I was just thinking of switching all my accounts from Chase to Wells Fargo because Chase isn't located in my new town.
This is a good reminder as to why I should choose a different bank. Thanks for posting.
This is a good reminder as to why I should choose a different bank. Thanks for posting.
Upsides are traditional banks usually have insane fees for investment accounts, but with Fidelity (and probably Schwab) you can have it all under one roof. You generally get more options, too. For example, when I opened a 529 I could choose to "open it" in one of several states. My previous big chain bank only allowed me to open an account with the investment options in my state.
There are only two downsides I've seen so far. The first is that Fidelity does not offer personal Health Savings Accounts. This may not be a problem if you have one through your employer, or don't use one. The second is for rare instances when you might need large amounts of cash, larger than you could reasonably withdraw from an ATM. For example, purchasing a car from a private owner. Doing this might require some finagling. In my case, my employer has my 401k at a national chain bank, so I am confident I could cut a check there if I needed to, but it is a concern.
When I had a BofA account, I once asked a teller if I'd need to notify them in advance if I wanted to take out a large amount of cash; when she asked how large she was thankfully able to stifle a laugh and instead say "that should be fine" when I told her "About $5k"
I spend my money on a lot of stupid shit, don't get me wrong.
Bank fees are not one of them.
Best to get a local account without any hoops to jump through to keep it fee free in case you have to go to the bank for some odd reason and open up a fidelity or Schwab account for daily use.
Wonder if anyone has tried PNC or TD bank.
So you won't have a problem finding something better.
USAA is probably the best your going to get but they aren't open to everyone.
I've had accounts at probably 20 different banks due to churning bank account bonuses. I never had PNC before but I did have a TD account. Wouldn't recommend that one because when I signed up online it only made a shadow account and I had to go to a branch to "really" open the account to be able to use it. Of course, they didn't tell me this I had to call and be like wtf?
Car loans / Home Loans get bought up by Chase and you can service all that sort of thing in one web interface. I'm worried that local banks will make me switch back to snail mail days - I'd have personal access but boy I just want to be able to do it all virtually.
However their account opening practices from years ago, and this is a good reminder they are unscrupulous.
I am being somewhat selective as I have a private client account with Chase which has been really nice, and Well's is one of the banks that offers such concierge services.
I'll admit though I only really like the low fee stuff, like free ACH/Wire Transfers, Free Bank Checks, and ATM-fee reimbursement - no limit. Not to mention they waive tons of fees for having credit cards with them.
Some of the higher value fees like using their investment manager, I don't take part in. I manage most of my retirement and savings in TDAmeritrade, Betterment and Robinhood accounts. I still maintain a rather high cash balance at my bank but I make sure to keep it below the FDIC insured amounts.
Anyways, I asked Well's to call me about their services a week ago through their website - I guess they don't want my business - oh well.
I have a state credit union account from my days as a TA in school - but they don't provide many loan services for home purchase / car purchase however I tend to use products that generate 0% interest loans on cars and home use I used Better.com because those guys are killin it - they gave me a low rate and just promised to transfer to the bank of my choice (Chase).
The only reason I really want to switch off chase is that I have to do a lot in person because of new federal compliance rules. I was setting up a Last Will etc for my wife and I and we wanted a complex beneficiary rule on cash accounts and Chase was going to make me drive 3 hours to a branch to set it up. Just seems like if something happens to me and my wife (car crash or something) it would be tough to get the cash to the right place and my attorney is telling me it'll all end up in probate.
Super morbid, but that's what made me start shopping.
https://www.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/
Fidelity let's you set up all your accounts with them (including checking) as transfer on death accounts, which would avoid probate. Mine are all TOD. I have primary a secondary beneficiaries.
If you have a high cash balance you should really put it in a high interest earning account, Discover Bank, Ally, etc. Since those are all online only banks then they know how to do things without having to visit a branch. There's a zero percent chance a bank that doesn't have branches will tell you to visit a branch to do something.
It made me feel like they treat everyone that way, but I guess now that I have a few pennies to rub together I should give it a shot.