I can't haz monies - Banking, Finances, and mebe Doomsday?

[Goodspeed]

Let me start by saying I'm not a banking/finance savant, but I do maintain a keen interest in not getting screwed over by the services I elect to use nor the purchases that I make. And this morning's headlines in virtually all outlets (secondary to the AZ shooting) I read talked about how banks are getting ready unleash a new round of BS fees/charges to augment the loss of ridiculous overdraft fees etc.

I mostly looked up BofA as that is currently who I bank with, but Chase, WF/Wachovia, and a few others are mentioned as well (Fun side note: Bank of America is apparently going to be bludgeoned by the next wikileaks reveal)

Coming Soon to Debit Cards Near You - Annual Fees, Fewer Rewards
At Banks, New Fees Replacing Old Levies
Bank of America to Change Fees for Checking Accounts

So, what is one to do if they don't want to get nickel and dimed to death?

I think my temporary solution will be to "downgrade" to a BofA eBanking account - no tellers/personal service - deposit checks through the ATM - no fees, and then consider moving elsewhere. I was treated pretty well by my smaller credit union in Harrisonburg but there are no locations up here - anybody else to consider to get a truly free checking account? I err on the side of avoiding offers/rewards cards/all that crap and I have a great record - I just want a simple, no nonsense outlet to maintain a credit history if nothing else.

Going macro, bailout funding for individual states will dry up this spring, and we might be facing yet another massive crisis that has been fermenting for decades: the collapse of state and local budgets.

Sate Budgets: Day of Reckoning Video

Discuss. :vomit:

[.RJ]

Credit unions while not immune to this nonsense, seem to be better. My totally uneducated opinion, I've been banking with navy federal for over 10 years.

[Evan]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6637
bank thread
edit: why is linking screwed up?

Ive been very happy with BoA and have used them since I was 13.
I did have a problem with a bank transfer not going through a couple months ago though.
I pay no fees for any of their services. Checking just requires direct deposit.

For loans and credit cards, Pentagon Federal <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.penfed.org">www.penfed.org</a><!-- w --> is the best I have found. (3% car loans!)
there is an easy way of getting around their military requirement (join NMFA for $10) if you dont qualify.
they have a scan check at home to deposit feature that ive never used.
totally free checking here with no requirements I believe but not many ATMs so I dont use them for that

ING/Sharebuilder for savings accounts and investing. about the highest % savings (which is still pathetically low right now) you can get, and the cheapest trade transactions.

any extra monies you can spare should go into a 401k or IRA account. tax free and the younger you start the better.

[Apoc]

I use Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) and have truly free checking, but it looks like that may change later this year. I have direct deposit, so the minimum of $250 in deposits a month isn't a big deal. I think the last time I was in a bank was to get cash out for buying my last motorcycle in 2007.

I don't use a debit card and have a Chased United Mileage credit card for pretty much everything. The fee there is $60/year; this is only fee I pay to any financial institution.

I use Scottrade for stock purchases. No inactivity fee and $7 transactions.

[ScottyB]

just echoing others here with some personal observations.....

- BB&T has been good to us for checking and business accounts and we use them because they're always close by and easy to access. we weren't satisfied with their savings (see ING below)
- we got our auto loans through the local credit union (Emory Federal in Atlanta when we were there) because nobody else came close. if i was going to live in 1 place for a while i'd absolutely try to do ALL my business with a CU.
- ING has superior interest rates, this is where our savings go
- We like Fidelity for our 401K and IRA plans, great customer service if necessary
- Tradeking for stocks

i wish i could cut out a credit card or 2. don't need 'em, but i don't want to cancel them on account of dinging my credit score.

i imagine with these fees that eventually some bank is going to catch on that nobody likes getting fee'd up the A, and will market a low-fee or fee-less program. hopefully they will then rightfully get a ton of business.

[Apoc]

i wish i could cut out a credit card or 2. don't need 'em, but i don't want to cancel them on account of dinging my credit score.

Just ask for a higher limit on the ones you're keeping (most will do it in a heartbeat if you're in good standing) to keep your credit utilization low.

The act of canceling doesn't do anything to your score. I have a half dozen canceled cards on my history and my score is >800 at all three institutions. As long as you aren't turning them over every year and have a clear history of usage, you're fine.

(+1 for Fidelity IRA/401k)

[Sijray21]

- Wachovia pissed me off as a primary checking account; they do offer a no-charge free checking account right now. the last time i used them as a primary checking account they charged me $2 (listed as miscellaneous) for every non-Wachovia ATM withdrawal. so i would get hit with the ATM fee plus $2 for every non-Wachovia ATM withdrawal...not fun. as of now i use them as a local bank to deposit and withdraw cash if i need to do so. i only keep $50 in the 'free' checking account as so they do not close the account. they state that no minimum balance is required, but if it remains inactive for 60 days and there is no balance they will close the account for you.

