A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
~Mark Twain
Choosing the Right Bank
Once you begin making a steady income, you realize the importance of belonging to a bank that you can trust your money with. While choosing the right bank is not as difficult as finding your dream home, you can look at this process as finding a dream home for your cash! While on this wild hunt, be sure to ask yourself the following questions:
1) Do you make frequent visits to the ATM and/or do you travel a lot?
If you are someone that travels a lot for work or makes frequent and unexpected visits to the ATM, you might want to consider joining an Online Bank - or at least one that doesn’t charge ATM fees. Some of these banks include E*Trade, ING Direct, and Charles Schwab.
When I started my first job out of college, I was travelling all over the country on a weekly basis and trying to find a Bank of America ATM machine was literally impossible in some states. Why they even call it “Bank of America” is beyond me! I never felt comfortable travelling with a load of Benjamin’s so my ATM visits were frequent - and costly. It was then that I decided to switch over to an E*Trade Max-Rate Checking account. I love E*Trade because they reimburse me at every ATM that I visit - even the sketchy gas station and casino ATM’s that charge an arm and a leg.
2) Does this annoy you?
“Please press 1 for English. Please press 2 for Spanish. Please press 1 for a transaction or say ‘transaction.’ Please hold 45 minutes”
While Internet Banks are perfect for the web-savvy user, they lack the customer service that brick-and-mortar banks (such as; Bank of America , Citizens Bank, Wells Fargo) and small credit unions offer. When you have the accessibility to a local bank branch, you can get the face to face support that you need.
However, if you belong to an online bank, you are gambling with the 1-800 customer service centers…whether you get a person that barely speaks any English or a friendly and knowledgeable representative is all in the luck of the draw.
3) Do you plan on building up a large cash reserve in your savings?
If you are opening up a Savings Account to store away some serious cash, then try and find a bank that gives you the most bang for your buck. The key to this is finding a high yield savings account that offers high interest rates to customers. Once again, Online Banks excel in this area. One of my favorite bloggers, J.D. of Get Rich Slowly lists his top picks: Which Online High-Yield Savings Account is Best?
There are many more questions that you can ask yourself when finding a bank that fits you best. Each person is different and has different financial needs. But as long as you do your research beforehand, you will be able to find a bank that keeps the umbrella over your head…most of the time.
photo credit: auggie tolosa
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