Mods, I think it’s time to close.
Is this thread about a banking question or your wife?
Why don’t you take the reins here? Get it done.
Or send him a paper check.
Actually, I myself may have phobia about how secure the computer or smartphone is (especially the latter.) I do not trust my smartphone enough to use it as an online banking device. So maybe it is me who is trying to find a method which I am convinced is secure.
But you’re on an online forum. And I thought you work in IT.
So maybe you do need an old fashioned approach. Send him a paper check. Or to you distrust the mail?
You don’t want to go to the bank, you don’t trust the tellers, you don’t want to use online.
So where is this thread going?
^ I did not work in IT in the past 30 years. More like working on semiconductor microcontroller chips and their low level firmware. I am not particularly good at computer and network setup as compared to true professionals working in IT and networking.
We currently rely on the combination of computer online (to a certain extent only) and going to the bank seeking their “assistance” occasionally, in our “banking method” which is perceived by us as being “more secure”. Maybe someday we will do online banking exclusively.
My wife and I believe we need a more secure, more well-managed and “cleaner” computer before we want to go that far. (I admit I do not administer our home PC very well, simply because I do not touch my home PC at all when I am at home. Pur only home PC is essentially used exclusively by my wife. The computer screen is too hard for my eyes after I stare at the computer screen non-stop for so many hours at work every day so I do not want to go anywhere near a computer screen at home. – I am using a smartphone on sofa at this moment.)
Just found that rockymtnhigh seems to use a method that is similar to what my wife does. This is her post #1:
.
Ha…there is someone who likes to use the same way as my wife’s! The only difference is that we have accounts in both banks. So we do not need to get a cashiers check. If we need to deposit money to bank A, we write a check from bank A and deposit this check to his bank A’s account. If we need to deposit money to bank B, we write a check from bank B and deposit this check to his bank B’s account.
Some may think this is the banking method adopted by Flintstones in the stone age. (Isn’t the way he drives his car very cute? He drives his car by walking!)
Try to educate myself about this:
This is a 2016 version. (I could sense a lot of techies who have tried to make some money by allowing you to transfer the money fast.)
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/faq-send-money-individual/
Some background information about ACH which has been with us since 1970. This article is also quite educational, I think, even though the more “seasoned” CCers may make you believe that the method described by this personal finance expert is too “old fasioned” – despite the fact that this article was written less than 3 years ago. I actually found that this article is more interesting/educational (for my taste) than the previous one – even though its “technology” could be regarded by many (including me) as being too old or could be obsolete:
https://blog.mint.com/how-to/how-to-transfer-money-between-accounts-at-different-banks-1013/
You’re taking this way, way too seriously. Millions of people who aren’t all that computer-oriented do online banking everyday. You walked into a bank to ask how to do this and you refused to wait to be taught how to do it. So we’re really done trying to solve your problem for you.
Next time, if you have constraints, can you consider putting that in the question? Because your question really WASN’T “what banks have a lot of branches in the NE.” It was “I’d like to be able to get money to my son quickly and easily, but I’m not willing to do online banking – are there other ways?” It’s really frustrating for those of you who answered your questions in good faith to find that you have a constraint you didn’t tell us about.
BTW, if you “don’t trust” the BofA online banking, I don’t know why you’d all of a sudden trust Venmo or Paypal or any of the other methods listed. They are just as electronic / automated as the BofA transfer the bank tried to tell you about.
Ok, let me know if I got it wrong;OP asked how to get something done in HIS preferred way. Instead of answering HIS question, everyone jumps on him and reformulates the question. It’s no longer how to… It became why it is wrong to do your way. Controlling a bit? Let him do it his way. We all got quirks.
@mcat2 I’m going to point out the obvious. You have spent a ton of time online soliciting ideas you don’t plan to use. You have done this ONLINE with a bunch of strangers.
Yet, you don’t trust your own bank which has huge restrictions on safety for online banking?
In the vast amount of time you have spent ONLINE on just this thread, you could have set up ten different ways to get money into your account.
OP has a good reason not to trust online banking, 
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nyfed-bangladesh-malware-exclusiv-idUSKCN0XM0DR
Doing online banking and participating online discussions are very different. Venmo and online banking are also different. You don’t expose your bank info to anyone unlike online banking. Financial institutions don’t even know when they get hacked.
No, he didn’t, Iglooo. He asked “what banks have a lot of branches in the Northeast” and it took a lot of questions to realize he was trying to ask about how to move money easily between different banks accounts, upon which we then also learned “but it can’t be done electronically.”
