Andrew has been exploring the question. For us, the answer is simple: location, location, location.
I bank in two places: Navy Federal Credit Union, and Citibank. NFCU is better in all ways except one: they don't have a branch in DC. That means that every time I want to make a deposit, I have to drive out to Virginia. So I tend to go there once every few months and put a bunch of cash in the bank for our regular or big expenses: car loan, wedding stuff, rent and utilities. But it is not a convenient place to do my every day banking.
Indeed, the whole reason I'm at Citibank in the first place is that they're all over the country, and I've spent the last ten years moving a bunch of times. Even now that I've committed to DC, I'm in a rental, and I don't know what neighborhood I'm likely to end up in next, so there's no point in opening a new bank account that might turn out to be inconvenient one move later.
Then there's business travel--most places I go, if I lose my ATM card, there's a Citibank branch that can help e out in the area.
I realize that's not the entire story--most people are much less mobile than young urban professionals. But America does have high rates of labor mobility, and a lot of people travel for work. That's going to favor national banks--which in turn, lets them offer less favorable terms to their customers. I'm paying for convenience. But frankly, it's worth it.
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With direct deposit and online banking most people never even have to go to a physical bank. Also, with almost every vendor accepting ATM cards you almost never need cash either.
I recall you saying you get freelance checks that need to be deposited, but that kind of income isn't the norm for most people.
I have an ultra small business on the side. I only receive cash and checks. All atm and credit payments are routed through the store I am partnered with.
Before I started this I never had to deal with cash. Now I am at the bank at least once a week making deposits.
Arrrr, I know what you mean, matey! I'm always having to deposit my booty and assorted plunder. Using a big bank means I don't have to sail to some remote island, dig a hole, make a map, carefully mark it with an "X", et cetera.
Besides, you never know when some hare-brained rabbit is going to throw lit matches into your supply of black powder!
I think you're enjoying his screen name a little too much.
If you're eligible for NFCU, you should also be eligible for USAA. Which is just like Navy Federal except that (1) you get $15 a month in returned ATM fees, which basically means you can use any ATM; and (2) you can deposit checks from wherever using an iPhone app. How cool is that? You do have to have a credit card with them as well as some form of insurance to do that though.
USAA is the best bank I've ever used. You can deposit checks using a scanner or as John pointed out, an iPhone app. Fees are really low (or non-existent)... not sure I've even paid a fee with them but I don't ever overdraw my account.
I didn't choose a big national bank. They chose me by buying my former bank, which of course is part of how we all got into this mess. Now I'm looking at other options, because I don't like the practices big banks have been implementing. But how do I know my next bank won't be acquired as soon as the economy picks up?
Use a credit union if you can. If nothing else, if they try and merge, you'll get the chance to vote to approve it or not. At least that's the way it worked with my FCU. The members voted against it.
Me too. When I moved to CT 15 years ago, I opened an account at a bank called Shawmut that a few years later became FleetBank, that then became Bank of America.
The truth is that I don't actually have any complaints about BofA, their service in my case has been excellent, but then I am not the average kind of customer either, and I can see why some people would see an advantage in a different kind of institution.
I started out using a nice small community bank that I really liked. If I remember the order correctly it was acquired by Seafirst, which was acquired by Washington Mutual, which was "acquired" by Chase. I'd like to get back to a community bank but haven't for a couple of reasons.
1) I don't really have a good sense on what are the good community banks, and shopping for a bank doesn't seem nearly as straightforward as other things.
2) Chase has ATMs all over the place, and I really hate paying ATM fees.
3) The big one, inertia.
I think I'll finally get over this last hurdle and find another bank this year. Chase has just enough annoying types of policies to push me over the edge. Any tips on how to shop for a good bank? Something that would reimburse ATM fees would be nice...
Seafirst was a BoA property for years, not WaMu
Must have misremembered who took out my original bank, I thought it had been Seafirst, but must have been someone else. I think I was only with them a few months before WaMu took them out.
Regardless, I just got my motivation to get off my arse and find a new bank. This morning I found out that when my account migrated to Chase from WaMu they put me in the "Premier" checking, which has a minimum balance requirement of $16,000. With WaMu I had a minimum balance requirement before, but it was a lot less than that. So Chase has charged me $60 in fees for not having the minimum balance.
Would prohibiting ATM fees solve this problem? I.e., if there are no ATM fees (from your institution or the ATM's), and in an era of direct deposits and online banking, it seems you could just have the Navy account and not need any other account for convenience. I know the industry claims ATM fees are necessary, but I wonder if there's any study that validates that claim or whether it's BS.
