I’ve been a Bank of America customer for 12 years or so, ever since I moved to Boston from New York. I picked them because they were everywhere, and I didn’t ever want to switch banks again. When the big “Bank Transfer Day” came, I decided to switch banks too. I was annoyed about the plans for the new $5/month fee, but I wasn’t all that happy with Bank of America anyway.
I decided on Cambridge Savings Bank because they are close by, they refund all ATM fees other banks charge you, and they pay 2% interest on checking account balances. (BTW — there are many banks that pay more than 2% interest on checking accounts. Check out depositaccounts.com to find banks near you. Don’t forget to change the filter options to show local banks and credit unions.)
However, I still don’t like switching banks, so I searched around for questions to ask a potential bank before you open an account. Here are the questions I came up with:
Fee Questions:
- Do you have overdraft fees and how can you avoid them?
- What fees are there for checking accounts?
- What fees are there for savings accounts?
- Are there fees to transfer money to/from my account?
- Do you charge debit card fees?
Convenience Questions:
- How many ATMs are available in my area?
- Which ATMS accept deposits?
- How long does it take for a deposit to clear?
- Are large deposits delayed? How much is a large deposit? How long is the delay?
- When we travel to… Â XXX how can we get money and are there fees?
- XXX == countries and states and regions you typically travel to
- How do we make deposits?
- Bank ATMs? Smartphone app? Bank network ATMs? Local branch? Non-local branch? Affiliate bank branch? Computer application with a scanner? Mail?
When things go wrong:
- What happens if we lose a debit card?
- What are your procedures if a card is stolen?
- Do you look out for potentially fraudulent charges?
- What happens if we become overdrawn?
- How do charge disputes work?
Rates:
- How do I qualify for your best rate?
Anyway, it helped us choose our bank. Hopefully it will help someone else too.
Just curious. Why are you using ATMs at all?
I live in Denmark. My income is transferred directly to my bank account, and if I need to pay for something, I use a debit card (VISA). The only time I ever need cash is local markets where people are trading home-grown food and the like. In that case, in Denmark, when you pay in a supermarket with your debit card, you can ask for some extra money to be withdrawn. I don’t think I’ve used an ATM in ten years.
Why do I use ATMs? It’s a fair question, and I certainly have stopped using them most of the time. But I have a number of uses:
* Someone gives me a check, and I need to deposit it.
* I am going to a restaurant (like CostCo’s food court) which only accepts cash.
* I am giving someone a tip.
These happen with enough regularity that I don’t want to have to drive 30 minutes or more to handle it each time.
I think the Canadian debit (a thing called interac) system has to be amoung the best in the world.
When I travel to the US I am astonished that general retail outlets almost everywhere have no mechanism to enter a pin or a standardized way to validate whether a card is genuine.
Everytime I make a purchase via my debit card at any location in Canada I type my pin into a dedicated terminal which every retailer has and tada, my bank is securely accessed and my hard earned coin is transferred to their bank account.
I was appalled that even the highest tier hotels in the US don’t have functionality to validate via pin.
Maybe I am just unfamiliar with whatever system the US has but it seams really disparate and unstandardized.
Congratulations on your move from Bank of America.
You might like this direct action protest I took on my own against BofA. I called the credit card’s customer service line to do some “negotiating.” Having a bit of leverage, I thought it presented a great opportunity to mess with them a little without fear of retribution. I made a video of the call and posted it on my blog along with my comments about what happened and a fuller “director’s cut” transcript. Pay attention to his response to the classic line “Why does Bank of America hate Christmas?” Enjoy. http://www.ragingwisdom.com/?p=508