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Comment by meling | Hacker News Reader

Any recommendations for an alternative bank (currently with Wells Fargo)? Online-only is fine/preferred. My main use is for bill pay and debit card.

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I would recommend checking out Charles Schwab or a local credit union. I have account at Schwab (investing and general checking), local credit union (for a credit card and business checking), and Wells Fargo (because an account was opened for me as a toddler).

Wells Fargo is by far the worst but I just hold minimums to prevent fees (fees having a checking account is the most rubbish thing ever) to avoid a hit to credit score.

Schwab has a good mobile app and website, great customer service, and offers great checking accounts (full atm reimbursements and no fee international, no minimums to open an account). I have found the Chase app to be pretty poor.

Just some data points and I’m speaking about what works for me. Super happy I went to Schwab but do your own research if desired

Is your only Wells Fargo account, a checking account? I didn't think checking accounts had any impacts on credit scores? Or do you have a credit card with them?

Ugh they were my primary bank until about 5 years ago so I have one cc and checking/savings. Hope to close the account in a few years, maybe I should do more research on the credit score impacts but good riddance can’t wait to close

In 99% of cases, checking and savings accounts do not impact your credit score whatsoever. The only cases where they do are cases where the bank does an inquiry when you _open_ the account, but closing any checking/savings account should have no impact.

Schwab stock value has gone down a lot because they are presumed to be under the same pressure that brought down svb

Fudge good call out am starting to see these articles now

I’ve read that Schwab checking has NO fees. If you overdraw, the check/draft doesn’t clear and you don’t pay any fees to Schwab.

Wasn’t sure on this but according o NerdWallet Schwab will not charge an overdraft fee if they’re able to transfer funds from a savings or brokerage account. Not sure about specifics.

Schwab doesn’t have anything obvious on their site about overdraft but I’ve never paid any fees to them for anything

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/overdraft-fees-wh...

"Pull from another account" is common but also potentially very dangerous if you intentionally don't keep a lot of funds in your checking/debit account to limit the damage someone can do with a fake check or your debit card.

Chase is big and boring and seems ok.

Although, worryingly: https://twitter.com/jimcramer/status/1634222320398086145

I wonder why people want something that isn't boring when it comes to some things like a bank in this case. I don't want hassle, I want something simple and boring that does exactly what it's always done. I don't want to think about it. If it's so boring I forget it exists but it enables my life then it's doing a fantastic job. Boring is quite good when it comes to banks.

Investments, maybe you want something that isn't so boring.

Your local credit union.

There's a greater chance of your money staying in and supporting your community...versus probably not even staying in the country.

Policies are driven by needs of members, not investors/shareholders.

You have a much "louder" voice about policies, offerings, etc - possibly even able to attend board meetings, for example.

Despite you saying "online only is preferred", it's really nice to be able to, when you have a problem, be able to walk into your local branch to familiar faces and get help by people who remember you and give a shit about you. At a prior CU I was on a first-name basis with the assistant manager and they would do things like clear checks faster, waive an occasional fee, etc.

If my local CU had competitive interest rates I would stay there. But their best savings accounts are still only a pitiful 0.16% interest. I'm in the process of moving most of my money out of there.

I've had a great experience with my local credit union (https://www.bvscu.org/) for banking and lending, your experience may vary but I think it's worth looking into local credit unions.

If your net worth is high enough, then most banks offer a private banking service which is night and day different than what most consumers are getting.

What's the cutoff for that, usually? $5,000,000 USD?

No, it’s like $500,000.

I’m sorry I said net worth but I meant total amount deposited/invested.

People have reported good things about using a brokerage as a bank. Fidelity and friends have associated banks.

Or use a boring credit union.

capitol one , ally

Ally

Ally? Seems good enough

Discover bank?

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