Banking in Hawaii (appointed, credit card, loan)

[WiscHaole]

Alright, I have a question regarding banking in Hawaii.

1. I am pretty sure that there are no national banks in Hawaii (like Bank of America, etc). This being the case, what banks are the best to bank with on Oahu?

2. Can you open a bank account before moving to the islands or do you have to be a resident?


Mahalo!

[Sweetbeet]

I highly recommend that you avoid Bank of Hawaii. Contact me via DM if you want more details.

I have had no problems with First Hawaiian Bank, American Savings Bank or Central Pacific Bank (though little experience with CPB).

Credit Unions tend to be very reasonable to deal with, and give the best interest rates on savings and CDs.

I do not know what other banks might be available on Oahu, these are the only ones here on Kauai.

Oh, and I believe you can open an account before moving here. We opened an account at FHB in March 2008, while visiting (and closing on our house), and didn't move here until July 2008.

[timbo31958]

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I have heard others talk bad about BOH but I have never had a problem with them. I tend to think that most people like the bank they deal with and dont think much of the others. To me a bank is a bank. I think you can open an acct with most banks over the internet now and not have to be there in person.

[hotzcatz]

If you are buying stock in a bank, then Bank of Hawaii is a good choice. I don't bank with them personally since they seem to have a lot of little fees for all sorts of things. Not so good if you are banking with them, but great if you are a stockholder. They are almost the bank of choice for businesses, it seems. I do think if any Hawaii banks should fail, it won't be Bank of Hawaii. They seem a really solid bank, economically speaking. I don't know if Paul Brewbaker is still on their payroll or just a consultant for them now, but he's one of the major economic advisers in the state.

We have an account with a local credit union and it works real well for us. Mostly because of free checking (with free checks), free overdraft protection and good interest rates on savings and IRAs.

[mdand3boys]

Our checking account was opened, on-line, via Bank of Hawaii. It was (and may still be) the only Hawaii bank that allows an account to be opened on-line without an actual visit to a branch.
I have a zero fee checking account and I have had zero issues with them.

[whynot?]

We have also been very happy with BOH. Use them mostly for checking, but have had good service and no problems. The only annoying thing they've done is put a 3-day hold on large deposit checks "until they clear." None of our mainland financial institutions does this, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

Best of luck.

[winkosmosis]

I use BOH. No problems here. Just went there to deposit a check after I realized an automatic bill pay overdrafted my acct today

[Joliefille]

We use BOH, mainly for their HA miles debit/credit card. We have the miles checking/debit and a savings, but also have a couple accounts with a credit union. We haven't had any issues with BOH, yet (crossing fingers).

[katiem8]

I use bank of hawaii & have not had any problems. I went with them bc they have atm's all over the place & I could open my account over the internet w/o being here yet. I've had no problems but have heard other ppl have. I don't have a home or car loan tho & for savings I still use my mainland bank so my boh account is really just for checking.

[Sweetbeet]

OK, I'll elaborate. I'm a probate and estate planning lawyer. The difficulties I've had with BOH mainly involve their legal department. They are extremely 'difficult' when it comes to accessing accounts - for example, someone has died and their executor can't access their account, or they have become incompetent and a court-appointed conservator (what you get if you don't have a 'power of attorney' in place before you become incapacitated) can't even access an account to pay the person's bills - what the court appointed and directed them to do. They are very difficult about accepting powers of attorney, trustees, etc. They have cited laws as support for their positions, the laws don't even apply to the particular situation, and there is no explaining it to them. Just today I was told by an executor/trustee that BOH won't release an account to her, they want to release it to the beneficiaries - never mind that the deceased person had debts that have to be paid (and the account is the only source for doing that) before the beneficiaries get anything. (And this is not an account that was to go directly to a beneficiary, either, but one owned by the trust.) Just lots of legal hassles. And I've heard similar things from other attorneys and laypeople, also. BOH is great until you have to do anything "unusual".

For everyday banking, I'm sure they're fine. It is a very stable and secure bank. But if something should happen to you and you want someone else to be able to pay your bills, then you might want to have an account somewhere else that they can access in that circumstance.