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I just turned 22, and I am located in New York (Long Island). I am having a terrible time picking the right bank for my checking/savings account as well as my first (real) credit card. I would like to stick to one bank for convenience purposes, especially the checking/savings account so I can transfer back and forth if needed without hastle.
Checking/Savings
The current situation is that I am with BoA for both (signed up in early college simply due to convenience).
I would like to have a checking account with a bank that has some foreign presence, as traveleling is one of my main goals in the future, and I would like to be able to withdraw foreign currency from ATM. For example, I know BoA has the Global ATM Alliance (so I can use CCB for instance when I go to China). Having a decent amount of branches around NYC and Long Island would be great.
The savings is the main reason I even want to switch banks in the first place. I am quite frugal, and do enjoy saving money, so I have direct deposit set to my savings instead of my checking. However, I don't have a rate to take advantage of whatever amount I have. I have noticed Capital One for instance has something that is actually over 1%.
Credit Card
My credit history most likely consists of a very small student loan for my first semester of college, and a Macy's CC (don't ask... pressured into getting one) from a little while back. My goal is to stick to one CC, and I have absolutely no interest in keeping any balance on it (I will pay in full every time I make a purchase - hopefully I can keep that up). So I suppose APR is not much of a concern for me? It would be nice not to pay an annual fee for having the card, and also I guess if it's Visa/Mastercard so that it is accepted more widely (should this be a concern?). I would cancel the Macy's as soon as I get the one I would like to stick to for long term. So I guess a rewards card would be best, but I am not sure which one?
Some have recommended Citibank, while Capital One seemed to have a decent mixture of what I'd like. I would really like some help before I make any decisions though.
Whatever it is, go with the one with the best signup reward. We got a few banks here where you open an account and get a free ipod touch. Don't expect to earn a lot of interest on little amounts of money in savings accounts. Invest in short term bonds if you want to park your cash somewhere that you don't NEED in an emergency and if you are leery of long-term investment.
In my experience, I would never bank with any bank whose head office was more than 20 miles from where I live or in a building with more than two stories. I've had nothing but horror stories and banking disasters with big corporate banks.
You might try a local Credit Union, instead of a full service bank. They can normally do everything you'd want a bank to do, at lower fees/penalties, and have somebody nearby who can immediately resolve any issues you have. Get a debit card for emergency, but use it only in emergency. There's almost no fraud protection.
Is is highly unlikely that any bank will be able to deal with any kinds of foreign currency, but being in the NYC area, that might be possible. As far as I know, every credit card works pretty much the same in overseas ATMs. If you plan to travel abroad, phone your CC provider and tell them in advance, or they might disable your card if they can't phone you and verify unusual activity (China is classified as unusual). Get a second card in your dog's name, to use in ATMs, so if it gets swallowed or unreadable, you'll still have your main card. I always get the willies watching my main card disappear in a slot in Mexico.
I've been very happy with Citicards, they've never tried to jack me around, they're always agreeable and amenable on their 800-number, and they're very careful about protecting me from any CC scams or fraudulent use. Try for their Dividend Platinum Select, which has no annual fee and gives cash back.
There is no point going with a dubious bank for a slightly higher interest rate on your savings. One percent versus .75% will only give you another $2.50 per year per thousand dollars.
i've been banking at a credit union for 30 yrs. (Checking. Savings CC)
Its offices are 1000 miles from me, I mail the few checks i still get to them. Can use thousands (tens/hundreds??) of ATM's around the world on the network they belong to, The overseas one have a US$3 charge,, but can pull out up to US$400s in local money once a day. If theres a problem I call a real person picks up the phone ( No call center, A person in the Main office) the problem are handle quickly and they follow up.
More than likely, you won't find everything you want at one bank. But you don't have to. Most bank credit cards are merely imprint cards -- the bank name may be on it, but it's actually owned and serviced by a large credit card bank like Bank of America or Capital One.
So find a card with what you want and try for that. And DON'T close the Macy's card. Just don't use it. When you're young, having a credit card with unused credit available is a good thing -- it shows you're responsible.
If you're intent on having every thing at one place, look at Charles Schwab. They have a banking system along with a brokerage house, so as you save your money, when you get 10K and want to buy a CD, you can open a brokerage account and buy a CD from a number of places, and not get stuck with one place -- and then have the luxury of only logging on once to deal with it all.
I have banked at several banks big;local ;credit unions. The reason si that banks ;credit unions are always changing. Once their service becomes a hassle :I look for another.
I have banked at several banks big;local ;credit unions. The reason si that banks ;credit unions are always changing. Once their service becomes a hassle :I look for another.
That's a risk. Every time you find a decent small bank, it gets gobbled up by one of the big ones, which fleeces you before you get a chance to close your account. That's happened to me twice. That doesn't seem to be happening so much to CUs. Sometimes, though, CUs have membership restrictions.
We use Wells Fargo. In our area there are many branches, good access to ATM's and we have zero fee's charged for any of our accounts. We can use any ATM for free. When our son went to China he was able to use the ATM in the hotel lobby just fine and again, because of our accounts, no fees. We have been with "Wells" for almost 30 years (were with another bank that was bought by Wells) and have never had a problem with them. I have found over the years that the "best" bank is the most convenient so find one close to where you are and use that.
Thanks for all the input guys, helps me quite a bit.
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