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In need of banking advice

Ok, Im in need of a new bank... and Ive been looking at Washington Mutual (the favorite) and Bank of America - Im not a huge fan of Commerce.

I like BoA because they have a Student Credit Card (I need to build credit), but I like Washington Mutual's checking better.

Another question, if I go with WaMu... what credit card should I get to start building good credit? Im thinking Capital One, but I know nothing about credit cards.

I use WaMu now...and I like it a lot. If you got any questions pm me.

my bf uses Wamu and he hates it - they fucked him over with a lot of hidden fees. i heard bank of america is pretty good.

BoA is good, but I dont want to have to pay for a checking account, on top of that... you need to keep a certain amount in your account.

I'm also looking for an account to store my leftover summer salary. I definitely need an account with no fees. I'm not expecting to use it except maybe once in a few months or so, and probably maintaining a decent balance. Oh, and online baking is almost a must.
Actually I don't even have a social security number at the moment, so opening a savings account is going to be difficult, if not impossible?
All suggestions and comments are welcome - and sorry Vlad for borrowing your excellent thread :)

Without a social security number, I dont think you would be able to open up a bank account at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Vlad BoA is good, but I dont want to have to pay for a checking account, on top of that... you need to keep a certain amount in your account.

Actually that is not true.....I have BoA and they are Excellent, have had them for 5 years now, absolutely no problems at ALL....I dont have to keep a limit in my account and i do not have a monthly fee.....I have the My Access Checking account, BUT they also have wonderful student accounts, just go into one of their MANY branches (in nyc) and have a talk with one of their Bank associates. That was one thing i loved when i was in nyc, there is a BoA on EVERY corner.

I have direct deposit from my job into my account SO i think that is why i do not have a monthly fee BUT look into it....and if anything just do direct deposit

good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by niinah .........Actually I don't even have a social security number at the moment, so opening a savings account is going to be difficult, if not impossible? All suggestions and comments are welcome - and sorry Vlad for borrowing your excellent thread

And you CAN actually open up a savings account even if you do not have a SSN....i went with a coworker to Chevy Chase and she opened an account for her brother whom does not have a SSN, there is a form they gave her to have him fill out n sign....so look into it...i'm not sure how other banks do it but you should be ok

Good luck to you too

quote:

Originally posted by Vlad Without a social security number, I dont think you would be able to open up a bank account at all.

You could use a false one...well try heh

credit use AMEX BLUE

checking use anything local/no fee/no min
(i use astoria federal)

savings use ING Direct (online banking)
that's it


oh yea on behalf of melissa i have to thank her for
401k and Roth IRA =) you should put some money in there too

dont worry, just go to a social security office and apply for one. obviously, u wont be able to use it to work but it will be ok to use to open bank accounts, cell phone accounts, etc.

now, i have wamu and its alright i have a checking account there, they're all basically the same though, so wherever u go ure fine.

as for cc, thats where i must certainly recommend student blue card by american express, its a great card and u get to build your credit as a student which is what im doing right now.

i think it's a great idea to build a good credit using the university's loan system if you plan to pay everything on time and the loans are under your name. the uni. reports your credit to the credit bureau of the state of ny every year or so and if your credit is positive it will show of course, so basically u can start building your credit once u're a freshman in uni. so thats what i've been doing and right now i have amex, boa, wamu and a foreign cc from the best bank from panama.

good luck and don't fuck up your credit.

ok so...

hsbc savings and checking
amex blue for credit card

i hear capital one CCs aren't so good? possibly fees?

quote:

Originally posted by trunks1022 ok so... hsbc savings and checking amex blue for credit card i hear capital one CCs aren't so good? possibly fees?

I have a Capital One card and I've never had a problem with fees. Also, it's my lowest interest rate card, 8.9% purchase and 9.9% balance transfer (for the life of the balance)

quote:

Originally posted by kid nyce savings use ING Direct (online banking)

ING is great right now. They have 3.15% Annual Percentage Yield on an FDIC-insured savings account which is the highest out there i think.

Also, starting a good Roth IRA or 401k like stated earlier. So you can tax defer some of your earnings and have something when you retire.