Then any ATM machine would only dispense cash to people who were using that Banks ATM cards. Why would they give out cash to people who weren't customers for free?
Prohibiting ATM fees would mean that either banks would be reluctant to let other banks use their ATMs (which would presumably hit small banks worse, since they wouldn't be able to offer reciprocity) and would also mean a lot fewer ATMs, because they wouldn't be profitable.
However, you can get around ATM fees in some cases by using an Internet bank that actually refunds you the ATM fees (including charged by the other bank) so long as you don't use it too often.
Or you can get cash back when you buy something at a supermarket or drug store.
I'm certainly no expert in the finances of it, or if it's perhaps a legal requirement, but in the UK only the little tiny corner store ATMs charge for a withdrawal, regardless of what bank you use. Bank ATMs never charge for a withdrawal, even if you don't have an account with that particular bank, so it would seem that it's possible to make it work.
Oh, and there seem to be plenty of ATMs, at least in a place like Edinburgh. Most bank branches have several outside.
I believe that the banks charge each other for the use of the different ATM networks. I have no idea why these fees are not passed onto customers. There is probably a certain amount of custom about it though. No banks have till now charged this fee. If one were to introduce it the bad press would be deafening.
Also, in the UK there is a tradition of no fee bank accounts that basically make money via low interest rates, penalty fees on un-arranged overdrafts and taking three days to transfer funds between accounts and pocketing the interest from those three days. The last has gone now , the second is under legal threat so the days of free banking may be coming to an end.
Janice,
ATMS are not free. They require serious maintenance and service, not to mention that they are pretty expensive, too. Without fees, it would be impossible for a bank to keep freeriding non-customers from using them, and this actually hurts smaller banks more than larger ones.
The easiest way to deal with fees is to use your bank's ATMs exclusively, and when this isn't possible, make larger withdrawls when necessary.
Who needs a study? They're big, expensive machines. Somebody has to pay for them. Banks will let you use them free if you're a customer, but if you're not, you have to pay somehow, and fee-for-use is the only sensible way.
Same, basically. I opened a BayBank account in 1994 in the Boston area, which then became BankBoston, then Fleet, then Bank of America. And BoA is pretty scuzzy, but I regularly find myself in NC, VA, DC, MD, NY, CT, RI, MA, and NH. So until or unless my husband and I buy a place to live, it pays for me to have bank access up and down the entire eastern seaboard.
In what way are they scuzzy?
They have an extremely dubious customer service reputation, much of it well-earned. And in fact I had some trouble with them last time I had to call them about anything, 2 or 3 years ago. I haven't actually needed any unusual customer service in the last three years so I can ignore that whole aspect of them. But in the next 2-5 years we are probably going to be shopping for car and/or home loans, and I don't think we plan to try BoA.
We opened a joint account at a smaller (regional) bank last year that has just been stellar (up to and including handwritten thank-you notes, personal business cards for actual humans to call, etc) and I may or may not migrate my personal accounts over there.
I got a mortgage via a broker; and ended up writing all my checks to BoA.. Once the mortgage is written who knows where it will end up.
BTW - USAA runs an internet bank. You can interact with them entirely electronically save to deposit cash (And I'm not sure about that). You can deposit checks by scanner (or, most recently, by iPhone camera). They reimburse for ATM charges. Etc...
Megan, I think you can electronically transfer money to/from NFCU and Citi.
True for most people. I have a friend who when he got a job as a quant for BoA, attended a company presentation that, paraphrased, said:
"We make money by paying customers interest at X% while charging the much higher Y% on loans. We also pay lower interest than many competitors. How do we stay in business? We've found that the number one reason customers choose a bank is that they choose the bank with the branch located closest to them at the time. We have more branches in more places."
To be fair, it does cost them money to operate those branches compared to an Internet-only bank.
The real question is, why would you leave? Near as I can figure there are two reasons cited.
a) People don't like the big banks because of the bailout stuff.
This doesn't make sense to me. In my experience people refuse to do business with a company because they don't like the way their own relationship is being handled. They generally don't care what else the company does. Wasn't there a flurry of posts a while back about the silliness and ineffectiveness of the Whole Foods boycott (an boycotts in general)? Same thing applies. As long as a bank treats me fine I don't really care about whether they got bailed out.
b)Small banks treat people better.
