Banks in the US

minaeire

Folks
I am moving to US in the new year and was wondering what are the best banks to use with regards to the below.
(I do understand all banks are robbers)

• Zero banking fees.
• Saving Interest rates
• Credit cards APR
• On line banking availabilty

spideog7

minaeire wrote: »

Folks
I am moving to US in the new year and was wondering what are the balsobanks to use with regards to the below.
(I do understand all banks are robbers)

• Zero banking fees.
• Saving Interest rates
• Credit cards APR
• On line banking availabilty

It will depend on where you are moving too, banks tend to be quite regional and many charge for ATM use if it's not their ATM, so you'll want a bank with branches and ATMs locally.

Almost all savings interest rates are terrible here at the moment, all less than 1%.

You can get credit cards through any of the major credit card companies directly also (Amex, Chase etc.) You don't need to go through your bank for them. Also you should never carry a balance on a credit card if you can avoid it, so the APR doesn't really matter if you never have to pay it ;-)

minaeire

spideog7 wrote: »

It will depend on where you are moving too, banks tend to be quite regional and many charge for ATM use if it's not their ATM, so you'll want a bank with branches and ATMs locally.

Almost all savings interest rates are terrible here at the moment, all less than 1%.

You can get credit cards through any of the major credit card companies directly also (Amex, Chase etc.) You don't need to go through your bank for them. Also you should never carry a balance on a credit card if you can avoid it, so the APR doesn't really matter if you never have to pay it ;-)

It will be in the southern side of the US. South Carolina, Georgia
do you know if there are any charges on transactions with debit cards with these banks, or if you move money between accounts like Bank Of Ireland.

Just wondering if any of the bigger brands banks charge for these transations?

ProudDUB

It will be hard to find a bank that will not charge you any kind of fees. If you maintain a high daily balance in your checking account, you will often not be charged the usual account services and transaction fees. But you would be looking at always having to have a daily balance in the thousands of dollars for you to qualify for "free" banking.

Small local banks that only operate in one state or city, often offer low or no fees to attract people away from the big nationwide mega banks, such as Chase, or Bank of America. But the flip sides of doing your banking with them is that they generally have fewer branches dotted around the place, so it can make conducting your business tricky and inconvenient. They work well for some people, but not others.

Interest rates for cash savings accounts are pitifully low. Agree with spideog7, you'd be hard pressed to find anything over 1%. You'd be better advised to put your savings in something else T bills, govt bonds and the like.

US banks generally do charge for international transactions, or to transfer money between your Irish and American bank accounts. However, just like regular banking fees, the kind of account that you have with them and the balance that you maintain with them, can affect whether or not you are charged these fees. Wells Fargo used to charge me about $20 every time I transferred money back and forth to AIB. When I switched my account over to a Gold Saver account, I got international transfer services (and other services) for free. I just had to save more with them each month. So there is no black and white answer. It all depends on what level of banking you do with them.

CompositeJohn

I found it was best to open an account with one of the Majors (I chose Bank of America as it was near work) and a local Credit Union (make sure it is one which is part of a nationwide CU ATM network). I find this combo works well when I am travelling as I then have a choice of BoA or a CU network ATM without getting charged. Credit Unions are also a little easier to work with on loans etc which helps until you get your credit score up and running properly. All Banks and Credit Unions will have online accessibility.

I agree with whats been said about savings interest rates....better put you money into something else if you want it to work for you.

Again I agree with what was said about Credit Card APR...pay your balance off. But if you don't do that, be sure to make the minimum payments, that is the best piece of advice I could make to anyone in the US. Credit Score rules all else so keep that clean once you get it up and running.

As for actual cards, remember you wont have a credit score coming over and no credit score is worse than a bad score!! Capital one offer a card to newcomers, it will have low limits on it to start ($500), quite a shock from what I was used to back home. Another option would be open a secured card if you cant get the capital one card. Use it, post a balance of 10-20% each month on you statement and pay it off in full without fail, after a year or so when you start to get the card offers in the post, you will know you have made it!!

Getting a line of credit such as a credit card asap is paramount to getting your credit score up and running.

Any other questions just ask!

John