- ING is great for a checking and a savings account. easy, immediate transfer between ING checking/savings accounts and very easy bill/personal payments with ING checking. you also gain interest in both accounts, but the interest gained in checking is insignificant. the interest gain for the savings account is the best i've seen, currently at 1.1%

- Chase for a credit card isn't bad, but i'm not a huge fan. they slapped a hidden protection fee that i was paying (apparently for a while), but didn't authorize. if i wasn't meticulous about my finances i likely would've missed it. i'm only holding on to mine because of the Marriott perks i'm getting and maintaining. once i use up all my points i'll be ditching this CC and finding one that doesn't cost $60/year.

- USAA is great for online banking and for use as primary checking ($15 ATM fees reimbursed per month, no other fees that i've seen). great visibility into pending charges and no annual fee for their credit card. i have not received any hidden charges from this checking account. USAA has by far the best customer service that i've ever encountered with any kind of company. i use them for damn-near everything. if you're eligible, i highly recommend starting an account with them.

- credit unions are great for small loans and checking, however i think they're overrated for auto loans. my mom and i have both received better car loan rates from private banks working with the dealers. i've worked with BoA in '08 (used truck loan for 5.9%) and VW credit was the best rate (new car loan for 1.9%)



a question:
is it bad to have a high credit limit or is it bad to cap your credit limit on your credit cards? i capped my credit limit, but now i'm wondering if i should ask to have it raised. i will do research on the subject on the interwebs as well...

[Goodspeed]

Sounds like this is turning into a review of banks a la the old thread - point is that same bank from 2 years ago is changing things up and charging you for it, look again. Lets hear some wider opinions on the financial market/state budget issues, I'm interested to hear them. Its a growing and interesting topic, IMO.

[Sijray21]

i read a few articles talking about small local banks being the way to go as far as avoiding fees. The best technique may just be examine your current bank, see if the fees are avoidable and something you can tolerate. if you find that your current bank is not working for you then shop around.

i prefer online banking, but it only gets complicated when i need to deposit temporary checks and cash (need a teller).

[Sijray21]

a question:
is it bad to have a high credit limit or is it bad to cap your credit limit on your credit cards? i capped my credit limit, but now i'm wondering if i should ask to have it raised. i will do research on the subject on the interwebs as well...

looks like i answered my own question, but i came to find out that with the new policies in-place this year if i request to have my credit limit raised an inquiry will appear on my credit report... so where it is will stay for the time being.

i also have read more about the utilization rate and it seems to me that you want the highest credit limit available to you and that the reason why closing credit cards is bad is because it effectively reduces your utilization ratio by eliminating another avenue of credit that you have (ie: if you have 2 credit cards with $10k limits you're knocked down from $20k to $10k in the amount of credit available to you).

[Apoc]

Utilization rate should be about one third, for those keeping score.

Note this is average daily balance, not how much you carry month to month.

As far as wider financial perspective there isn't much to talk about. Spending out paced growth and ability to generate revenue... both at the municipal and individual level. We are in the process of a market reset where streamlining and cost reduction is the only real long term solution. Taxes and fees may go up, but it only takes one competitor (via election or service) running lean and mean to toss the whole thing on it's head. The market elasticity pretty much guarantees it.

We aren't at the bottom yet but most of us here are insulated based on education, income level and geography so it's not freak out time yet. It's going to be worse for the bottom half on the nation before it's better but given the number of unskilled jobs we've let go of as a population, it's not that surprising when the skilled job market shrinks considerably.

[ViPER1313]

I'm a huge fan of credit unions, I wouldn't touch a bank with a 10 foot pole. CommonWealth One will hook you up since you are a JMU grad, and you should qualify for all of their prime rates because you went to there (this may or may not happen at other credit unions, at least until you have established credit and / or can make larger down payments.) Their loan rates have always been really competitive as far as I can tell (auto rates are the same as the CU Evan posted, I didn't compare all of them.) Free checking of course... if the bank you go to doesn't have that, switch. Only downsides are a limited number of branches and no real ATMs unless you are around JMU, although Comstar FCU acts as a physical branch for anything other than a loan approval, and WAWA/Sheetz have surcharge free ATMs.

EDIT: If you care, you can search to see if there is a shared service center near you: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cuservicecenter.com/">http://www.cuservicecenter.com/</a><!-- m -->

[Goodspeed]

Adam, I still have my CWO account from JMU - though not really doing anything with it as there are NO locations around - nearest Comstar is in Fairfax which is sort of a pain. Jay - totally forgot about that. I have USAA. I'll probably just go to them....

[Apoc]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/07/pf/checking_account_fees/index.htm">http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/07/pf/checking_account_fees/index.htm</a><!-- m -->

[D_Eclipse9916]

lol worried about checking fees? As stated in that article, minimum balance of $1500.