I'm not sure this is true. I've banked small and large. I used to just do small, for this very reason. But as I've been exposed to more big banks I can't say that they are uniformly worse. There are good banks and bad banks, size is a secondary metric.
I had a bad experience at Chase 10 years ago and left. They recently took over my bank. I was ready to close my account but so far they have been really, really attentive and helpful. Maybe big banks have gotten better over the past decade?
(Note: I've never taken out a mortgage or a car loan or any other big loan. So I have no idea how things might be on that end.)
I have some anecdotal support for (b) -- observed very impressive incompetence of CapitalOne personnel faced with an incoming international wire. Unfortunately my banking needs in a major bank and CU are not identical so I can't make an apple-to-apple comparison but overall the customer service in the CU I deal with is beyond reproach.
My own anecdote is the opposite. I traveled to Germany back in 2002, and attempted to wire some money from my local rinky-dink bank in northwest PA to the DB account I'd opened in Germany. I believe it was the first time anybody in the entire branch had ever seen or heard of an international wire transfer. It was an hour before we got it sorted out that yes, this sort of thing was possible, and yes, the bank could do it.
Credit Unions offer much better loan rates in general. This is because their membership is (mostly) limited to people who hold down decent jobs.
Credit Unions offer much better loan rates
I would say, much better consistent loan rates. Often possible to find a better one in the specific case, but the baseline rates are good. And nothing like showing up at the car dealer with a check in hand -- he's welcome to beat the rate if he can.
Sure. That's why I said the "in general" that you left off the end of my sentence when quoting it. ;)
Depends on the loan. I found I got a great deal on an auto loan from my credit union, but when I asked them about a mortgage, they were both considerably higher than other places and only offered 30 year, 20% down, fixed rate loans. Which may be why they didn't need a bailout.
That means that every time I want to make a deposit, I have to drive out to Virginia
Oops... looks like your FCU does not participate in CU service center network. I wonder why. Myself, I am banking in Digital FCU (among other places) and depositing a check requires driving all of two blocks to the nearest service center... not to mention they support [free] direct debit, accessible online.
Just carry a cash-stuffed mattress everywhere.
5 years ago there WEREN'T ANY national banks. I know because I moved from Colorado to Virginia and the number of consumer banks with operations in both states was zero. What changed?
Also if you bank at a credit union you can use ANY credit union ATM for free, so there's little reason to ever step inside an actual bank anymore.
That latter point depends on the credit union - my credit union belongs to a network called Allpoint, so I can use Allpoint ATM's for free - which includes 7-11, Rite Aid, Target, and a bunch of other places. But if I use a credit union ATM that isn't Allpoint, I pay.
I'd recommend signing up for Fidelity's online bank. You can just mail in deposits, which is pretty easy. They reimburse ATM fees. And there's no nickel and diming, and if you overdraft they just shift funds from your money market or other accounts to cover the difference, and don't charge a fee.
It's crazy that anyone uses the big commercial banks. I had an abysmal experience with Suntrust where they kept nickel and diming me for the most ridiculous things. I'm so much happier now that Suntrust is history.
Charles Schwab's is basically the same thing. The only real difference, IIRC, is that the Fidelity credit card (with 2% cash back deposited into your brokerage account) is an AmEx, the identical Schwab card is a Visa.
Megan, if you are in a position to answer: Why are you depositing "a bunch of cash" every few months? Do you or Peter do jobs that pay in cash, or are you gamblers?
Assuming you don't need to deposit cash, netbanking is getting better and better. I use USAA, which (1) refunds my ATM fees at other banks' ATMs; (2) lets me use my office scanner to deposit checks electronically.
I also have an account at a national bank (they have my HELOC, and it's convienient to take the free checking), and I've used it a few times when I needed a cashier's check that day, but that's about it.
Well, not cash, checks. But there are a lot of them for small amounts, because we freelance.
Thanks to USAA and a multifunction printer, I scan all my checks and deposit them on-line. It's awesome.
Unless Megan's got a period of military service that she hasn't mentioned in the eight years I've been reading, she won't be able to bank with USAA.
But, taking what I assume is your larger point, are there civilian-oriented companies that offer this service?
Unless Megan's got a period of military service that she hasn't mentioned in the eight years I've been reading, she won't be able to bank with USAA.
She can get in if her father (say) is a member. I'm a USAA member, which I got from my father (no service) which he got from his father (Lt. Lyman, USN).
sounds like a commendation of the canadian retail banking model
Sure, as long as you don't like getting any interest on a savings account.
