Don't Bank On It!

I'm sure if you're reading this blog post that means you have a phone or computer. Typically if you have a phone or computer, you have bills to pay. More than likely, if you have bills to pay, you also have a bank account. This is very important for you to read IF you have a bank account, if you don't you can move directly to my Week 8 Picks although, I must suggest that if you don't have a bank account, you shouldn't be betting.

When is the last time you re-evaluated your banking needs? Most people probably bank with who their parents opened their account with. If not, you probably changed banks when you moved. Each bank has their benefits and downfalls which I will get into, but it is very important to not waste money on banks because some banks CHARGE YOU MONEY for you GIVING THEM MONEY.

I will try and keep this portion as brief as possible, but banks have a few streams of income:
1.) Making loans and earn interest off those loans.
2.) Charging fees for overdrawing, minimum balances and even transferring your money.
3.) They also invest your money to make money.

Banks aren't simply there for you to deposit your money and access if when you need it, but that's what I want from my bank. I don't want them charging fee, I don't want them bothering me, I don't want the selling me anything and I certainly don't want them providing me a mortgage that takes 45-60 days to close when independent companies like Equitable Mortgage can close in less than 30. Instead, I have my banks pay me!

Just this year, I've earned $100 from Citizens Bank, $100 from Huntington, $150 from Chase, $200 from 5/3 and a GREAT $300 from PNC. Each bank has their own stipulations, bill pay, minimum balance or minimum direct deposit to receive your funds. I also regularly bank with Ally, whom I found although they do not have retail locations, for the simplicity of just holding my money (and they have the best interest rate out there), they're my favorite. As you can see, this year alone I've banked with six different banks. I previously have had accounts with National City (now PNC) and CS Bank (now First Merchant's) as well.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING YOUR BANK

My first consideration is ALWAYS the fees being charged and this should be yours too. Chase, PNC and 5/3 all have accounts where they can charge you up to $25/month for meeting their requirements on a monthly basis. That means in a year, if you're in the wrong bank account, it can COST YOU $300 per account if you don't have the correct minimum balance, direct deposit or number of debit card swipes. STOP IT, JUST STOP IT! PNC paid me $300 and they took $300 from you so... I guess I should thank you for the money. I do a lot of transferring of funds, so if I accidentally drop below a $1,000 balance in checking one time, I don't want to be charged for it. 

Let me save you the hassle and talk about the best and worst parts of each bank:

5/3 

The Good - Pretty much everything is bad about this bank. They are the ONLY bank I have ever used that charges me money ($3) to transfer from my 5/3 account to an outside account. That is just an absurd fee. In addition, if you're a customer that goes INTO the branch, you are targeted for evening calls when the bankers don't meet their monthly goals (I worked there, I know they do this). One benefit is they have a lot of branches I suppose.

The Bad - See above or check their reviews, only serve a limited region, charge you for EVERY little thing also they didn't check my ID when I closed my account and just gave me a check for my account balance with NO VERIFICATION that I was who I said I was.

Lowest Minimum Balance - $1,500 without Direct Deposit

Easiest Fee Avoidance - Direct Deposit but also no Check Writing (eAccess Account)

Region:

Ally
The Good - They offer one of the best interest rates on money that you want to keep safe but still have access too (their savings account pays as much as Chase's 10 year CD), they offer free checks, for the most part their customer service is excellent, transferring money and their website are both very easy, they have a nice app as well, they have the most accessible ATMs I have found anywhere (from Key West to Seattle, San Diego to Bangor). They also reimburse up to $10/month on non Ally ATMs.

The Bad - They don't have physical branches, so if you need a large sum of money TODAY (more than you can take out of an ATM), sorry - Not going to work, but I have never had an issue with that.

Lowest Minimum Balance - $0

Easiest Fee Avoidance - Don't overdraw account.

Region: (any state in the US)

Chase

The Good - There are A LOT of Chase branches in many different places (they used to be in Speedways too which was really nice) excluding populous states like SC, NC and TN (see map below), they have over 15,000 ATMS, their website is SUPER user friendly, mobile alerts are nice, it's easy to set up bill pays and it's easy to set up external accounts and they have good credit cards to choose from. Lastly, Chase quickpay is a great feature they offer.

