Door Locked until further notice First Bank and now Credit Union

[WM75Guy]

And many charge you for the privilege of cashing a check, even their own (why would anyone use BoA?), not to mention the ones that charge you for using a teller for any purpose at all.

I make money off BoA, been years since I was in a branch since the closest is 40 miles away. I have used BoA for 40+ years and have never paid a fee for routine banking transactions. Even some transactions that I should have incurred a fee were provided for free. Started with an Advantage account, which required a small monthly minimum balance. Now they have tiers for their reward program with escalating perks based on your monthly balance between all accounts.

Since I use BoA's brokerage firm Merrill Lynch for some brokerage accounts, such as stocks and IRAs, my combined monthly balance gives me no fee banking plus bonus cash back on credit card purchases and free stock trades. My BoA credit card gives 3% cash back on fuel purchases plus another 2.25% rewards bonus cash back, along with 1%-2% on all other purchases. The cash back goes into my checking account I use to pay off the balance each month, so BoA is paying 5.25% of my fuel cost.

 

[MossRoad]

Our credit union has a round-up savings account.
Every time we make a purchase with our debit card, they round-up the amount to the next dollar and transfer the difference from our checking to our savings.

So if I buy something for $10.01, they'll record the transaction as $11 and transfer $.99 to our savings. It doesn't sound like much, but it forces some of your money out of your checking and into your savings. For us, it ends up being about $50 a month moved back into our savings, and, it's a lot easier to balance the checkbook with whole dollars. It's a nice service.

 

[Oaktree]

Our credit union has a round-up savings account.
Every time we make a purchase with our debit card, they round-up the amount to the next dollar and transfer the difference from our checking to our savings.

So if I buy something for $10.01, they'll record the transaction as $11 and transfer $.99 to our savings. It doesn't sound like much, but it forces some of your money out of your checking and into your savings. For us, it ends up being about $50 a month moved back into our savings, and, it's a lot easier to balance the checkbook with whole dollars. It's a nice service.

Interesting arrangement, never heard of that before. Sort of a backdoor interest payment/bribe to use their debit card.

 

[MossRoad]

Interesting arrangement, never heard of that before. Sort of a backdoor interest payment/bribe to use their debit card.

Except it's all my money to begin with. It's a debit card. There is no interest. Plastic check book. There's no financial gain for us. It just puts your own round-up money from your checking into your savings in an attempt to get people to save money.

 

[ultrarunner]

You don't use your local grocery store as a personal refrigerator. You shouldn't use your local bank as a personal piggy bank. It's just that simple. You're wanting free services for no gain for them. Heck, you don't even want them to be able to cover their costs.

What gets me is “Requiring” a savings account to have a checking account?

After 25 years the savings became a requirement... ok and I put $200 in and every month I get a paper statement going on 10 years now with zero transactions.

 

[MossRoad]

That I do not know.

 

[Diggin It]

The CUs I've been reading up on have it as part of the required membership. You 'buy' shares to get in, but they put that in a savings account. Some state the restriction that the amount can't be withdrawn in order to maintain your eligibility. They word it in various ways though, so some people may not understand it.

 

[MossRoad]

Our credit union requires $5 to join and you have to keep at least $5 in your account. When you close your account, you get your $5 back. So it's FREE.

 

[grsthegreat]

my credit union does require at least 1 yearly transaction or the acct will go dormant. i just set an alert to remind me. i only keep the credit union as it has better rates for cd's.

 

[MoKelly]

my credit union does require at least 1 yearly transaction or the acct will go dormant. i just set an alert to remind me. i only keep the credit union as it has better rates for cd's.

Lots of banks around here require that as well - one transaction.

MoKelly