what bank do you use??

sweetie6609

Our bank we use here isn't out your way & I have no idea where to begin.  What banking firm do you ladies use & why??

zora51

I have my account(s) at Bank of America. I like it cuz it's EVERYWHERE. They also have the ATMs where you can deposit cash and checks without an envelope and all that jazz, which I love so I can do my "banking" whenever I want and forget about bank hours. H has Wells Fargo. He's had no problems with them. They have ONE ATM where you can do that deposit stuff but its in phoenix somewhere (we live in E. Mesa). We also have a couple savings and a joint checking at Desert Schools C.U. (I wanted to get involved with a C.U. when we were buying the house. In the end it didn't help us with what we wanted, but now we use those accounts for savings we won't 'steal' from). It's a good bank, there are less of them than BoA of WF, so it's sometimes more of a nuisance for me when I have to make deposits there. That's my 2 pennies. Oh, and I'm not fond of the smaller banks for the most part. I used to mainly use regional banks but I now I prefer the convenience of locations.

jasnem

We use Chase. We love it because they are also EVERYWHERE. Also we use their Rewards program and just run our debit cards as credit, so about every month or two we get AMC movie gift cards. We haven't paid for a movie for several years this way!

kristie2422

jasnem:

We use Chase. We love it because they are also EVERYWHERE. Also we use their Rewards program and just run our debit cards as credit, so about every month or two we get AMC movie gift cards. We haven't paid for a movie for several years this way!

this! We had WaMu which became Chase and we like them. Chase is like Starbucks out here - on every corner!

jayefay

We use Arizona Federal Credit Union.  They aren't everywhere, but since they are connected to other credit unions, they just as well be.  I love them.  We initially started using them because their money market rates were 10 times as high as the non-CU banks.  Obviously interest rates have taken a plunge everywhere and suck no matter who you are with now.  But, we'll stick with them because they treat us really well.  Oh and it doesn't hurt that we get nice dividends in years that the CU has large profits - since you're a "member" of a CU and not just a banking participant the excess profits are distributed to members.  This doesn't happen all the time, usually perks of the non-conventional banking structure are low fees and exceptional interest rates - but there have been a few years where we've gotten deposits at the end of the year.

The only catch is that you have to be a resident, or work in Maricopa county to be part of the CU. 

jware1985

We go through Cresit Union West, i love their service, and when we orig. opened our accounts they were offering the highest annual percentage rate of instrest on checking accounts, it was 4.9% APY but with the economy the way it is it is now 2.9%APY.  I have my auto loan through them and we just prefer credit union's over large banks... yes even though i work for one. because it is more of the you mean alot to us kind of feel rather then the give me your money ho kind of feel from other banks i have gon through

dmw531

We use Desert Schools Federal Credit Union.  I have had a savings account with them since I was like 5 years old and my parents have always had all their accounts with them, so it was just what I was used to.  DH didn't feel that strong of a connection to Wells Fargo so when we combined finances we went with DSFCU. 

We like that we get interest on our checking account, and as long as we have 30 non-debit transactions (which is easy, we just run everything as credit) a month all ATM fees are reimbursed so we don't really worry about finding our bank's ATM, we can just use whatever is convienent since we know we'll get the fee back anyway.

We would have used them for our car loan but Honda was having a super deal thing so it was better to go through the dealer, just by a small amount. 

They also do online bill pay which is a nice feature to help pay all your monthly bills.

I think they are really nice whenever we have questions or need to change things around or whatever, they are great to work with.

LizR321

Bank of America : )

I am an associate so everything is free: ) Our mortgage is with them, so we get a lot of perks for that as well! They have the most banking center locations + ATM locations out of any other bank in the world, so I love the convenience, for not only here at home, but for traveling as well. I have always been really happy with my accounts and services!

b15chik

we use wells fargo and have had a good experience with them. don't use the account much now though, as we use a rewards credit card for all our purchases and then just pay it off at the end of the month

JenniferBultman

We use First Credit Union. We really like them- but they are a little smaller, however with shared branching we can use almost all credit unions. We use their rewards checking which has a high interest rate on checking, no ATM fees, and some other stuff as long as you log into your bank account online like once a month and do 12 debit transactions. I'm really happy withe them- small enough to care, large enough to have more then 1 or 2 locations.

jebuell

I use Wells Fargo because it's the one chain bank that is also in my (teeny teeny tiny) hometown and occasionally my Mom gets the urge to give me money and I am not about to complain about that!  There are lots of Wells Fargos out there so I'm sticking with them.

Though, I do plan on getting an account at a Credit Union.  I want to buy a house in a year or two and they are the best banks to go through for home loans a lot of the time.

irlndsumer

We have BofA for our regular banking and a savings account at Arizona Federal Credit Union.  Basically for the same reasons everyone else listed- we have two because we wanted a savings account that was less accessible than our everyday banking (although we can get money out at any CU) and to be able to take advantage of the CU perks.  We like BofA because it's nationwide, we can always find one when we travel.

sweetie6609

Thanks so much ladies!  Sounds like it'd prob. be best for us to use one of the bigger companies like Bank of America or Chase, since we'll be traveling back home at times.  Also if we decide to move again at some point, that we won't have to switch everything again.  I've heard LOTS of good things about CUs though & prob. will look into them more once we start house-hunting. 

So do any of you know then...do we have to completely take everything out of our accounts here before we leave or will they electronically transfer it to the other bank??  Ugh, don't have enough time left to get all these little things done! 

jj4ever04

I use M&I bank. I love them because you actually have a personal banker and your not just a number like everywhere else. they have rewards and they are large. not large like B of A but they are in other states. my banker calls when we overdraft and waves the fees just to keep me happy. (this dosn't happen often just once, but it impressed me)

the other bank i like is Midfirst Bank. they are rapidly growing and they are open 7 days a week with extended hours. no other bank does that. plus whatever ATM in the word you use is free. you also get a personal banker and they call you monthly just to see if your happy (customer service) *its rare these days* plus when you walk in to the bank your greeted by name.

NewYorkerinAZ

We have Chase and love it!

I would never bank with Bank of America....ever! JMHO!

Chase is great because like Emily said, we get rewards so when we use our card, we use it as credit and rack up points. We then can get GC's, movie tickets, etc. I love it! Plus, they are everywhere and we both have CC's through them so, everything is all in one spot when we log into it online.

homespunmetier

we bank with charles schwab and us bank. we love both. our mortgage acct is through the mutual of omaha bank.

bethany joy

Another vote for Bank of America. Everything is free since we have out mortgage there too. My husband says all banks are the same and that people only start complaining when they overdraft hah.

NickDanielleB

I use Arizona Federal Credit Union, but will be switching to Desert Schools. AZ Fed has lost their shirts on a lot of bad loans which is why they had to close so many of their locations. I no longer have a location anywhere near me. Desert Schools is everywhere and I like being a member of a CU.

Megamuffin

NewYorkerinAZ:

We have Chase and love it!

I would never bank with Bank of America....ever! JMHO!

Chase is great because like Emily said, we get rewards so when we use our card, we use it as credit and rack up points. We then can get GC's, movie tickets, etc. I love it! Plus, they are everywhere and we both have CC's through them so, everything is all in one spot when we log into it online.

Another vote for Chase! I love the debit card rewards program. We've gotten gift cards from Home Depot and Amazon, which is awesome because it seems like we ALWAYS need something from one of those two places. Last time I just had them credit back cash into my account, which was also rather fun.