<p>So after searching the threads, it comes down to BoA and HSBC cause I live on the west coast and we don't have M&T. So....which is better? THANKSS =]</p>
<p>Bank of America of course! There are atms around cornell, college town, ithaca, etc...</p>
<p>Bank of America doesn't have an ATM on campus. At least not from my recollection. I remember that Bank of America used to have a branch in Collegetown, but it closed a year ago.</p>
<p>HSBC isn't a bad choice. There's an ATM at Willard Straight, the student center. There's a branch in the Commons, which is easy to get to w/ the Bus Routes 10 and 30.</p>
<p>BOA has a branch in the commons, as well as one kinda by north campus (at 4 corners, where The Heights is)</p>
<p>so which one is closest to campus?</p>
<p>boa is in noyes and right next to ctb...which is a step into collegetown. BOA has worked really well for me and i recommend it!</p>
<p>Bank of America still has something in college town. Although not your typical official branch, you can make deposits/withdraws/etc.</p>
<p>o ya btw im talking about atms...</p>
<p>Do many students go with the bank in the Cornell Store? I think it was Tompkins County bank or something like that?</p>
<p>There's no real point in signing up for the Tompkins County bank if you don't really live in Tompkins county... might as well sign up for a bank you can use at home too.</p>
<p>M&T is definitely the best choice, but if you can't go with them I'd go with BoA.</p>
<p>We live in California too and S has an HSBC account. I deposit his $ at the branch 5 minutes away from home, and he uses the HSBC ATM in Willard Straight for withdrawals. There are also 2 HSBC branches in Ithaca - one at the Commons and the other across from Pyramid Mall. Busses run frequently, and on the rare occasion he needs to go to the bank, he will take a bus to the Pyramid branch. HSBC's student accounts are free of charge if you maintain a small minimum balance.</p>
<p>H and I bank with B of A, and they are a very large, bureaucratic company. There have been a number of errors with our account and I didn't want S to have to watch out for the bank's mistakes. Furthermore, HSBC is a world-wide bank and can be very convenient if you later travel or study abroad.</p>
<p>Hmm...you make a good point with the travel abroad thing!</p>
<p>and you also have a very interesting sn for a mother..hahha</p>
<p>That is true because when I went to London and Paris, all I saw was HSBC. Good advice poomix, thanks!</p>
<p>YSOAT - For many years now, I have owned a poodle-mix dog, much to the chagrin of pet activists who criticize people getting "designer" dogs (such as cockerpoo, labradoodle, yorki-poo, malti-poo, and my dog - a shih-tzu/poodle cross). Hence, my sn.</p>
<p>HSBC of course!!!</p>
<p>They let you mail in deposits if no branch is available.They are global and at least somewhat open on saturdays.</p>
<p>ATMS are limited areas only,BUT if you withdrawl from an online savings,they comp you.</p>
<p>USAA isnt too shabby but they and BofA let you go in the hole on transactions instead of deny-ing them.I find that highway robbery, because the bank tack on late and fees on top of the transaction instead of bouncing it and just hitting you with a fee.</p>
<p>This goes for anything automated as well.BofA is TERRIBLE about this.I wouldn’t recommend them.besides HSBC has higher interest rates and is global, not just another bailout bank.</p>
<p>there is bank of internet now as well, they seem halfway decent.</p>
<p>Im a vet so I shop around a bit when I bank. Unions are just that, unions.You have to BE a ./… member or … has to happen just to use the bank.Not worth it in my opinion as these banks seem like they would be the first to go bankrupt.</p>
<p>HSBC is the way.
I do have a bias opinion since I have used it before, and haven’t tried BoA yet.
I was between those banks as well since they were both in my home town and in Ithaca. I finally chose HSBC because it felt like a nice bank to go with. Plus the Check Card had PayPass (sp?) which was a plus.
HSBC is found in many countries, so that was a plus for me when I opened one instead of BoA. The rates are high for long term banking options like CD’s. The rates on a Online Savings used to be 3% too.
HSBC, in my opinion, cares about the people. They even helped me with fraud problems even though there was a false-positive report. But still, they are good.
Something about BoA seems wrong. They did lose a lot at the housing market because of “all” of those loans they gave. And BoA did take a nice chunk of the bailout money.</p>