I love my credit union. They beat the big banks' loan rates for my mortgage and car loan; on-line banking is very easy with them; and every time I've had to deal with a real person, they've been very helpful and friendly. I would never go back to a regular bank.
I've used a credit union for about 15 years (even when the nearest branch was about 30 minutes away), and have been very pleased with them. They had online banking in '98 (which made their distance much easier to deal with), have good rates (not great), and have never charged me a surprise fee.
And that's why I stay with them. I know what to expect from them.
Studies certainly confirm that location is the number one determinant of bank choice for new customers. In fact, while share of dollars banked through the branch network has dropped by almost 50% in the past 5 years, the share of new customer acquisition remains close to 80%[1].
At the same time, the branch network remains the largest non-interest cost of retail banking operations. In effect, this spend is marketing spend. A good anecdote that supports this is the introduction of the Check 21 Act in 2003. Prior to '03 banks had to physically transmit checks between branches before settlement could occur. Banks loved this arrangement as it allowed them to collect up to 7 days of float. Check 21 brought banking into the 21st century (or as Felix Salmon put it, was the equivalent of upgrading from DOS to Win 3.1 - lipstick on a pig). Anyway, this legislation now gave banks the ability to send checks electronically and also allowed banks to receive digital scans of checks from customers.
It was this act that enabled banks to accept check deposits at ATMs and allows for forward thinking banks like USAA to receive check deposts from their iPhone application. The technology for remote deposit has existed since '03 but still is not widely offered to retail customers.
The reason for this is that banks _need_ customers to walk into branches. Ninety percent of all branch transactions are check deposits. Banks need warm bodies to walk into branches and see marketing material and to have tellers offer up-sell opportunities. Without customers walking into branches, banks lose their #1 marketing channel.
So while location is a perceived necessity, it is really the banks who are clinging to their outmoded sales channel - forcing customers to walk into banks to deposit paper checks.
Walk around Manhattan and you'll see plenty of empty branches. Almost as many as Starbucks. People joke about Starbucks having stores right across the road from eachother, but the reality is that when rushing to work, a coffee drinker isn't willing to cross the street to get their coffee. Likewise with banking. Despite the fact that people increasingly rarely visit branches, people don't want to make the effort to cross the street to visit Citi when they can stay on their side of the street and open an account at Chase. Brand apathy is rampant and for large banks people don't see the benefit from shopping around as the products and service levels are basically the same. That said, unlike a $5 cup of coffee, your typical Manhattan customer is worth north of $500 each year to a bank in revenues.
These revenues do _not_ come from net interest margin (the difference between lending & savings rates). In the rest of the world net interest margin is the largest source of revenue in retail banking. In America nearly 60% of revenue comes from fees & charges. People do not realize how much they could save if they crossed the street because they don't realize how much they are worth to banks.
This will change. I'm working on it.
[1] You really expect me to footnote a blog comment. Sheesh :)
... young urban professionals ...
Sorry to break it to you but part of that phrase is becoming inoperative. At 35 or so you are steaming inexorably into the sea of middle age. That "40 is the new 30" or "60 is the new 40" bullshit is only for us baby boomers.
Ouch! You're cruel. I think Gen X-ers count as young until the Baby Boomers die. So long as you Boom Geezers are Peter-Panning around, we are still young!
Close enough. I just turned 60. One of my contemporaries was talking about that being middle aged. Well, yes if you plan on living to 120. So I guess until boomers admit to being old (90 is the new 60?)then Xers can't have reached middle age.
On the other hand, you're only a professional at 25 if you started to work in your profession at 15.
Megan,
NFCU used to have bank by mail, which I used for years and years before direct deposit arrived. Perhaps they still do. That won't do for cash, so you might still have to make a trip or two.
A friend who had a business banked in a local branch, and the employees decided to unionize and strike. Banks are not unionized generally in Canada, so the branch was picketed for months.
He banked my mail, sending deposits. He found he liked it better than going in person.
Derek
I have banked with USAA Federal Savings Bank out of San Antonio since 1985. I have never been in to a physical location. I used to do all my banking by mail but more recently shifted to a scan and deposit method through their website. I was with NFCU too but dumped them completely for USAA in the late eighties.
Why Don't Customers Leave Big Banks?
I am, in fact, leaving my big bank (Bank of America) precisely because they took my tax dollars.
