What's The Best Bank (Financial Institution) In Cincinnati? (Union: loan, homes)

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by mike1003

Carpathian, I don't understand why you ask for "best bank" then use the thread to vent about experiences, real or imagined, from your past. Or, use the request for information just to type messages.

Just sit back and listen to the answers to your question and make your decision.

With all due respect,please don't argue and stretch this into another bed bug thread.

FWIIW, I happen to like JP Morgan Chase for banking and investing. And, Sharefax for loans and everything else.

1. My imagination is reserved for fiction.

2. Since, as indicated, I have nothing anywhere I found questionable, anything said can hardly be described as "venting."

3. I don't think the world owes me anything, so I say "Thank you." As City-Data has not told me they object to my using their bandwidth for such things, what is the basis of your concern? Are you an unofficial moderator?

4. Last I heard, stating legitimate reasons or questions really can't be construed as "arguement."

5. The bed bug thread is for practical information and doesn't seem to have anything to do with this topic insofar as I can see. Why bring it up?

[Zen_master]

As someone who works in investments for a bank my awareness of the industry concludes that any of the major Ohio banks (5/3, Huntington, and Key) should be able to adequately handle your SSI processing and give you reasonable access to branches and ATMs with sufficient density. PNC and US Bank are larger outfits and therefore one would expect them to be more resistant to takeover if this is what you're concerned about. On the other hand, my understanding is any of the banks large enough to take out one of the aforementioned Ohio banks already have too high of a market share in Ohio for regulators to approve a takeover (e.g. Chase).

If you are looking for an above average interest rate paid on deposits you may want to consider ING Direct. They are a web based deposit bank and the lack of overhead that comes from eschewing brick-and-mortar locations allows them to pay a higher interest rate. I've had a portion of my savings in their ING Orange savigns account for about 4 years now and last I checked it was paying ~1% compared to my two other banking relationships where I'm lucky to receive 0.01%.

[TomJones123]

Stockyards Bank.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by TomJones123

Stockyards Bank.

Why, do they pay some kind of interest on savings accounts the rest of us don't know about or what? I am not trying to be too sarcastic about that, just asking why.

Over the years the only problem I had with 5/3rd was years ago when they limited the amount my wife could withdraw from our joint checking account. They gave me some BS we could be having a divorce and she may be trying to grab the funds. I exploded and said so what, she can drain the damn account it is a joint checking account, you have no right to limit her withdrawls. After a visit with management and a threat to get my lawyer involved it was settled.

We basically stick with 5/3rd today due to convenience. They are all over our neighborhood. The few bills we pay today with checks, primarily utility and credit card, with a few taxes mixed in there, our current checking account is one of those a minimum account balance and there are no fees for checks, ATM, etc. We try an stay just around that balance. We quit bank operated savings accounts years ago when their yields became insignificant. I also refuse to do online banking for the most part though I know that is the wave of the future. Far as I am concerned Duke Energy, Cincinnati Bell, and the rest can wait for my check in the mail.

There is a small bank in Lebanon called Lebanon Citizens National Bank. They have a few branches around Mason, and they sure have been advertising on TV relative to mortgage loans. Come see us, we make all the decisions here in Lebanon, apparently trying to convince customers they don't have the hassle big banks may. They have been in business since the 1800s, so I expect they know what they are doing.

I just feel it is a little paranoid to think any of the larger banks, regional or national, are so terrible in their management they will suddenly not be able to deliver your checking account. I will admit I like to go to Kroger, pick up a few items, and then in the checkout run my ATM Debit card through. In a few strokes it is done. Of course I also realize it is the reason I receive Kroger coupons through the mail targeted exactly to what my purchasing preferences are. I am OK with that, better than getting coupons for something I never purchase.

Here is another example why I like 5/3rd. When I first retired, we still had some few years to go on our house mortgage. No big deal, because it was so small. But 5/3rd contacted me, pointed out how they could close out that home mortgage and replace it with a home equity mortgage which at the current interest rates would save me a reasonble sum of money. I did that and it did, that is what I expect of a bank service.

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by CarpathianPeasant

Or, make that question, what's likely the most reliable financial institution in Greater Cincinnati?

The federal government has decided that social security checks (and presumably all or most others issued by the federal government) have to go into the likes of direct deposit accounts. This, of course, as banks are merging right and left and fading from view and Wall streets are being "occupied."

I wrote off a biggie years ago when I got a refund check from a company and the bank the check was drawn on refused to hand over cash for it unless I paid the bank a $5 check cashing fee or opened an account there. I went to the bank in person and the check was not issued that day.

I wrote off another biggie (even had an account there) when I realized their day to day teller window operations were downright sloppy and any enterprising crook could help himself or herself to the funds in any basic, standard account.

I have my meager funds in a small bank in Cincinnati and a small savings and loan in Kentucky. Both are good; but, with this direct deposit business coming (as well as what all is going on) even they might be merged or outright sold.

Anyone have some thoughts about local banks (the kind with money in them)?

