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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
Fun story: When I told BofA that I was closing my account and moving to a credit union, they sat me down and said about credit unions "they can take your money","they have no asset protection","they're smaller so they can't grow funding as quickly as we can". ... and then they didn't close my account.
I guess I still maybe have a BofA account?
I checked out the checking account offerings at the CU near my office. They have "free checking" which only gives 3 free non CU ATM transactions per statement cycle and $1 charge from the CU for each transaction over 3. Apparently no rebate for the terminal fees charged by the banks, though. They also have a "special" checking account that will rebate up to $25 in non-CU ATM terminal fees / cycle, however, you only get that benefit in months where you meet the minimum requirements of 1) direct deposit 2) e-statements and 3) minimum of 10 debit card transactions in the statement cycle. Sounds like one of the plans the big banks have to trip you up to pay them big ass fees, but this is from the "member friendly" CU.
I was in Paris a couple of years ago, and paid zero fees (other than foreign currency exchange fee) at La Banque Postale ATMs.
Now try taking a Wells-Fargo debit card to New York and see where you can use an ATM for free.
Everyone who's switching, especially those looking to community banks, look at the Weiss Ratings and shop around. I just learned yesterday that the last regional bank I had my mortgage with, prior to switching to the fabulous BECU, has a rating of E- for safety. The scale is A to F, so you know that's not good.
Also, Express Credit Union, the popular choice for low- and moderate-income depositors, is not open today. You can transfer on Monday.
I have accounts with 2 credit unions. I've traveled all over SE Asia and Europe, and had no problems getting foreign currency at ATMs anywhere overseas. The ATM cards of both belong to networks, and I don't pay fees on any ATM from any credit union in this country.
I just was at Verity CU and found out that an account I had closed with Wells Fargo apparently incurred $150.00 in overdraft fees. It would have been nice if Wells Fargo would have fucking told me that instead of no notice and reporting me to Chexsytems in 2007!!!
Now I have to fight with Wells Fargo, get the negative information removed from Checxsystems and go back to open the credit union account. FUCK FUCK!!!
When I travel with BECU there are still charges on ATM withdrawals, but they are less per use and there is no large additional monthly fee.
Now, you don't even have to be in the 1% to save that much. Come on kids, don't let a $5 atm fee bankrupt you! Plus you get tons of rewards points!
Where were you four years ago when local banks were folding like tissue paper?
In my first few months with BECU back in 2007 I had earned more money in interest than all 5 years I spent at BoA. 2007 interest rates were a few points higher than today's.
One of my favorite Denny stories is that... he bought a safe with no back and pushed it up against the wall so that the customer never knew... go underground tour!
And I still have Seafirst checks that I write even though my primary bank is BECU. I'm not dropping them until i run out dammit!
And now, I'm not writing you a fucking check!
Co-op Network - this is the credit union ATM network. You can search for no-fee ATMs.
CU Service Centers - this is the credit union shared branching network. As long as you have your account number and ID you should be able to withdraw cash or make deposits at any of these locations.
Bank on Seattle-King County - if you get turned down by BECU, try searching for a bank or credit union on this site. Select that you have more than $100 to open an account, and select that you still owe money from a previous overdraft problem. You'll mostly get results from big banks, but there are a few smaller community banks and one credit union - Express Credit Union - that might be able to help you. You can get more information about each institution, including whether they will let someone in the Chex system open an account, and the minimum opening deposit requirements.
I've heard that a lot of people have had problems with "closed" accounts being reactivated by the big banks to pay some charge. It's definitely more prudent to open a credit union or community bank account but then keep the old account going with a small balance for a month or two while you switch over billpay etc. The big banks bury stuff like that in the terms & conditions you agree to, so be cautious.
By switching away from Chase (after they absorbed WaMu) to KeyBank my small business has saved hundreds of dollars. Why on earth would you pay a monthly fee for someone else to have the privilege of charging interest on your money?
I switched my personal checking account to Schwab and now not only do I not have to maintain an insane $750 minium account balance with BoA to avoid fees, I actually collect interest and my ATM fees from any ATM, anywhere, are refunded each month.
Still have big bank credit cards though. I'll take 1-5% cash back and a running 25-28 day free loan, thanks!
And everyone should note what Keister Button says @15. There are numerous areas where the right and the left should come together shouting as one, and this is a perfect example. It always boggles my mind that people can be endlessly distracted and pissed off by social spending in the millions (that often saves billions, as in preventive medicine), while TRILLIONS are placed on the backs of taxpayers with the collusion of Obama, the bankers, and congresscritters of both parties, and there's hardly a peep of protest, least of all from the "press."
