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December 14, 2010

Any free checking recommendations? ()

by fluffy at 8:21 PM
Chase has finally decided to go evil and are now starting to charge a $10 monthly service charge if I don't keep at least $1500 in my checking account at all times, and none of their other account options are any better.

It looks like Bank of America has a free account which just charges for teller access, although I hate those guys and their crappy ATMs (but on the plus side they're a bit more convenient for me in general). Wells Fargo is also pretty convenient, but their no-fee requirement is just as horrible as Chase's. Of course I already have accounts with ING and Charles Schwab which are fine in every way except for ATM access (ING does have one in the Safeway near work, though, and Schwab claims they'll refund all bank-incurred ATM fees but I have to wonder where they pay that from). But in any case maybe the amount of interest that they'd give me would make up for the occasional ATM fee...

Any suggestions that I may have missed? I don't know of any other reasonable banks that have ATMs around here (San Francisco).

Comments

#13651 12/14/2010 10:52 pm
What is it that you dislike about Bank of America ATMs?
#13653 12/14/2010 11:04 pm
They are sloooooooooooow and annoying and use the Windows '95 error sounds for everything. My HOA's savings account is with them and I have to deal with their ATM once a month to deposit the checks and it's HORRIBLE, and even when people are just taking out some "fast" cash they still end up taking like 4-5 minutes just for a simple transaction.
#13654 12/14/2010 11:16 pm
Huh. I suppose I've never noticed how slow it is, since I've never used a non-Bank of America ATM. I will admit that the damned pinging is annoying, though.
#13657 12/15/2010 12:58 am
With a Chase ATM, if you get fast cash you can be done in under 30 seconds, easy. And you can also configure a quick selection so that you can be done in only a few seconds longer than it takes to enter your PIN.
#13658 12/15/2010 01:07 am
I've been banking with Wachovia since high school, and for most of that time, I was on a free account with no minimum. A few years ago, I switched to a fancier account that has a minimum balance, but that's something I opted in to.

Also, the Wachovia-Wells Fargo merger is complete in the western states, so all of their 24-hour ATMs are free, plus I can use the branch that's right near work.
#13659 12/15/2010 01:12 am
The one of dozens of branches near work, yeah. That would be tempting, but their fee structure on their "free" checking is nearly as bad as Chase's (except that it's only $5/month instead of $10/month if you don't maintain the $1500 minimum balance).
#13660 12/15/2010 01:15 am
I'm inferring from this that Wachovia no longer offers the free checking account I had before 2007. Shame.

I'd be very worried if my balance fell below $1500, anyway.
#13661 12/15/2010 01:18 am
Well, the thing is that I like to only keep a few hundred in my checking account at any given time. I keep most of my money in an ING Direct account (which still pays interest, fancy that), about two months' of expenses in my Schwab account, and then just use Chase for the ATM, basically.

I realize that I don't earn Chase any significant amount of money in my usage (at least not from checking, although they probably make a pretty penny off the merchant fees on my credit card!) but I also don't really cost them much either. Certainly not $10/month, in any case.
#13662 12/15/2010 01:21 am
Although I guess that keeping an extra $1500 in Chase would only cost me about $2/month in interest anyway.
#13663 12/15/2010 01:24 am
ING Direct's checking account looks tempting.
#13664 12/15/2010 01:25 am
Yeah. But that lack of ATMs is a huge downside.
#13667 12/15/2010 09:01 am Interest
Last I checked, ING only paid 1.1%. You might consider that this works out to about $20 a year for $1500...
#13668 12/15/2010 09:02 am
I did, as per "keeping an extra $1500 in Chase would only cost me about $2/month in interest anyway."
#13672 12/15/2010 09:43 am Credit Union
Is that an option for you? Does your company have one? Lots of companies in my area have associated credit unions.
#13673 12/15/2010 09:50 am
Don't know of any with ATM access around here.
#13674 12/15/2010 11:52 am
I use Union Bank...I'm not 100% thrilled with them, though I believe their checking is free. (Though I keep a high balance, so...)

ATM's are a bit far between. There is one near the office, though. (If you count by Holy Grill as "near".)
#13675 12/15/2010 01:41 pm
It looks like SF Fire Credit Union is open to all residents and people who work in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties, has no minimum balance or direct deposit requirements, and refunds any ATM fees you may incur: http://www.sffirecu.org/checking-savings/checking
http://www.sffirecu.org/about-us/membership-eligibility

So maybe that's an option.
#13677 12/16/2010 03:24 am
Hey, I love Redwood Credit Union. Open to anyone in SF. They're on Van Ness a block or 2 from Market (walking distance for me.) Their fees are great- lowest I've seen anywhere- I save an awful lot of money by running 6 fig's of biz expense thru them instead of a regular bank.

They have free ATM outside that location, also one inside Rainbow Grocery (if you made that a regular stop, bet you might like some of the stuff they have- great cheeses and drinks, even if you're not a hippie!)

Chase just suckered me into opening a checking account by waving a $125 opening bonus. Now I need to park $1500 for 6 months. They keep calling asking me to set up billpay and stuff. I think I'll ignore them and just close it in 6 months and pocket that $125. Not only are their fees uncool, it's annoying just to talk about them- what, I need to do 5 debit transactions a month to keep from losing $6... what if I just want to park my money... ugg.