banks (Tampa: credit card, transfer, purchases)

[deebin]

Which banks in the Tampa area have the best money market rates CONSISTENTLY and don't play games?

[chrisredfield96]

When it comes to stuff like that, check Bank Rate.com

CD Rates | Highest Yield Bank Certificate of Deposit Interest Rate

Check off the boxes you want, in your case it would be MMA instead of CD. Also I recommend checking nationally as well as local, because national rates are usually higher. Even if its a bank that has no branches near you, you can still have easy access to your Money Market account. All you would need to do is link a checking or savings account to your MMA, and you can transfer money back and forth that way between your local bank account.

Right now the best rate is through a national bank out of New York at 1.30, and a local Tampa rate is 1.19 according to bank rate's web site. Lately the Money Market rates in the U.S. have been very low, its been that way for a few years. If you are not happy with whichever you chose, you can always go back to that site and find another one.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by deebin

Which banks in the Tampa area have the best money market rates CONSISTENTLY and don't play games?

In terms of not playing games, stay away from the mega-banks...Bank of America, Wachovia, Citibank, etc.

The smaller regional banks tend to not play games and feature customer service as their advantage.

Some you you might check out are:

Bay Cities Bank http://www.bay-cities-bank.com/personal.aspx
Synovus Bank Personal | Synovus Bank, a division of Synovus Bank
BankAtlantic https://www.bankatlantic.com/Persona...g/default.html

[BucFan]

what exactly is "playing games" anyway? Most banks play by the same rules - as far as CDs go, right?

[kyle19125]

I thought he might be referring to fees and such. Such as running all of your delayed credit/debit purchases through at the same time, right before your direct deposit arrives so that you incur overdraft fees. That's standard practice for the big banks. If you Google the terms Wachovia and debit card overdraft you'll find oodles of information about it. There's actually a case a young lawyer/Wachovia customer was bringing against them on his own behalf as he investigated and discovered evidence of an algorithm that enabled them to hit balances at the right moment which in turn triggered overdrafts.

[tamparesident26]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

I thought he might be referring to fees and such. Such as running all of your delayed credit/debit purchases through at the same time, right before your direct deposit arrives so that you incur overdraft fees. That's standard practice for the big banks. If you Google the terms Wachovia and debit card overdraft you'll find oodles of information about it. There's actually a case a young lawyer/Wachovia customer was bringing against them on his own behalf as he investigated and discovered evidence of an algorithm that enabled them to hit balances at the right moment which in turn triggered overdrafts.

Wachovia sucks. If that was the last bank on earth, I keep my money in a coffee can in the freezer. I had an account with them for a little over a year and had more issues than I have ever had with any bank in the last 30+ years. I had to fight them once over double dipping an auto debit from my account for over $700. (They even admitted it was a bank error, but yet still took over 4 days to return the money they essentially stole from me. Ridiculous.) Another time, had to fight them over a deposit made via ATM well before the 2PM cut off (we're talking like 9am here) that they decided not to credit for 3 days. It was CASH for goodness sakes...how hard can that be? That's just two examples of their incompetent boobery...I won't bore you all with more even though I have plenty.

I know numerous people who have had that overdraft issue with them too. (Shockingly that was the one problem I didn't have with them.) I can only hope that now that they were taken over by WellsFargo that they make some serious improvements.

I recommend BankAtlantic. They are a Florida only bank. Their customer service is awesome. They are open convenient hours (including Saturday and some branches on Sunday too) and don't have that stupid 2PM thing. I've been with them for 4 years and am extremely happy...have 3 of my personal accounts there as well as accounts for my business.

[tagylyn]

Suntrust sucks too, they have very high fees and they pick and choose when to process transactions which in turn can lead to overdraft fees. They too have a big lawsuit against them out of Atlanta for their banking practices.

[BucFan]

I have no problems w/ Sun Trust. They have great customer service at both branches I use. Of course, I don't give them any reason to charge me fees (like overdraft).

[unicorn1209]

My pick for a CD was ING diirect. NO not a local Florida bank but they had the highest interest rate, were friendly and easy to deal with and I made some money...

[BucFan]

bankrate.com has the best rate listings - last I look discover bank also had some of the best CD rates (albeit low).....I trust Discover (have had a credit card with them for years).....but I think OP wanted something more liquid like money market acct or interest bearing savings.