Lets do some quick math here:
At 8.95 Monthly, (which was the lowest range on their scale), you would have to be able to "utilize" your $1500 at at least 7.2% monthly interest. Savings accounts now are at a luaghable .25%-1% on average, and no-fee CDs are 2.5%-4.5%.

What that means is it makes a SHIT ton more sense (and dollars) instead of moving around your cash to savings and CDs to eke out every little dollar, to keep $1500 in your checking account and then do whatever investment you make from there. We are talking $50-100 in difference of your money every year, which for most people, if they just didnt go to starbucks twice a month, or went out to eat like 2 times less per year, would more than make up for it.

Ive never paid checking/savings/cds/credit cards/ATM any sort of fees/interest anything (exception if im really fucked and need 20 bucks cash and cant somehow find a BB+T atm or bank close, which is around every corner). And its really easy, just talk to the bank, they can easily find a solution for you. I roll my eyes at the media freaking out for no reason like USUAL.

Oh and if you really dont have $1500 in savings/cds/checking to keep a minimum balance.....stop buying shit, jesus I cant imagine being anywhere close to that. (excluding maybe kids in high school and younger I can imagine).

[Ryan T]

Oh and if you really dont have $1500 in savings/cds/checking to keep a minimum balance.....stop buying shit, jesus I cant imagine being anywhere close to that. (excluding maybe kids in high school and younger I can imagine).

Here's what bothers me about this; it's still hurting the same people that overdraft fee's were hurting. Granted, the vast majority of working class MM (I'm assuming) will and have kept at least that $1500 in checking. Also, the vast majority of MM probably doesn't have to worry about overdraft fees. These fee's are only hurting the same people that overdraft fees were hurting, people living paycheck to paycheck and barely getting by. So now even if they don't overdraft their account, they are going to be charged a fee equivalent to overdrafting ~4 times a year.

[Evan]

so are free bank accounts a right now?

[G.Irish]

Oh and if you really dont have $1500 in savings/cds/checking to keep a minimum balance.....stop buying shit, jesus I cant imagine being anywhere close to that. (excluding maybe kids in high school and younger I can imagine).

Here's what bothers me about this; it's still hurting the same people that overdraft fee's were hurting. Granted, the vast majority of working class MM (I'm assuming) will and have kept at least that $1500 in checking. Also, the vast majority of MM probably doesn't have to worry about overdraft fees. These fee's are only hurting the same people that overdraft fees were hurting, people living paycheck to paycheck and barely getting by. So now even if they don't overdraft their account, they are going to be charged a fee equivalent to overdrafting ~4 times a year.

That's actually a pretty big problem for the lower class. Banks sometimes are not accessible or practical for them so they don't tend to use them as much, or they end up using shady predatory financial services. Check cashing places and payday loan shops capitalize on this and rake in the dough from fees and outrageously high interest rates.

It's a tough situation for those struggling to get by, but I think the biggest thing to ease that situation is financial education. It's amazing that in school all manner of subjects are taught except for financial literacy.

[Goodspeed]

so are free bank accounts a right now?

I do have a problem with being charged to access my own money. Especially since the bank is profiting from my money in the first place, and banning these stupid fees only means that they make incredible amounts of money instead of ludicrous amounts.

[D_Eclipse9916]

"I do have a problem with being charged to access my own money. Especially since the bank is profiting from my money in the first place."
Logic fail, they dont charge you if you keep money in it, which they have to do to make money. If you dont have money, they aint making anything and have to pay for all the things you enjoy.

So your saying you want somebody to be federally insured to save your money, allow you to pull money from places all over the state/country, check your balances, hold your money, and earn a somewhat measly profit but at least money on it? All they are doing is instituting fees on people who
A) dont keep enough money in their bank account
-Bank doesnt make any money off of this
-Bank has considerable capital to let you deposit/withdraw constantly, its gotta somehow pay for it
B) Another way to charge people overdrafting
-You overdraft....THAT IS A LOAN in effect, even with online banking/bank cards/statements every month, youve gone over. They give you the tools to track it for free!!!!!!! and you still mess up! Ive overdrafted once, now I didnt pay a fee, but honestly I fucked up and got a short-term loan from the bank, meaning they have either have considerable capital or time to process all of this. Gotta pay for it somehow.

Honestly, 99% of us here would never need to be charged a single dollar in fees, you make up for it by giving the bank a loan (your balance) and its even FDIC insured, what stock market investment can you be ASSURED of getting your dollars out and what personal loan to someone else can you *easily* get your money back?

I honestly wouldnt care if they charged people more for those that dont keep balances. Bank has to pay for its own bills/people/capital. If we were to not charge people anything for overdrafts/low balances, the people who DO have balances have to "make up" for this lack of income, by probably reducing interest rates on CDs and savings.