internet connection (that bundles with our $2200/month apartment rental deal) could occasionally be disconnected in the middle of transaction (purely the network problem, not our computer’s problem.) Ironically, this happens in the heart of Silicon Valley. (For example, in the past 3 hours, my Internet connection broke down 4 to 5 times. Aggravating!)
“She said that when she moves money from our saving account to our checking account, she could see on the computer that the money shows up immediately on our checking account. So she trusts this transfer.”
Let’s say she set up a recurring payment the first Tuesday of every month. She will see the payment come up, she will see it leave, she’ll see the transaction pending and she will see it close.
If she trusts that when she auto pays a bill, that the money leaves her account and makes its way to the electric company or cable company or what-not - this is the EXACT SAME THING. She’s just auto paying her son instead of the electric company.
If your wife is unwilling to be understanding about electronic/online transfers, then why not let her figure this out? It’s her issue. Don’t reinforce it by solving it for her.
It seems like the question of the thread wasn’t what you wanted us to solve in the first place. Knowing what bank has the most branches in the northeast doesn’t change your wife’s skittishness about online banking.
You can’t get cash electronically. You have to pay exhorberant fees to get cash from a foreign ATM. I hate that. That will be a reason for me to look for a local branch even if I do everything else electronically.
Don’t think OP is talking about foreign bank withdrawals. USAA, because it has no brick and mortar buildings, allows a certain # of free withdrawls from ATMs and refunds any fees the other bank charges.
I thought she didn’t do ANYTHING online…this sounds online to me.
Wouldn’t it be a LOT easier to link one of your son’s accounts to yours at the same bank? She could then do the transfer from your account to his…at home…and he would have instant access to the money. Instant. And he would not be able see your accounts at all. And while you could deposit into his account, or transfer funds in, you would not be able to take funds put.
Why don’t you go talk to B of A about this. Easy peasy.
And for the record. B of A is all over the northeast. However, I still say…I doubt seriously that this is a consideration for your son…who likely never goes into a brick and mortar bank…
I get cash back when I use my debit card…or I get cash from an ATM in system…OR I use my ATM card that has no fees anywhere ever because I have a minimum balance in that bank.
I’m telling you…20 and 30 somethings have this all figured out!
I get cash back when I use my debit card…or I get cash from an ATM in system…OR I use my ATM card that has no fees anywhere ever because I have a minimum balance in that bank.
I’m telling you…20 and 30 somethings have this all figured out!
We stopped at a local BofA branch early this afternoon. We were told we indeed could transfer money from our checking account to son’s checking account electronically. But we were told that unless we set up the periodic auto-transfer, we are allowed to transfer at most $1000 each month. This would be the case unless we are willing to pay some extra fees for some service (I forgot the name of the service.) I am not sure whether I totally trust what he (who seems to be a junior employee there) had told me. We were told that if we want to set it up, the current wait time at the bank is more than one hour. We decided to leave the bank because we were not willing to wait in the packed lobby for one hour.
No wonder so many people dislike this bank.
One of my coworkers once told me a story about a large bank (not sure which one he referred to): A few years ago, the management at a bank noticed many of their customers complained about their service and the bank tried to find a way to solve the problem. They finally found a good solution: Just find a way to get rid of those customers who compained most about their service. Then, they will no longer have many customers who complain so much about the bank. They decided to do this because, after they had analyzed the relevant data, they found that serving these customers will not benefit this bank financially, so there is no point to keep these customers. (“Ship” these unworthy customers to, say, Western Union or Woodforest National Bank ? )
macat2, sorry to go off the topic. I also get cash from an ATM in system if available. It is not always available when you are away from home. To me that’s the main or only reason you need a branch office. Who pays back ATM fees? My bank doesn’t.
And forget, “One of my coworkers once told me…”. That usually clouds the issue. And your coworker may have been pulling your leg. Banks need clients.
Banks are no longer some teller working with pencil and paper, hoping not to make a math error. All transactions can be tracked. And nearly immediately.
Pick a bank. If you’re all on B of A, follow their advice. Pay the dang fee. Or set up an account for Sonny, feed funds into it, and let him figure how to take money out. He’s not a 17 year old just leaving for college. It helps to trust our grown kids, let up a bit.
My dau just paid me back a small amount I lent her. Guess what? She wrote me a check.
PS. Not so much Wells Fargo here. BAC is the biggie in MA, then Santander, Citizens and some other regionals.
Oh for heaven’s sake, Mcat2. If your wife doesn’t work, have her go to the B of A sometime sometime during the week. There won’t be a line. Just in case there is…have her take a book. Set up the accounts there.
And don’t worry about how your son accesses the money. Believe me, he has this all figured out on this end!
“We stopped at a local BofA branch early this afternoon. We were told we indeed could transfer money from our checking account to son’s checking account electronically. But we were told that unless we set up the periodic auto-transfer, we are allowed to transfer at most $1000 each month. This would be the case unless we are willing to pay some extra fees for some service (I forgot the name of the service.) I am not sure whether I totally trust what he (who seems to be a junior employee there) had told me. We were told that if we want to set it up, the current wait time at the bank is more than one hour. We decided to leave the bank because we were not willing to wait in the packed lobby for one hour.”
I find it hard to believe you can’t do this all online. I know that if I had any account’s routing number and specific account number, I could set up either a one time or recurring transfer payment online within a matter of minutes from the comfort of my home. It might take a day or two for them to “ping” the other account but once that happens, it’s just as easy as moving money between your own accounts.
You are all creating your own problems and making things more complicated than they need to be by refusing to do things online.
@thumper1, For some reason, my wife prefers to go there with me. This usually means it is on Saturday when I am off. The place she prefers to go to by herself is the grocery store.
Anyway, she used her not-so-modern way to get what she wanted to do accomplished (in less than two days.) DS’s housing contract has been signed and all the needed money transactions, at least on the tenant side, have been completed. He has “secured” that apartment unit.
However, I heard that in the future, after he moves in, his landlord only accepts the personal check from 3 banks. (None of these three banks were known to us. For example, this landlord accepts checks from neither BofA nor Chase – and no monthly online payment is allowed.)
Our real estate agent also insisted on mailing us the physical check (we serve the role of landlord here.) I think they do not want to do online banking even though they are real estate agents for many decades. Also, we need to pay our monthly rent for our apartment unit in paper check form also. No online payment is accepted! (I think almost all tenants in this apartment work for technology related companies, say, 80% South Asian Indians, 10% other Asian background, maybe the majority of the remaining 10% Eastern Europe background?)
I guess there are still many people (even in the Silicon Valley) who do not want to do online banking.
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