What's your favorite bank?

[Tyler]

I'm considering moving my checking account out of Citibank, and am interested in what banks the people here would recommend for convenience, fees, service, and overall safety (FDIC aside, I'd prefer to work with the bank most unlikely to need a bailout from the Feds).

I have a Fidelity brokerage account and have heard good things about their cash management features.  I also have USAA insurance, and understand they're consistently very highly rated as a bank as well.  I'm fine with a reputable online bank, but also am not sure how things like cash deposits or getting a cashier check work in that situation.

Any recommdations or tips?

[KevinW]

Best: local credit union
http://www.creditunion.coop/

If for whatever reason I wasn't going to use a CU, I would consider
- independent regional banks
- EverBank https://www.everbank.com
- Simple https://simple.com/

[MachineGhost]

Best: local credit union
http://www.creditunion.coop/

If for whatever reason I wasn't going to use a CU, I would consider
- independent regional banks
- EverBank https://www.everbank.com
- Simple https://simple.com/

Code: Select all

EVERBANK			Jacksonville	FL	D+

GE CAPITAL BANK			Salt Lake City	UT	A
BANKUNITED NA			Miami Lakes	FL	A-
DEUTSCHE BANK TC AMERICAS	New York	NY	A-
GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA		New York	NY	A-
SIGNATURE BANK			New York	NY	A-
MORGAN STANLEY BANK NA		Salt Lake City	UT	A-

[KevinW]

Where did that come from and what does it mean?

[MachineGhost]

Came from Weiss Ratings and it means Everbank has a high probability of failing.  Only E is worse but its usually too late by that time.

[KevinW]

Good to know, EverBank has now been "considered" and eliminated from my list. 

[flyingpylon]

I've been very happy with USAA for many years.  They're not always the absolute best on purely financial terms but they are always very good and their consistent service is worth the small difference to me.

[whatchamacallit]

I use a local credit union that is very convenient.

I still have a rewards checking account at a local bank I used to chase yield before I found the PP.

http://www.depositaccounts.com/checking ... ounts.html

[foglifter]

Best: local credit union
http://www.creditunion.coop/

If for whatever reason I wasn't going to use a CU, I would consider
- independent regional banks
- EverBank https://www.everbank.com
- Simple https://simple.com/

There are good credit unions. I use Alliant CU, they also offer pretty cheap car loans - 1.49% for a new car right now.

However, for bill payments I use Fidelity Cash Management account (I prefer to call it "checking"). No minimums, ALL ATM fees are reimbursed, no foreign transaction fees. The billpay feature works great - unlike some banks, they schedule your payments taking into account holiday/weekends. The money is only withdrawn from the account when the check is cleared. Also, you can sign up for getting electronic bills from your payees in which case Fidelity will automatically schedule minimum or full payments of your balance. All ATM transactions fees are reimbursed with no limit. The core position is FDCI-insured and kept in one or more "program" banks - and you can see and control what banks are on the list, I actually went ahead and removed from the list a certain big bank I wouldn't want to have my money at.

Even though Fidelity doesn't want you to use the account for investments, if you wish you can buy any mutual fund/ETF/stock the way you'd do that in a brokerage account. Which gives you an opportunity to earn more than a paltry 0.1% in a core. Well, technically Cash Mgmt account is just a brokerage account with FDIC core.

BTW Fidelity mobile app is awesome and the check deposit feature works like a charm.

I also use Fidelity AmEx credit card which pays 2% unlimited for any purchases and the rewards automatically go to whatever Fidelity account I want (naturally, I chose the Cash Mgmt account).

[Kriegsspiel]

I use USAA.  I'd think about a credit union if it came with a free safety deposit box, though.

[cnh]

Came from Weiss Ratings and it means Everbank has a high probability of failing.  Only E is worse but its usually too late by that time.

So, I assume that would mean Everbank's no longer a recommended place for one's allocated gold storage?

As far as bank's go, I'll add my endorsement of USAA or a local credit union.

[Bob]

I've been very happy with USAA for many years.  They're not always the absolute best on purely financial terms but they are always very good and their consistent service is worth the small difference to me.

I agree.  I've used USAA since 1978 and have had nothing but great service.  They reimburse the fees of your first 5 non-USAA ATM transactions each month.  When we bought our house here in the San Antonio area, I called USAA from out of state and told them that I needed a certified check for the closing.  When we went to the bank, the check was ready for us.  When we bought our house in Fayetteville, NC nearly 20 years ago, they mailed the certified check to our PO Box and it was ready for us.

We also have a small account with the TIC Federal Credit Union in Fort Benning, GA (Columbus, GA).  Have had an account there since 1988.  Great service from them as well.

[Reub]

Even though this is not a new thread, I just noticed that GE Capital Bank has Weiss' highest A rating and is offering a 5 year CD at 2.01% APY with a 270 day interest penalty for early withdrawal. This seems pretty good!

https://gecapitalbank.com/build-your-sa ... UYB7300357

[Xan]

That's a little far out in duration for me to be comfortable with it in my "cash" allocation.  But they do crack 1% for a 1-year CD.  Not bad.

[foglifter]

I should've included this into my earlier post... this is a great resource on all kinds of deposit accounts (including HSAs): http://www.depositaccounts.com


For each bank/CU there's an information page, where one of the tabs is called "Health". There you can check bank's ratings including Texas ratio, capitalization and deposit growth.