Yes, insane!
I guess if you're such a loser that $750 is too much to set aside, you should move to a kiddie bank. Becu is gonna love a half a million morons with $100 to their names as customers.
Btw what's this obsession with ATMs and having cash? I use an ATM maybe once a month, for my lattes mainly and the 25 cent tip to hipster boy icing my 3 yr old's cupcake. The only time you need cash from ATMs is in Asia or Africa. Everywhere else, just swipe and walk baby.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2…
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/10/27/d…
The mainstream media? *crickets*
Here's a hint, troll dear - Money is like sex: those that really have it don't talk about it.
In any event, it's a beautiful day. Instead of droning on here on Slog, what say you take that imaginary three year old to the park? Maybe you'll run into the highly theoretical Seattleblahs family.
I bet the pro-BoA people think nothing bad will happen, or most likely think of this risk as an extra status symbol next to their anemic and moribund interest on their accounts. I wonder if Washington Mutual account holders thought that in the winter of 2008.
Something I've noticed about the pro-BoA and pro-bank commentators in the Seattle Times forums and on here: they never comment on or mention Weiss Financial Safety Ratings, and do not have the whole story on credit unions. One poor idiot tried to argue that BECU members don't have access to wealth management services. Anyone can go to BECU.org main page and see "Wealth Management" as the third of three gray tabs on the front banner.
So they are probably not employed doing competitive analysis and forbidden by religious doctrine to equip themselves with facts.
If $750 is too much 'money' to a person, the only mirror you'll need is the one that gives you a reality check. Seriously BECU will love managing 500,000 accounts with $12 and some change.
Btw if talking about sex was gauche, you, Slog, The Stranger and your fantasy park toilet troll Dan Savage would have no raison d'être.
@36 - Why yes, actually, BECU & CUs generally *will* appreciate half-million people with $100 to their name. That's $50m capitalization that they would otherwise not have. :>P
Ohhh, a web page. That'll turn that $100 into a big fat retirement fund in no time. Does that web page manage your Roths, your SEP, and your investments for you too?
Sounds like banking for midgets.
Nothing. They're very cute. Both my little kids have accounts at BECU.
My kids learn how to save their allowance, what interest is, living within their means. For an early education on money management, BECU works fine. If only more Americans weren't financially illiterate.
BECU is a perfect bank for them. But once you start investing, shifting money around, buying and trading, opening Roths, and regular IRAs, you need a grownup bank.
Do you all really think that banks all started off as huge entities? They got that way because of providing a service many people liked. The more money they have to deal with ... the more employees they need to pay ... the more they need to sink into technology and upgrades .... and the sooner they will have to start charging for services or go completely bankrupt.
So, which credit union do you want to see become the next BofA? My bet has been placed.
Try that at BECU.
3.652%
If you owe $200,000 or less on your mortgage, you can take advantage of the current historically low refinance rates—and pay no closing costs or fees out of pocket!
The new BECU 12-Year No Fee Mortgage lets you:
Refinance your existing mortgage without additional costs or fees
Lock in your low rate for up to 45 days from application
Get a loan amount of up to $200,000
http://www.becu.org/12-year-mortgage.asp…
maybe it's the type of account you signed up for and/or mis-management of your finances that caused you to get fees? if that's the case how's it the bank's fault? every reason people give to switch to a credit union i already have with my big bank (and my average balances are well under $300 for checking and $2K for savings).
i'm sure someone here will "correct" me because they think i'm a "bank apologist" but it is a valid question.
Banks are FOR PROFIT and have non-customer shareholders who are interested in PROFIT MAXIMIZATION.
Credit Unions do not have non-customer shareholders. The entire purpose of the organization is to put the collective customers funds to use FOR the collective customers.
dear Ol' grannie?
It's the latter. Every time. I've never paid a fee or interest in 25 yrs of banking. Not one. Call me stupid but I don't know how to get screwed by my 'mega' banks.
And if you got in on the bank stocks in the mid to late 1990s you'd have more money to put into your cute little savings account at the credit union. Btw do you HAVE to be a tattooed lesbian urban farmer with adopted Haitian kids to open an account? Hard to tell from the ads. Maybe you get interest on facial piercings?
You realize of course that the total value of personal checking accounts is a pittance on the bank's ledgers.
I remember as a Wamu customer when they transferred to Chase, they said the value of all the personal checking accounts was something like $179 million dollars!
As anyone with sense would know that amount is dwarfed by the total of even just a few commercial accounts!