The way I'm doing it is the smart way, however ... slowly removing my savings, withdrawing my CDs one at a time as they come due and investing them elsewhere, etc.
I've significantly reduced my business with them. I've kept my checking there because it's more of a hassle to move all of my online banking information, but I've made it my task to eliminate as much of my capital from their clutches as possible (well into five figures) to punish the bank.
I figure at the typical commercial bank 10-1 ratio, I've cost the bank interest on well over half a million dollars so far.
It's a drop in the bucket, but it's my drop.
@Megan,
Look into banking with USAA federal Savings Bank in San Antonio, Texas. USAA has been our primary bank for more than 15 years. They pay the ATM fees charged by other banks, pay interest on our checking account balance (at a near zero-yet-still-higher-than-money-market-account rate), and charge no fees. Even when I worked for a major bank, USAA's account was a better than the account my employer offered its employees. Car loan and home mortgage applications have been handled efficiently over the internet. (We've always gotten better mortgage rates somewhere else. USAA's car loan rates are very competitive, unless the manufacturer
is offering an incentive.)
The only downside was the need to mail deposits to Texas. Recently USAA introduced their "deposit at home" service, which allows you to scan checks and deposit them directly into your account from your home computer. So, with the exception of needing to deposit cash (which shouldn't be mailed), USAA has been a wonderful bank to work with -- even though we've never been inside a branch.
I second the recommendation for USAA. I too have never been to a branch, but have done everything by mail or Internet for about 15 years.
USAA is great by all the accounts I've heard, but eligibility to use it is limited to members of the military, its retirees, relatively recent veterans, and some immediate family members.
(Not that there's anything at all wrong with an organization choosing to provide a benefit to veterans. But it does mean that most readers will have to look elsewhere for banking services. Those who are eligible, from all I've heard, should certainly look into them, for insurance as well as banking.)
USAA is open to everyone.
They changed their charter about 25 years ago and no longer are restricted to service people. They like to keep their brand aligned with the military so that their customers feel like they are getting a special deal.
I have absolutely no military background. I'm an Australian living in New York, and I have a USAA account. Sure, during the sign up process there is a page full of questions about my military background - I answered 'no' to every question and they still let me open an account.
I believe there's a difference between USAA's bank and car insurance businesses. I believe the bank has always been available to anyone. I believe you still need some current or former tie to the military to buy their car insurance.
I've been using the same internet bank since 2000, during which time I have bought three houses and moved my crap more than 6,000 miles. My ATM card has expired and I haven't gotten a new one because I need to send them the change of address form. This has turned out to be far less hassle than you might think, which is why I haven't sent the form.
I have a "big national bank" account with almost no money in it, because it makes it easier to get things like cashier's checks on occasion, and because you can move money there for free to get free withdrawals. I suppose I could also deposit cash there if I ever got any cash. And I have a BECU account with $5 in it because my mortgage is through them.
No reason to actually do meaningful business with a "big" bank unless you want to.
I couldn't understand the point to the readers horror story that Sullivan posted. So the hapless reader was denied a loan by BofA, went elsewhere and got one - only to have it sold to BofA?
Who the hell cares who ends up with your loan?
The terms stay the same.
The terms stay the same.
Perhaps, but the customer service does not stay the same; neither do escrow requirements, etc.
But whatever ... I hope they sell my loan three or four more times. Eventually, they'll lose the promissory note and I can stop paying on the loan and get a free house.
Escrow requirements?
I second the comment about Schwab as an Internet bank. Good interest rates, good customer service, and I can use any ATM in the country. Pretty close to perfect.
"I'm paying for convenience. But frankly, it's worth it."
The signature feature of our generation is that we consistently sacrifice quality for convenience. Land lines are vastly superior to cell phones, but we have chosen en masse to accept the dropped calls and spotty reception for the convenience of mobility. Home stereo systems are superior to Ipods, but we accept the docking station as a preferred alternative. Local banks kill the majors in service and fee structure, but we want an ATM in ever supermarket. . ..
You say that like it's a bad thing.
I do all my banking at a discreet private bank, my personal assistant has never been inside one of their branches, though when working on a merchant ship to earn extra money during his unpaid vacation I believe he sailed past the Panama branch while traversing the Canal.
Even a small private bank can help set up a few SA's or PLCs when necessary, though they may need their correspondent bank to help with a GMBH or anything in Paraguay or such places. Really, I don't understand the compulsion to do business with those nasty too big to fail multinationals and money centre banks.
