Northern Virginians; who do you bank with? (Arlington, Burke: real estate, insurance)

[The Dissenter]

Hello all,

I'd thought I'd take a break from stirring controversy and start a neutral thread for a change. We have a lot of options and opinions for which bank or credit union is best. Since I'm an expert in banking (studied it in school, worked in branch banking for 2 years and counting) I thought it would be interesting to find out where ya'll bank.

I'll start.

I currently work for and do my main checking with a small credit union in North Arlington. It is open to certain government agencies. I am satisified so far. My favorite feature is the Co-op and CU24 ATM feature that allows you to make deposits at other banks and ATMs. I'll likely keep banking here when I relocate.

I also have an account with Pentagon Federal Credit Union. I'm neutral on them. Their online banking and billpay is completely unimpressive. It seems like more of a bank with their large branches. But I do get pretty good customer service and love all they do for military members.

I have a somewhat dormant account with M&T bank. Can't say anything bad about them except I wish their ATMs were better.

I used to bank with Wachovia. Not too bad but I closed my account because of the buyout with Wells Fargo and from the changes that were gonna happen with my employment I just couldn't support that company with my money.

I had a high school account with Commonwealth One FCU. I kinda regret closing it when I got into Wachovia.

Mine is a little long but I like to be detailed.

So NoVA who handles your money?

[anonymous703]

When I first lived in Washington, I had an account with NIH Federal Credit Union. I hated it. Their customer service is the worst in the world.

I opened a BofA account when I was in Los Angeles... moved to Cincinnati, and there was no local branch. Given the choices (local bank 5/3 was the most convenient) but a friend worked as a teller for PNC, so I opened an account there.

Got a job in DC, and with PNC's buyout of Riggs, it made sense for me to keep the account. With my "At Work" account, PNC waives all of my non-branch ATM fees as long as I maintain the required monthly direct deposit. I've been nothing but happy with them. Even gave me a $150 bonus for transferring accounts from "free checking" to "at work."

But, for basic retail checking, everybody's the same unless they're not. For me to leave this bank, I would have to get a better offer from someone else, or move somewhere with poor ATM access.

[car54]

For my commercial account...BB&T. Originally my father banked with Mount Vernon Trust Co which was bought out by First Virginia Bank in the early 60's, then BB&T bought out FVB not too long ago. When my sister and I inherited our parents' real estate holdings, we just left it alone. No problems with BB&T, so far.

For household accounts, it's mostly credit unions. Until recently, I just had CD's at the credit unions, 8 of them...to stay under the NCUA (like FDIC) insurance limits. Let me see if I can name them....Pentagon, Navy, Commonwealth One, Vantria, Northwest, Apple, VACU. Mmmm, the eighth one escapes me right now? Also have savings accounts at Burke & Herbert and Cardinal (small local banks).

I recently started using Apple for checking, credit cards, direct deposits/debit...day-to-day banking stuff.

All that said, I'm probably not the best at rating banks/credit unions beacuse I'm old fashioned and don't partake of modern banking "conveniences". I don't give a hoot about ATM networks because I don't use ATMs, nor do I trust online banking, so I don't do that either.

[movingtodcfromseattle]

We use USAA and LOVE them. Also have Navy Federal. Husband likes them, I can't STAND them. Their security is too much for me. I've heard great things about Apple Credit Union, but haven't opened an account or anything. Interesting thread.

[weezycom]

I bank with Burke & Herbert. I really like working with them, low turnover so the folks really do recognize me after I've been coming to a particular branch for a little while. I don't use ATMs very often, and that could be a big factor for other folks.

[normie]

You mean I'm not supposed to stuff it into my mattress????

Just as well, money's getting thin these days so it wouldn't give me much of a mattress anyway...

[normie]

As a real answer... we used to have lots of accounts in different banks but lately we've been moving everything over to USAA. Every time a bank or a credit card starts doing the old "we're changing your account" cha cha, I try to read through the fine print. I have a 60 second rule--they have 60 seconds to make supposedly "insignificant" changes crystal clear.

If they start doing the cha cha, I usually end up dropping the account. You know how the cha cha goes... "don't worry, it's a very minor change... la la la... just need to give you 6 pages of fine print to explain this insignificant detail... la la la... oh by the way, if you don't cancel your account right now in 30 days some other changes take place, too...la la la..."

[terrence81]

Wow am I the only that just has one bank? I use Wachovia becuase they have locations up and down the east coast. When I moved here I really wanted a bank that had branches both in GA and here. Wachovia is the only one that fits that bill. Although they did open a BB&T and a bank of America in my town but there's only one of each versus like half a dozen Wachovias.

Technically I have a bank down home but there's only .38 in the account not sure why I bother keeping it open. It's kinda like I'm not being charged for it why not?

[oneasterisk]

I bank with Chevy Chase. I originally switched to them because they seemed to have branches at all the right places for me, all very close to home, work and places I hung out. Their fees seem to be high, but I never pay them as my accounts have high enough balances etc. I use them for online banking and it's very convenient. There e-checking is great, it's free and and easy to configure. They've been late a time or two, but one phone call and they reimburse the fee.

My brother and I have an account with Bank of America. No issues working with them and I've found their e-checking is on par with Chevy Chase. Honestly I'd like to cancel them just because of their behavior with the bailout money.

[GoHokiesGo]

I do my local banking with Wachovia, they're convenient for me throughout most of the east coast, as mentioned earlier. Our mortgage is through Wells Fargo as well, so the merger wasn't a bad thing for us as we can use some of our rewards points to apply towards the mortgage.

Most of my money is tucked away in an ING savings and checking account. I use ING for most of my banking, usually I deposit at Wachovia then transfer into ING. I love ING's Electric Orange checking account as well, it's nice to be able to send e-checks and all that stuff. Although interest rates aren't as much of a perk anymore from when I first opened my ING account, as it was 5-6% interest at the time which actually added up.

I've also got an account with a small credit union that I use for my auto loans.