Need Bank Recommendations (Houston, Wells: credit, house, living)

[Saggysocks]

We are relocating to Houston from Canada and need to open an american bank account. Anyone have any suggestions. We like to use our debit/atm quite a bit so one with a low fee for lots of transactions would be great.

Thanks!

[davidt1]

Originally Posted by Saggysocks

We are relocating to Houston from Canada and need to open an american bank account. Anyone have any suggestions. We like to use our debit/atm quite a bit so one with a low fee for lots of transactions would be great.

Thanks!

Join a credit union. They are better than banks.

[tstone]

The big banks are everywhere and so are their ATMs. This is convenient if you don't want any fees. The big banks also have elaborate websites you can check your balances, and dump statements into Excel to do some analysis on. That's what I use right now for a simple checking & savings. Once we start saving more, we'll explore the credit union options.

[SkyeAnjel]

I use Wells Fargo and Chase.

[houstoner]

Where will you be living? Working? Find a branch closest to your house or job.

[ericka709]

Co-sign; I'd choose Chase or Bank of America.

Originally Posted by tstone

The big banks are everywhere and so are their ATMs. This is convenient if you don't want any fees. The big banks also have elaborate websites you can check your balances, and dump statements into Excel to do some analysis on. That's what I use right now for a simple checking & savings. Once we start saving more, we'll explore the credit union options.

[tstone]

On the flip side, Bank of America gives about a 0.50% return on money market accounts. It's only a good place to have a checking that you use daily for bills and savings for one bad emergency. All other money I'd look elsewhere. Now "Banc" of America is getting into the mutual fund business and I wouldn't doubt the return is crappy as well.

[texas7]

I like the bigger ones such as Chase because there are branches everywhere and I can always find one within a couple of miles no matter where I am at in the city.

[Saggysocks]

Thank everyone. I guess we will open an account at Chase or Bank of America.

[studiobtm]

Credit unions are co-ops, i.e., non-profits, that return any earnings above their costs back to their customers in the form of (usually) lower fees and better interest rates. They are also usually much nicer to deal with. The downside is they don't have branches everywhere like the large banks. I use one of each but the credit union gets the bulk of my business.