US Bank Account

sleepyescapade

Applying for the 12 month IWT in the next few weeks, have some questions about a US bank account.

Did many of you just open one when you got there and transfer money via online banking? Was there a huge surcharge for that?

Is there any way to open one before you get over?

What's the best bank to go with? I'm going to Seattle.

Thanks

Killer Wench

Unfortunately, you won't qualify for the best bank - USAA - unless you have a parent, uncle, or grandparent who was an American and was a veteran of the military.

Otherwise, I'm a member of Bank of America, but I'm not a fan, so I won't recommend it. I was going to switch over to BECU as many of my friends and co-workers were fans of this credit union.

You can join it once you get to Seattle. I have just heard fantastic things about their level of customer service and compared to BoA, people weren't being screwed over with excessive overdraft fees. You'll have to double check the membership requirements to see if you qualify, otherwise, I would say look at Chase.

http://www.becu.org/join.aspx

bearnabeauty

Just wondering does anyone have any advice on the best bank to join. I am going moving to the States in early September on J1. Are banks similar to Ireland or are they extra charges for lodging/withdrawing money? Is it best to bring cash over an lodge in American bank or what is the best way of transfering money? Thanks

crapmanjoe

bearnabeauty wrote: »

Just wondering does anyone have any advice on the best bank to join. I am going moving to the States in early September on J1. Are banks similar to Ireland or are they extra charges for lodging/withdrawing money? Is it best to bring cash over an lodge in American bank or what is the best way of transfering money? Thanks

Bank of America seem to have the most branches (guess it depends on what city you goto)

Basically if you withdraw cash at an ATM that is not ur bank you pay about 3/4 dollars - you're own bank is free.

It was free to accept a cash transfer from my Irish account but Bank of Ireland charged 5 euro to end the money and some where along the lines JP Morgan took 30 bucks - so if you're moving cash move alot!

lil_lisa

Also, banks can usually have "offers" for people opening accounts, like no fees for a year, or free money to open an account. It's also worth looking at the amount of atms in the area you're travelling to for the bank. You can get charged a nice $2 or $3 for atm transactions at other banks.

Stephen

Wells Fargo gave me free checking (i.e. a current account) once I opened a savings account at the same time as my checking account. I think I had to deposit $100 in the savings account and commit to putting $25/month in it to keep it free.

When I transferred money from Ireland, AIB charged me E15 to send it and Wells Fargo charged me $10 to receive. AIB limits you to 5,000 euros at a time unless you go into a branch to do it, which is kinda hard when you're 5,000 miles away. Good way for them to rack up more fees. I worked around that by transferring all of the money I needed to my mother, and getting her to go to the branch to do the transfer from her account to mine.

I avoid ATM fees by generally not using ATMs at all. I use my debit card to pay for almost everything, and they give cashback for free at most places that accept debit cards anyway.

sleepyescapade

Killer Wench wrote: »

Unfortunately, you won't qualify for the best bank - USAA - unless you have a parent, uncle, or grandparent who was an American and was a veteran of the military.

Otherwise, I'm a member of Bank of America, but I'm not a fan, so I won't recommend it. I was going to switch over to BECU as many of my friends and co-workers were fans of this credit union.

You can join it once you get to Seattle. I have just heard fantastic things about their level of customer service and compared to BoA, people weren't being screwed over with excessive overdraft fees. You'll have to double check the membership requirements to see if you qualify, otherwise, I would say look at Chase.

http://www.becu.org/join.aspx

I am here in Seattle and trying to join Becu as they do seem like the best. Sorted my SSN and state id (currently have the temp paper copy which is not accepted, so waiting for the actual card in the post) but may have an issue producing any bills in my name/address as they are all in my boyfriend's name.. Sigh. All I have with my name/address so far are letters from SS office

Killer Wench

Megglz wrote: »

I am here in Seattle and trying to join Becu as they do seem like the best. Sorted my SSN and state id (currently have the temp paper copy which is not accepted, so waiting for the actual card in the post) but may have an issue producing any bills in my name/address as they are all in my boyfriend's name.. Sigh. All I have with my name/address so far are letters from SS office

A letter from a federal agency should be good enough.

sleepyescapade

Yeah i hope so, plus by the time I go back i'll also have the mail which will come with my state id so fingers crossed. Starting work on Monday yay!

eire4

The main thing is stay away from the big banks like Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, Ally. Those are the banks that have been screwing everyone here in the US like Anglo did at home. Look for credit unions, smaller more local or regional banks.

crapmanjoe

eire4 wrote: »

The main thing is stay away from the big banks like Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, Ally. Those are the banks that have been screwing everyone here in the US like Anglo did at home. Look for credit unions, smaller more local or regional banks.

Exactly, that way you will never be able to find an ATM of you're local bank and then end up forking over cash to both the ATM bank and you're own bank

dave2pvd

crapmanjoe wrote: »

Exactly, that way you will never be able to find an ATM of you're local bank and then end up forking over cash to both the ATM bank and you're own bank

eire4 is right.

crapmanjoe, there are many ways to get cash. So many debit-card transactions (drug store, grocery store, post office,....) give you the option of getting cash back. Or, just pick up the tab at the end of the night and pocket others' cash.

Who needs ATMs? I visit an ATM perhaps once every 3 months.

rockonollie

crapmanjoe wrote: »

Exactly, that way you will never be able to find an ATM of you're local bank and then end up forking over cash to both the ATM bank and you're own bank

Alot of the smaller bank are within the same atm networks as the major banks. I have an account with our local bank that only has 6 branches, it's ATM cards are part of the moneypass network which is the same network that US Bank are on, which means that I can use my ATM card at any US bank atm without charge.