Recommend a bank for a personal account

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beanerNew Member
Topic author
Posts: 3
Joined: 3 Feb 2009

Recommend a bank for a personal account

Post Sun Aug 29, 2010 10:04 pm

Anyone have a recommendation on what bank to use simply for personal accounts?
I'm moving the the LA area and there are so many banks to choose from, I just wonder if anyone has a recommendation of one over the others.
Accessibility is key, as are low fees.
Any help is really appreciated.
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MC

Re: Recommend a bank for a personal account

Post Sun Aug 29, 2010 10:47 pm

Bank of America is very good and they have a large network of ABM's across the U.S. There are minimum deposit amounts required to avoid service charges. When the dust does finally settle, there will most likely be fewer banks due to bankruptcies (Washington Mutual, and Country Wide Credit are good examples) and acquisitions from other big players will likely reduce the overall playing field.
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eddycurrentsCanuckAbroad Regular
Posts: 48
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Joined: 18 Jun 2007

Re: Recommend a bank for a personal account

Post Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:14 pm

Is there a reason you are looking at brick-and-mortar banks?

I have been using online banking since moving to the US 8 years ago. I use TD Waterhouse Bank for chequing, but that was because I had a TD Canada Trust account and so I was able to get an account with TD Waterhouse with just my SIN ... and that was because it took me 6 months to get my SSN (long and painful story).

Now that I think of it -- TD Waterhouse Bank renamed itself or was spun off or something. Or maybe that is the new name. I can check my statements when I get home if you are interested.

I also opened up an ING account that I use for savings and mortgage. Their mortgage rates were far, far better than anything I found at a brick-and-mortar bank and their closing fees were relatively low, like $500. I would use them for chequing as well except they don't issue "normal" cheques, only electronic ones.
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beanerNew Member
Topic author
Posts: 3
Joined: 3 Feb 2009

Re: Recommend a bank for a personal account

Post Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:28 pm

Thanks for that.
I do bank with TD Canada Trust in Canada, but unfortunately they aren't on the west coast of the US... yet. They seem to be making their way down the east coast and south - my bank's manager said that they do plan to expand further but it's not an option for me out here in LA yet. A great choice for those in NYC or their other centres though!
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