It quiickly ecame a thread about his wife, not the options. And about distrust, not solutions. A line one Saturday, a teller who had to ask a question.
Yes, it became that because everyone wanted to know why he wants to do it that way. That’s what I call reformulating the question. It’s like when I ask the shortest way to get to A from B on foot, everyone jumps, why don’t you take a car or go by bus. That’s not the question I asked, was it?
@Igloo, The question was answered by posts #3 and #4 but in post #15 the OP himself reformulated the question.
We were trying to help him come up with a method that would do just that.
BTW, @mcat2, Just yesterday I sent 3 months of rent to my son’s new landlord halfway across the country. Within 20 minutes he texted me back saying his account was showing a pending balance of the amount I sent, and today he has the money in his account. It was a different bank than ours (sent from BoA to Citibank) and it took about 5 minutes online.
It is not that I do not trust BOA’s online software tool; I do not trust my own knowledge about the whole thing as of today. I am kind of person who likes to look at it closely before I jump into it. I just tried to understand the arguable quite large topic about banking using personal computers, what options are available out there and pros and cons (regarding the speed of money transfer, as well as the potential security issues about its use.)
If this is not a big issue, there would not have been many companies who have been trying to break into this business. I believe almost all large banks like BOA have poured a lot of money into this technology in order to increase their “productivity” while giving their customers conveniences.
I believe this is an important (and arguably fascinating) subject to explore – otherwise there would not be so many articles and even books about this topic, Our computer’s security needs to be “hardened” as well, I think, before we are committed to it.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Reading what is written by some online “author” is not the same as learning what users (like some of you) have been using. As I said, this is a facinating topic (to me at least.) Thanks!
Regarding my wife’s unwillingness to jump into online banking exclusively, I think there are still many people like her. After all, I think a big challenge for the bank to ask all or the majority of their customers to adopt this new way of banking is to convince them that online banking is safe. This is a psychological barrier for many more paranoid persons to overcome.
Thanks for sharing this experience. This is what I want to know from actual user’s experience. So the timing is about the same as described in the second link of my previous post (#126). If the banks still rely on 1970-era ACH as their backbone for money exchange clearance between banks, after the sending bank receives your money transfer request (presumeably using bank’s own online software), the turn-around time for the money to be truly avaliable for withdrawal by the recipient is one day (i.e., need to be overnight) if the bank on the receiving end does not hold on to the money for the security reason (some bank may hold on to the money longer than other bank — in case the sending bank may need to “claw back” the money for various reasons.)
I guess there are still some parents who do not use bank’s online facility to send money to their offsprings (e.g, post #1.)
A link about how Paypal makes use of ACH (Automated Clearing House) to transfer money in and out of your bank account, usually in 3 to 5 business days unless Paypal uses your credit card also:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/paypal-work-bank-accounts-55094.html
“Because Paypal can connect to the company bank account for both sending and receiving payments, business owners may wonder about the safety and functionality behind the Paypal bank account connection.”
“ACH
When Paypal connects to a bank account for either payments or deposits, it uses an electronic interface operated by the Federal Reserve; this interface is known as the automated clearing house. When Paypal initiates a transaction, it assumes the role of originating depository financial institution in the ACH transaction. Paypal sends an electronic request for funds or notice of deposit through the ACH system to the user’s bank, and the linked bank account responds with confirmation. Funds transferred through the ACH take three to five business days to settle.”
It seems to me that it is still the case that the electronic payment system like Paypal still relies on the 1970-era ACH system maintained by the federal government as their “backbone” processing system (likely due to the security, or customer’s trust, reason.)
Also, according to the second link of the post (#126), if your payment uses ACH, it is better to use the push (rather than the pull), i.e., initiating the money from the sending bank rather than the receiving bank.
Mcat2…is there still anything you need to know?
Your wife can bank anywhere. If your son has an account at the same bank, she can transfer online…or at the teller window.
If there is a bank near you that you love…get your son to open an account at that bank…and give your wife a fistful of checking account deposit slips. She can then deposit directly into his account. Easy peasy.
And if you want same day availability…all you need to do is deposit CASH. A cash deposit is usually immediately available. Like the second your deposit is made. So…have your wife go to the bank, withdraw $5000 in cash from your account…and immediately deposit that $5000 in CASH into your son’s account. He will have it immediately.