Why don't you like Commerce Bank Vlad? Ive been using them for a few months now and they are awesome. They are open 7 days a week, they refund me my atm charges when I use other atms, I don't have to keep any limit in my checking account, they offer free checking, hot chicks work there, and they gave me my first set of checks for free. My only gripe with they is it took three business days for money to clear after I deposited it into an atm after business hours.....big deal.

For banking in the US I chose HSBC, they also dont charge you when you are abroad and use their ATMs or other ATMs.

quote:

Originally posted by InterMilan31 For banking in the US I chose HSBC, they also dont charge you when you are abroad and use their ATMs or other ATMs.

+1. i use hsbc, mainly b/c of this reason. i have checking and savings with them and there are no fees for a basic checking account. you cant write more than 8 checks per month. which is fine b/c i pay most bills online anyway and i dont have more than 8 bills anyway...

for credit cards i use mnba (which i hate and never use) and chase platinum. you can get a student credit card pretty easy, with not much of a limit (like $500). what i did was fill out one of those pamphlets that i got from my school bookstore, and a month or so later i had a credit card (with a $500 limit lol). as long as you are good with paying it off they will soon increase your limit.

quote:

Originally posted by InterMilan31 For banking in the US I chose HSBC, they also dont charge you when you are abroad and use their ATMs or other ATMs.

i only dont get charged when i use their ATMs, what other ATMs dont they charge?

quote:

Originally posted by nix0807 ING is great right now. They have 3.15% Annual Percentage Yield on an FDIC-insured savings account which is the highest out there i think. Also, starting a good Roth IRA or 401k like stated earlier. So you can tax defer some of your earnings and have something when you retire.

EmigrantDirect.com is 3.50% right now

quote:

Originally posted by klingklang77 +1. i use hsbc, mainly b/c of this reason. i have checking and savings with them and there are no fees for a basic checking account. you cant write more than 8 checks per month. which is fine b/c i pay most bills online anyway and i dont have more than 8 bills anyway... for credit cards i use mnba (which i hate and never use) and chase platinum. you can get a student credit card pretty easy, with not much of a limit (like $500). what i did was fill out one of those pamphlets that i got from my school bookstore, and a month or so later i had a credit card (with a $500 limit lol). as long as you are good with paying it off they will soon increase your limit.

Yeah, MBNA sucks, I've had them since early on in college. They keep increasing my credit limit every 6 months, with the last one increasing it 5K, but after I got a decent sized balance in college, followed by 8 months unemployment followng college, they started upping my interest rate even though it was supposed to be a fixed rate. I wish my other cards would increase my limit like that so that i could balance transfer and get rid of my MBNA card. Oh well, I've been paying it off quite a bit lately, so hopefully I'll be rid of it in a year.

quote:

Originally posted by klingklang77 i only dont get charged when i use their ATMs, what other ATMs dont they charge?

yeah true... i like that HSBC is all over the place, they were great when i was over in HK. at the ATMs, i got t he money at pretty much the exchange rate (about 1 USD = 7.79 HKD in early july). and i didn't get an ATM surcharge

i already paid off my mbna visa... i only keep it around cuz it's a platinum penn visa... otherwise the APR of 24% + no rewards = pointless

quote:

Originally posted by trunks1022 i already paid off my mbna visa... i only keep it around cuz it's a platinum penn visa... otherwise the APR of 24% + no rewards = pointless

God, and i thought my increased rate was bad

quote:

Originally posted by klingklang77 i only dont get charged when i use their ATMs, what other ATMs dont they charge?

I know in England it works that way for me. I had an HSBC USA account lived in England for 7 months took out money there on HSBC, Barclays, RBS etc for no charge it said they would add fee but when you look at your statement no fee is added. I did all the math!(for once and i double checked and used a calculator cuz well u know im retarted)

In Italy, Switzerland, and Spain it has been the same for all their ATMs.

quote:

Originally posted by InterMilan31 I know in England it works that way for me. I had an HSBC USA account lived in England for 7 months took out money there on HSBC, Barclays, RBS etc for no charge it said they would add fee but when you look at your statement no fee is added. I did all the math!(for once and i double checked and used a calculator cuz well u know im retarted) In Italy, Switzerland, and Spain it has been the same for all their ATMs.

maybe it depends on the banking laws by country? maybe there's no ATM fees allowed in the UK?

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