Right. How much is it gonna cost BECU to babysit these deadbeats? Alot more than $50 million. Either that or you're gonna get squat back.
At least, that's what it sounds like.
I've kinda lost track, after so much scattershot invective, but in no particular order:
We (me'n'my wife, not the Royal) are diversified, mortgaged, have kids, stocks, ROTHs, two just-fine salaries, travel plenty, even international... I think I meet your various standards of 'maturity'.
The move to BECU years ago now was easy, and has been awesome. Service is great, advice fine. (But if you're such a bigpants, your money guy isn't a retail banker. Right?)
But most importantly, and completely unaddressed in your doublewide contributions to this thread, THESE AREN'T THE D*BAGS WHO TANKED THE WORLD ECONOMY WITH THEIR CASINO-INSPIRED NONSENSE. That is what moving your money, and today, is about. And it's why we were grateful for the pretext to finally off Chase completely. (Not bs-ing you, we moved here from NYC six years ago and still have/had varying degrees of unfinished business with both Chase and Citi.)
When you're finished tugging Jamie Dimon--I hear he can take a while--I'll be interested in your reflections on the macro.
I have found switching to credit unions advantageous, whether you are looking strictly at the numbers or have moral reasons for doing so. I try to keep $1500 in my accounts at BECU and SMCU all the time; I get 6% interest on that money, and the only requirement is to have direct deposit. I actually get paid by the credit unions to keep my money there, and I have free access to all the features banks offer - online banking, bill pay, etc.
I also have a line of credit and credit card with BECU with a much lower interest rate than what any banks offered me. I don't have to pay any annual fee, although there is a small fee for the rewards credit card at BECU.
So I don't understand why people stay at their banks, whether they pay fees or not; the interest rates at credit unions are so much better. I know a lot of it is inertia, but once I joined BECU I couldn't imagine going back to a big bank.
as i posted, i've never been charged a fee - ever. maybe if i mismanaged my funds i would have but i've never gotten a fee.
"looking strictly at the numbers"? which numbers? moral reasons? i don't know of any specific moral reasons. i bank with bank of america and have yet to hear anyone list out all the crimes they've commited. if you can list their crimes i'd be open to hearing them as a potential reason to switch.
i get about 6% interest on my savings account and get online banking, bill pay, etc.
i have a credit card with b of a with a low interest rate and pay no annual fee - and no small fee.
you may not understand why people stay with their banks but maybe it's because people aren't that upset with what they have. maybe most people are happy with what they have? maybe people aren't as overly charged with fees as the stranger and the slog commenters make it out to seem.
are some people hit with lots of fees? yes, i'm sure they are. are those people better served at a credit union? sure, but maybe most people are just fine with a big bank. if you are someone who is better off with a credit union, then go.
I'm sure BECU will love these customers with their $10 accounts and 'hey I'll pay you back on Monday when I get paid for icing cupcakes' line of credit.
Plus, I hear you get a free toaster if your genitals are pierced.
Thats fine though, stay where you are. If nothing that's already been stated in this thread would make you want to switch, I doubt that anything would. I think it's unreasonable though to assume that everyone is just like you.
Finally, you might not be an apologist, but you are being willfully obtuse.
The 'specific moral reasons' are that Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, and all these other hybrid retail bank/investment bank/hifalutin' pit bosses were at the very center of the national/global economic collapse three years ago. And to many, it looks like the only folks who have truly thrived after the collapse are the very people who brought on the collapse.
I can be more specific, and certainly there's a longer-view conversation about crazily-out-of-whack income disparity generally in our society, but I think that's why people who are otherwise happy with a big bank might be moving their money right now.
http://tinyurl.com/6jsunyk
And this one:
http://tinyurl.com/5t5mv3x
And we don't really need to just focus on BoA:
http://tinyurl.com/3lxg83c
Lots of reasons to not support large financial institutions!
You might be getting about 6% with investments with Merrill Lynch (owned by BofA) or a really old CD you bought before interest rates dropped. It's not fair to compare that with what general savings accounts are paying in interest right now.
The moral reasons I have are about keeping money in my local community - not paying dividends to shareholders or bonuses to executives who already collect multi-million dollar salaries. These are not crimes, but I choose to not support that system.
http://notalwaysright.com/in-need-financ…
... Sounds like applause to me.
Because, literally, Bank Transfer Day created more US jobs, due to loans to US consumers and US small business than US Big Banks have created in the US since 2002.
Period.
When the recipient of the bad loan defaulted, they lost their house and their credit rating. The folks responsible for *making* the bad loans got bonuses and bailouts. Where's the accountability?