Hi CarpathianPeasant--

I have been jacked around by Chase and PNC on different occasions - I'll never bank with them again. No gripes about US Bank or 5/3, although I hear a lot of horror stories about the latter from lot of people.

The best bet, being in Covington, is either the Bank of Kentucky (link), or Guardian Savings Bank (link). Bank of Kentucky has a location at 18th and Madison if I recall correctly in addition to two more near the riverfront. Guardian Savings is at the top of the hill on Dixie Highway, near Kyles Lane.

[TomJones123]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

Why, do they pay some kind of interest on savings accounts the rest of us don't know about or what? I am not trying to be too sarcastic about that, just asking why.

They are a small bank, with EXCELLENT customer service, and they are still making loans. The branch downtown that I use will send someone to your car to do a curbside deposit - just an example.

[Zen_master]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

I also refuse to do online banking for the most part though I know that is the wave of the future. Far as I am concerned Duke Energy, Cincinnati Bell, and the rest can wait for my check in the mail.

If you make the payment from your bank account login (as opposed to initiating payment from Duke, Cincy Bell, etc) you can control/schedule the delivery date. Most major service providers (Verizon, Honda Motor Credit, etc) are already set up via ACH with the bank. This means the bank will guarantee payment by the due date. When I get a bill in the mail I usually log on that evening and schedule the payment and see to it the 'guranteed by date' is the due date, no earlier, no later so I maximize whatever paltry sum of interest I earn on deposits. The payment won't be drawn on account for maybe weeks but there's a post on the ledger that it is scheduled to go out on such-and-such a date and guaranteed for deliver in 3 days if an ACH link is initiated. Outside of payments to a person or church I haven't sent a physical check in five years. The convenience of seeing and tracking the payments as they roll off, the guarantee it will be received on a certain date, and the control over when it is drawn on my account are worlds above the risk of a check getting lost in the mail. Put it this way, why risk the check getting lost and why not save the expense of a stamp and do it online? Key Bank has a neat feature whereby you can project in time what your account balance will be based on the scheduled payments. Since I like to juggle checking balance and savings balances -- because savings pays a higher rate of interest -- I often will keep the minimum balance in checking and project payments to see when my electronic payroll will hit the account. These are all things very difficult to do with paper checks floating in the mail system.

Originally Posted by kjbrill

There is a small bank in Lebanon called Lebanon Citizens National Bank. They have a few branches around Mason, and they sure have been advertising on TV relative to mortgage loans. Come see us, we make all the decisions here in Lebanon, apparently trying to convince customers they don't have the hassle big banks may. They have been in business since the 1800s, so I expect they know what they are doing.

Growing up my best friend's folks banked at LCNB. I can recall being in the car on the way to the movies or something and they stopped there. This would have been 20 years ago. I don't recall ever hearing of any issues with LCNB. It might sound unusual that I would know if they had issues either way but I practically lived with these people as a kid so if something went down I'd invariably have overheard it by accident in most cases.

Originally Posted by kjbrill

I will admit I like to go to Kroger, pick up a few items, and then in the checkout run my ATM Debit card through. In a few strokes it is done. Of course I also realize it is the reason I receive Kroger coupons through the mail targeted exactly to what my purchasing preferences are. I am OK with that, better than getting coupons for something I never purchase.

You're getting those coupons because you registered your Kroger Plus card not because of your ATM card. I worked with a girl many years ago whose husband worked at Kroger and confirmed my suspicion. up until last year I had an unregistered Kroger Plus card and never got anything in the mail. I never registered it for this exact reason - call me paranoid, but I don't like having my purchases tracked and analyzed by software to target me. Plus, who the heck knows what else they do with that data. My guess is they probably sell my "profile" to other companies wishing to market to me. Well, as many guys can attest my vigilence was defeated by my wife who heard about all these coupons her co-workers were getting from Kroger. When my wife inquired why the people at Kroger handed her a form to fill out for new Kroger Plus card where she divulged our names and address. Six months later we're getting the coupons... and I'm still waiting for more junk mail from the companies sold our info to.

[rrtechno]

Interesting situation with PNC, and I don't know if this is the case with any of the others, but my boss is working to try to get something changed here. The company I work for was charged a fee because they made a DEPOSIT into their account that was larger than what was allowed. When they indicated that they might just break the deposits up into smaller amounts, they were informed that there would be a fee charged if they made more than a specific NUMBER of deposits in a month. My question, do they want the business or not?

[CarpathianPeasant]

If I recall correctly -- IF -- the federal reserve depository bank in Cincinnati (there was one) was Provident Bank, which is now National City.

Don't know when that happened, but the very fact that a federal reserve depository bank "ceased to exist" has to lead to some wonderment.

(Amen.)

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by CarpathianPeasant

If I recall correctly -- IF -- the federal reserve depository bank in Cincinnati (there was one) was Provident Bank, which is now National City.

Don't know when that happened, but the very fact that a federal reserve depository bank "ceased to exist" has to lead to some wonderment.

(Amen.)

Still can't quite discern what your problem with this subject it? Are you afraid suddenly one day the bank will close and your deposits evaporate?