Best bank in the area (stations, gas, complaints)

[aj661]

Desert Schools Federal Credit Union and B of A. We use B of A for most online bill paying and DSFCU for everything else-hard to beat their loan rates.

[anewist]

I have the same question that started this thread. Looking for free checking, no minimum, no fees, both personal and small business, *and* not Wells Fargo or US Bank. Desert Schools Credit Union has completely changed its fee structure and no longer has free checking - there are strings attached, minimum balances, required use of debit card, low, low return rates. It's in fact worse than my experience with big banks.

[smokemaster]

www.ingdirect.com The ATM worked in Laos. It appears that Chase now staffs their branches with people not qualified for fast food. They will sit there and count their money in their drawer while you are stranding there, then give you a ripped bill. I changed 50 Euro for a neighbor, and the teller did not know what the word "rate" meant.

[Bummer]

Interesting question, ginasmuffins . . . my vote is for Bank of America.

I was never overly impressed with B of A until my account was "raided" a couple years ago. Both the telephone Fraud Prevention Representative and the Personal Banker at the local branch could not have been more efficient and attentive during a very stressful period. Reversing the unauthorized debits and closing the account was immediate and without any charges to me.

Extremely comforting to know they take charge when there's a problem.

Also, as others have posted . . . ATMs on every corner and online services, including Bill Pay, are very user friendly and WORK FLAWLESSLY.

[Kevin Kuch]

Guys before opening account you should ask how the Dispute on fraud transaction are handled. Beware Banks only support Business not individual person. I had horrible experience with Discover, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

[Ritchie_az]

I've been happy with Chase. Their on-line banking is award-winning....

[Finger Laker]

I'm not overly happy with WF ...... lots of little snags and hassles with them ... they are very convenient though, loan rates are a bit much though

which leads me to chase ... i have a loan with them, but no other accounts and have been very happy with them

BoA my only experience is CC which they took over by acquisition .... so unpleasant I'll never bank with them

I like M&I a lot and have a side checking account with them .... my only problem is that my password always locks up when I try to access online and I have to call and get it reset .... but maybe that's because I use it so infrequently

[Xica_da_Silva]

I've used B of A for a long time...here are my thoughts:

1) Security: I rate them high. They've contacted me several times when suspicious of cc fraud, which I do appreciate. And when I've lost my card or had it stolen (happened once), they were quick to sort it all out.

2) Locations: Living in Phoenix, it's an obvious advantage to have an ATM available on every corner.

3) Savings/Money-Market account: really horrible since the market crash; don't even bother.

4) Reputation: It makes me sick to support the same bigwigs who brought our economy down, but I've not had time yet to make a switch.

5) Online Banking: I've got mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's adequate to track recent expenditures and bills as they come and go. But on the other hand, it could do so much more. A better online program would allow one to do some number-crunching and budget management. For example, if I want to track my fuel costs for a year, I can't search by 'type' of transaction, only by the name of each company. Since I'm not loyal to any particular gas company it means I have to look through every single month's statement separately to find all my fuel expenditures. Same thing with grocery stores. But I wonder if other banks have better online banking tools? Hmmm....I guess they'd probably rather spend the money on bonuses to their CEO's.

[angelko]

Hey ComputerGuy, what kind of an account is that with ingdirect.com that pays over 4%? I went to their website and can only see savings accounts pay up to 1.25%

Can you please post more information about this? I would be interested in opening an account at those rates.

thanks.

Originally Posted by ComputerGuy

Also, if you are just looking for a high yield savings account, then I would check out ingdirect.com. They offer a Savings account earning more that 4.00% interest. I opened an account with them, and I linked my credit union and paypal account to them. They are great

[joninaz]

I'm a 20 year customer of BOFA and was perfectly fine with them until recently. Someone, somehow got my debit card Visa number and began draining my account by signing up for online merchants who kept appearing and vanishing after a month. Upon discovery, BOFA froze the card number, but after investigating, insisted these were legitimate charges, and reinstate the fees and losses. I appealed, they investigated again, stuck with their findings, and re-charged me for the reversals and fees. During all of this, I had researched the merchants in question and found numerous online discussions about it being a Russian-based fraud outfit that was scamming people at many a bank. This research yielded loads of info that clearly exonerated myself. Even with this information, BOFA's crack team again determined they were legit charges, and said I had exhausted my appeals.

This was the most annoying part because BOFA's fraud investigators never actually talked directly with me, nor could be engaged by the bank's regular customer service people. It was some secret, separate division that operated outside of any regular management and I was told their decision was final. Needless to say, I did get it resolved through some other methods but I'd venture that most people would have given up by then.

This isn't meant to be a total bash on BofA as I'm sure other big banks engender similar complaints. I'm moving across country, so I'm not ready to dump them just now... but the next time I open a bank account, I'll look closely at regional banks and credit unions that have actual people and managers who'll take ownership of problems.