The Bad - They are moving towards higher clientele now and don't offer a truly FREE checking account anymore, they are a little too strict on their consumer protection (I've had at least 5 transactions this year turned down because they thought it was fraud and it took 5-10 minutes for them to contact me to verify it was accurate so I had already left the consumer) they changed their credit card rewards and I wasn't grandfathered in so I essentially lost out on $600 in value with this change and wasn't notified of the change.

Lowest Minimum Balance - $1,500 without Direct Deposit

Easiest Fee Avoidance - Direct Deposit of $500 or more (Total Checking)

Region:

Citizen's Bank
The Good - They paid me $100 to open an account.

The Bad - They have an account that has a fee that CANNOT be waived, but it doesn't pay interest, it only offers free designs on checks (Value Checking) so if you are on this, get out of this account NOW! They are only along the eastern seaboard and a lot of those are just ATMs, not physical branches so not very accessible (even those that are seem to be in poor areas like the Kroger on Morse Road).

Lowest Minimum Balance - $2,500 without Direct Deposit

Easiest Fee Avoidance - Direct Deposit (One Deposit Checking)

Region: They don't provide a map, so don't worry with them.

Discover Bank
The Good - They offer an account where you can get cash back up to $120/year.

The Bad - They make it impossible to open up an account online. You click "Open An Account", it takes you to a log in page. You click never registered before, it only works if you have an existing Discover account. The process is ridiculous so I just stopped.

Lowest Minimum Balance - $0

Easiest Fee Avoidance - Don't overdraw account.

Region: Online

First Merchant's Bank (formerly CS Bank)
The Good - When they were CS Bank, they were open from 7 to 7 and on Sundays. They offered a free change deposit machine, free checks and great bonuses for opening up accounts (I am guessing most of this is gone now). They do seem to offer totally free checking accounts, but they might as be an online bank with their lack of accessible branches and ATMs to 90% of America.

The Bad - You can't seem to search for locations or hours online which seems weird, their website seems to have functionality issues, their region seems to be inner Columbus, outer Indianapolis, south Chicago/NW Indiana and spread out in some other random areas.

Lowest Minimum Balance - $0 with eStatements (First eChecking.

Easiest Fee Avoidance - Receive eStatements (First eChecking)

Region: 

Huntington Bank
The Good - They offer a truly free account with their "Asterisk-free Checking". They have branches all over Columbus (if that applies to you).

The Bad - Their non bank account products (credit cards, lines of credit, mortgage, auto loans) aren't the best.

Lowest Minimum Balance - $0

Easiest Fee Avoidance - Don't overdraw account.

Region: Ohio, Florida (2), Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia.

PNC (Purchased National City Oct. '08)
The Good - They have a nice feature with their "virtual wallet" that shows future payments scheduled, other banks like Chase do not offer this feature. They offer accounts with reimbursement of their non ATM fees as well as reimbursement (unlimited) for other banks fees. They offered $300 to open up an account and meet certain requirements which is the best I found. They seem to have a good footprint in populous cities like Chicago, Indy, Cincy, Cbus, Believeland, Pittsburgh, Philly and Atlanta which is roughly 7.5M people in those cities alone.

The Bad - They set you up with three accounts right off the bat, which seems unnecessary. They encourage you to not go into the bank which saves them costs by laying off unnecessary people, but seems less personable.

Lowest Minimum Balance - $0 with $500 Direct Deposit - $500 if no DD

Easiest Fee Avoidance - Don't go into the bank (seriously, if you only use ATMs or mobile banking to make w/d and deposits, you get the monthly fee of $7 waived).

Region:

In summary, I would suggest Ally if you never need immediate access to large sums of money because remember, they refund most of your non-Ally ATM fees. Huntington (as long as they're in your area) for an easy simplistic banking experience without the fees. PNC if you can avoid going into the bank or you can keep at least $500 minimum balance in your checking account.

I would avoid 5/3 at all costs, Chase unless you have a minimum of $1,500 in your checking account at all times and Discover because it was near impossible to set up an account.