And thanks to your commentariat for the internet banking suggestions, I will get my blogging assistant to log me in and sign me up.
When they closed my branch 15 years ago, I went telephone/online. My bank is a subsidiary of one of the world's biggest, but it does not work the cumbersome way big banks do. Cheques I discourage. It is cheaper and quicker for almost everyone - especially for those who draw up the cheques - to use electronic transfer. Any I receive can be banked by mail or fax. Location does not matter. I work the account from a different country now.
Beats me why anyone works any other way.
On convenience:
Time is money.
I don’t have a credit card and do not intend to obtain one. I do not own a vehicle and thus do not need auto insurance, which leaves out USAA. I am fortunate in that I live in the downtown of a large city where I can bus most places. On the occasion when a bus will not work I taxi. I am saving a bunch every month by not owning an automobile. On principle alone I would not bank someplace that required I buy some product of theirs to be able to bank there.
I have a debit card from Bank of America. I like the idea that anywhere in the US I am I can get cash from an ATM. I prefer to use cash for most transactions. No, I am not a drug dealer. It is true that I do not often actually NEED cash but sometimes I DO need it very much and I want it to be convenient to get. That requirement eliminates my credit union.
This has been my method for years and it fits me well.
Yancey Ward: “ATMS are not free. They require serious maintenance and service, not to mention that they are pretty expensive, too.”
But are ATMs more expensive than the salary and benefits paid to the tellers that would have to be employed if the ATMs suddenly disappeared? I wonder …
But those tellers would only be servicing the bank's customers (which ATM's don't charge for), not providing service to customers of other banks, which ATM's do charge for.
Megan, I'm amazed by your comment. I and zillions of others stopped using a local bank years and years ago and went completely online. A bank branch today is a building that has a computer screen attached to the corporate banking system (that you can access over the web without ever visiting the branch). These online banks don't have the branch overhead and pay higher interest rates and generally have lower costs. You mail deposits to the bank. Their cash cards work for free anywhere. Top of my list is Schwab. But the online ETrade Bank is also excellent (though its something of a tarp baby) and there are many others. True convenience is online.
I'm sort of in the old fashioned mode...I almost always bank on line, but I still prefer a small bank where, if a problem arises, I can go in and pound on the desk of someone who can actually do something. Evan with a large bank like B of A I find that an branch manager can easily fix errors that seem beyond the realm of possibility for the on-line customer service types. And there are some things that you can't do on line...like getting a Medallion signature guarantee.
I agree with grackle above...ATMs were originally sold as a way for the bank to reduce cost, but have become a profit center. Considering that interest rate spreads seem greater than years ago I resent the emphasis on ever new creative fees.
Perhaps if credit were not extended to the extremely uncreditworthy they wouldn't need to squeeze so much from the rest of us.
Citibank is not all over the country, only the Northeast, DC, Florida, Texas, and California.
BOA gives credit cards to illegal aliens, falsely arrested Matthew Shinnick when he was trying to PREVENT fraud, and took TARP money. Lately they're insisting on thumbprint security measures even from a customer who has no arms. They are a giant stinking piece of crap. I had a credit card with them and I shut that mutha down.
Wow. I'd never heard of Matthew Shinnick before. What a horror story. Thanks, kentuckyliz, for mentioning him.
It sounds like I did what a lot of people did and pulled out of BoA to a much smaller regional bank. Supposedly there were two separate bank runs on WaMu last year (to where cash withdrawals were up to 250M a day at one point).
Since this all began, I've been nervous about BoA. I'm terribly curious what/how many people have pulled out (and how much.)
What I wonder is why Megan doesn't just simply deposit everything at her local Citibank Branch, and just transfers the money to NFCU?
And why not ask your customers to transfer payments directly to your bank account, in stead of accepting checks? Personally I haven't seen a check in decades, but that might have something to do with the side of the Atlantic I live on...
It does. As I understand it, banks in Europe make it much easier for third parties to make deposits into one's bank account than those in the US do. Direct deposit from one's primary employer is common, but it requires a separate arrangement with each party, so it's probably not practical for paying freelancers who may only be receiving one or two payments.
What's actually keeping American banks from making bank transfers as trivial as they appear to be in Europe?
http://econtalk.org/
this week's podcast has an interesting discussion on competition between banks.
I've never understood why people care so much about their bank location. I can count on one hand the number of times I've needed to physically visit my bank in the last ten years.