banking

[ben]

Here's a question for those who have been there - where is the best place to bank? I'm with Wells Fargo now but have not been really satisfied with their service. The ATM's are great because they're everywhere in my town, but that's pretty much the only good point about them. They offer a special "military account," but I don't see much difference between that one and the free student checking account I have right now.

What have your experiences been? Who is the easiest to deal with? Are there any difficulties with managing your money while deployed? What about loan rates and credit cards? Internet banking?

I'm thinking about USAA or maybe NFCU. Staying with Wells Fargo would take some major convincing. I don't have all of the information I need yet and I wanted to get some feedback from other people before I do anything. Thanks in advance.

 

[NFOwife]

I would say go with USAA. My husband has been with USAA for almost 10 years and we have never been less than 100% happy with them. We do almost everything through them- bank,credit cards, car insurance, home insurance, mortgage and some investments as well. They are always available to speak with us, always friendly, have competetive rates, and are just top notch in customer service. I love that I can use ATM's anywhere with NO FEES (they refund any charges). The ONLY downside I have ever encountered is that there isn't a brick and mortar bank-so you can't cash a check or take out large sums of cash. But otherwise, I love USAA and will continue to bank with them for many years to come!
Also, no hassle of changing banks when relocating to areas with smaller banks. It just works out so well for us!

 

[Enrique]

sounds like a commercial lol . Now you will have $1000 extra in you account because of the message j/k

 

[DevilDucksGirl]

Along with Wells Fargo- Bank of America is nationwide. There are many many banks- and once I married into the Navy- I knew it would be best to go with a bank that was Nationwide.

My husband has NFCU- they are great for loans, etc- but they crazy thing about them- they are NOT located on every Naval base. That was a bit surprising to me. So, that is really inconvenient. But for financing- they have better rates than B of A and WF.

I have to 100% disagree with NFOwife about USAA. My husband has been in the Navy for 8 years and had them for many of those years- and recently dropped them. I am not sure how they are for other things- but as far as auto insurance- they were rude and not willing to cooperate. Their representatives were beligerant, rude and as mentioned before- very uncooperative. I think the major consensus amoung the military is to go with USAA for everything- but because of such bad cutomer service (considering 28 out of 29 years he had a 100% perfect record) we decided to drop them- and have never considered using them for anything.

I know that really deviated from your banking subject- but I think if they are bad with one department- who's to say about the rest? It really shows that bad customer service can make one or many leave a particular business when the one incident had nothing to do with the rest of their services. With that being said- do your research.

Good luck.

Heather

 

[Flash]

I love USAA for their banking and especially for their insurance, the ATM refund is the only one I have ever heard of so far. I have known of only one guy to have a bad experience with them for insurance, but he was an exception. Their investment stuff leaves a little bit to be desired though....

 

[NFOwife]

I agree with the investment info, we have some mutual funds through USAA but do the majority of our investing through another company. However, I have to disagree with DevilDucksGirl about auto insurance. We have had accidents, tickets, etc. and USAA has still been great. In fact, my husband's car was stolen a few years back and we had NO problems getting a rental car during the week it took to recover the car. They were great about repairs and replacing stolen CD's and our premiums were not raised. All of our friends us USAA as well and I have not heard any complaints from any of them. So, I stand by my recommendation!

 

[rare21]

I like USAA also. I dont have their insurance but i plan to soon. I love the no ATM fees and free postage paid envelopes to send deposits in. I really have had no problems with them. I used to be with Bank of America but I'm glad i switched over to USAA. Most people i talk to love their car insurance i've only heard of one problem with a guy that had a classic car and didnt let USAA know then he got in an accident. They dropped him from their insurance.

 

[bch]

USAA without a doubt!

 

[ben]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Any experience with NFCU?

 

[solenita72]

We have NFCU, and have been happy with them, pretty easy to do loans with, good percentage rates. The only thing is that there are not alot of branches, even here in Norfolk, VA.

 

[HrntDrvrsWife]

We have NFCU and didn't have any problems the first year, but in the last few months we have had numerous problems.
My suggestion if you do decide to go with NFCU is to watch your account closely & to reconcile your statement monthly!
We are getting ready to switch to USAA!
We have them for various things, insurance (homeowners, P/A Floater, auto) and also an investment fund. I have to say for the most part we are impressed.
Flash is right about the investments though...they haven't impressed us very much either.
Also, the little clause they snuck

in our renewal homeowner's policy this year about the wind and hail deductible change. Conveniently benefited them this year with Hurricane Isabel landing in the laps of homeowner's on the east coast this past fall.
No notice of change to the policy holder until claims started coming in and people who thought their deductible was $500 was now 2% of the total value of your home. Which for some is now anywhere from $2000+.

But even they relented when they got enough complaints, and eventually waived the increased deductible.
They have a ton of other benefits as well!
It's become our standard proceedure no matter what we are buying or doing, we ask if they offer a USAA discount and 85% of the time the company we are dealing with does!

Haven't come across the rude customer service yet, thank the Lord!

HrntDrvrsWife

 

[airgreg]

Does USAA pay you interest on a checking account?
I like www.EverBank.com and they pay interest on their checking account and refund some ATM charges.

 

[av8tor]

For future reference - always keep 5 bucks in NFCU, their house loans are great. They never sell your loan to another fly by night finance group. Homeowners insurance with USAA can be tricky - if you've made a claim on a homeowners policy and try to switch to them in the next year - fa get tabout it, they won't touch you. And I always thought that was the purpose of insurance.

 

[Daedalus]

I beleive USAA has a 10$ or 10 transaction limit on the ATM refund. I think USAA is great.

 

[Meridiani]

Okay, what's USAA's website?