Moving to Seattle in December--question about banking (credit, house)

[Seattlebound1]

Hi all,

I am moving to Seattle from New York in approximately two months and was hoping you guys could give me a little help. I've had my bank accounts with Citibank for as long as I've been old enough to have bank accounts. Looks like Citibank doesn't have much of a presence in Seattle. Their website seems to indicate they have some sponsored ATMs but no branches.

So what banks would you recommend? What national banks do you see around most? Looks like Chase is prevalent. Am I right? Do there seem to be a lot of Chase branches? It would be great to switch here before I move but if there are great regional or local banks, let me know about them.

By the way, we'll be living in central Seattle--most likely North Capitol Hill or Queen Anne.

Thanks in advance!!!

[Ira500]

There are a lot of Chase branches in Seattle, as they inherited the Washington Mutual branches when WAMU went under.There are also a lot of Bank of America branches and somewhat fewer Wells Fargo branches. Wells Fargo took over Wachovia bank, which are numerous in the northeast.
Citibank ATMs are in all the 7-11s....
Lots of people feel that they get a much better deal by banking with a credit union. BECU is a very large credit union with a ton of branches.

[AzDreamer]

There is a Wells Fargo near our house that we like, plus there are branches in all the states we like to visit.

[MaikeerinWA]

I can recommend BECU for low fees, ATM and branch presence, etc. Technically you need to be a resident before joining, it seems, though.

Join BECU Today: Trusted, Local, Member-Owned | BECU

Our family also banks with Wells Fargo, and their ATMs come in handy when we visit other states out west, like California, Oregon, and Arizona.

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've actually gone into a BECU or Wells Fargo branch in the last several years. Funny how the relationship has changed - at least for me - in the age of electronic banking...

[just4ivaylo]

Bank of America would probably be the best choice. They have ATMs everywhere in the area, and they seem to have the most ATMs nationwide as well.

[scirocco22]

I don't know why you'd want to switch there before you move. It makes more sense to switch after you move. You'll want to have a local routing number assigned to your account, a local branch indicated on your checks, and also have your new local address printed on your checks.

You may have a bit more difficult time with people accepting an out of state check even if it is with a bank that has a national presence because the routing number will be in New York. I stayed with the same bank when I moved out of state but chose to change my account number to the local branch so I'd have the local routing number on the checks (although I seldom write many checks anymore).

As many have suggested in this thread and in previous threads, check out the local credit unions for the best packages. As Michael stated, BECU is very well regarded in the Puget Sound area and is now open to any Washington state resident, not just Boeing employees.

[Xanathos]

Well, it used to be we had Seafirst. They were awesome. Then Bank of America bought them out.
Then we had WaMu. They were awesome. Then a government perpetuated fraud allowed Chase to buy them out.

Your best bet is to find a credit union these days, because we don't have a single bank worth a damn.

[iskray917]

I'm also with BECU. It's easy and convenient for me. And you don't need to prove residency before joining, I'm not officially a resident of Washington, but I joined just a couple days after moving here.

[Seattlebound1]

Thanks everyone! This information is really helpful. Will look into BECU and will consider not changing before I move.

But for scirocco, why would having a local routing number make a difference? My main concern is being able to deposit checks at a local bank when I get there. As long as I have a Chase account, who cares that the routing number is NY? I can then still deposit checks into a Chase ATM in Seattle. Does that delay it a few days? Better than not being able to deposit a check at all into a bank in Seattle and snail-mailing checks and deposit slips to NY, right?

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by Seattlebound1

Thanks everyone! This information is really helpful. Will look into BECU and will consider not changing before I move.

But for scirocco, why would having a local routing number make a difference? My main concern is being able to deposit checks at a local bank when I get there. As long as I have a Chase account, who cares that the routing number is NY? I can then still deposit checks into a Chase ATM in Seattle. Does that delay it a few days? Better than not being able to deposit a check at all into a bank in Seattle and snail-mailing checks and deposit slips to NY, right?

Deposits into ATMs do delay the $ getting into the account by a couple of days. If they have a night drop that's not an ATM, that would make it a little faster.