<p>Any advice from current parents about setting up your student's bank account? Is it better to have them continue with an account at their parent's bank for ease of transfers etc. or better to set up an account at Whitney which seems to have the most convenient ATM's on campus? I remember reading someplace that several national banks have ATM's on campus but I can't seem to find that information anymore.
Thanks!</p>
<p>My son has a checking account with Chase which has an ATM on campus (as well as various places around the city). It’s very convenient for us as I can transfer money to his acct. online. The only problem is when he withdraws from a non-Chase ATM - ridiculous fees ensue ($8) which is crazy for a $20 withdrawal. (And yes, I have nagged him non-stop about getting his cash before he goes out - but my son must prefer to be spontaneous :)</p>
<p>Ditto altmom, the Chase ATM is in the LBC (Student center) and we can feed that account through our local Chase. Send your student with extra ATM deposit envelopes, the Chase ATM is always out. The kids borrow money from each other, repay by check and then there isn’t an easy way to deposit. Whitney has a full branch in the LBC but all of their accounts have fees.</p>
<p>Unless things have changed, we were surprised to learn that the Bank of America had NO ATMs in New Orleans, anywhere. (S just graduated.)</p>
<p>Initially, I was able to get the BofA to waive their fees for using an out-of-network ATM but S still had to pay the fees to the Whitney. Ultimately, he did open an account with Whitney since he had a local job. However, if his regular bank had been one with access, such as Chase as mentioned above, he would have just retained that.</p>
<p>He kept his BofA account since we’re all linked. Made it easier to send him money. He liked that part :)</p>
<p>Yes, the last vestiges of BofA disappeared with Katrina. The good news is that both Chase and Capital One have moved into town. Both have branches on St. Charles Avenue.</p>
<p>There’s a chase, capital one, and whitney atm in the LBC (University center). The cheapest withdrawal fee for anyone using a different bank, IIRC, is 2.50 from the capital one atm.</p>
<p>Thanks all for your replies. This is really helpful. Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Still deciding which route to take…</p>
<p>Hi curiouser.
Same problem with Wachovia. No local branches. </p>
<p>DS set up an account with USAA, who doesnt charge a fee for using ATMs and will refund some fees from the other banks (up to some limit/mo). Thats the good news. The bad news is that DS mistyped his pin# on that ATM card at one point, so got frozen out of it for a while, til he got around to calling and getting it straightened out. In the meantime, what he’d do is get cash back (in increments of $20) when they made a run to the WalMart on… I cant spell it… Tchopatoulous. Has anyone tried cashing a check at the Bursars office? A lot of schools will do this. DS never tried that.</p>
<p>I plan to take my DD#2 to the Tulane / Loyola Federal Credit Union to open an account. Dd#1 opened a Chase account and was hammered with excessive fees. As a student, she was supposed to have the monthly checking account fee waived, but on more that one occasion Chase began assessing the monthly fee causing overdrafts and more fees. She got a big argument every time she call Chase to fix the error.</p>
<p>Personally, I’ve done my banking with my Credit Union for about 30 years and have been very pleased with the service.</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to Tulane Loyola Federal Credit Union](<a href=“http://www.tulane-loyolafcu.com/portal/page/portal/Tulane%20Loyola/Home%20Page]Welcome”>http://www.tulane-loyolafcu.com/portal/page/portal/Tulane%20Loyola/Home%20Page)</p>
<p>A very interesting suggestion giddey. I’ll definitely look into that when we go down there later this month. Does the CU have an ATM? I know I could probably look that up online, but oh well, I’ve typed this much.</p>
<p>Yes - a free one on the 1st floor of the Danna Student Center on the Loyola campus. I checked on the fees - $25 for an NSF payment, $5 for an NSF deposit, free checking with $200 balance or a regular direct deposit.</p>
<p>Thanks! I’ll check it out.</p>
<p>giddey up</p>
<p>My son had the same problem with chase charging him monthly fees. It became too much of a hassel to call every month to get it corrected, so he also closed out his account. </p>
<p>He ended up opening a WHitney account. CHecking is free if you have a savings account with $300, or if you have direct deposit (most of the workstudy jobs are direct deposit), but he didn’t work the first semester so he put money into the savings account</p>
<p>The Chase/Cap One/Wells are all great, but, you have to have one near you as a parent. I kept BofA just for that reason & as noted, no BofA near Tulane. (Also, getting tired of the big bank fees & hassles, just venting!) D opened an account at Whitney. Decent online access & they worked with her on her first overdraft adventure. She too has an electronic deposit, including from her summer job. So far so good.</p>
<p>I am surprised to see so many problems with Chase. I have banked there for years and maybe the reason my kids have never had extra charges added to their accounts is that I have them linked to mine. When my oldest went to college, I set up a linked account and he has never had a problem…in fact, since he is always overdrawing his account, they gave him free overdraft protection, although he has to pay interest on any balances he accrues. Chase encouraged me to set up a “high school” account for my younger child while he worked in HS…now, he needs only to use his debit card wherever he goes…no monthly or any type of fees as long as he withdraws from a Chase ATM, but like I said, he and my older child just use their debit cards for everything. Because they are linked, I can transfer cash to them immediately. I suspect linked accounts from any bank is the way to go…no fees, immediate cash, etc.</p>
<p>What are the pros & cons about having an account with Whitney Bank? I’m thinking about opening an account this week…</p>
<p>I was also thinking of going with Whitney for my D. It looks like their “Smart Checking” is the way to go. It is free as long as you are 18-23 and a student, and you keep at least $300 in a savings account. I read on here that Whitney has an ATM on campus, the on-line bill pay is free, and you can sign up for overdraft protection (looks like you pay interest but that would be small compared to what most banks charge for a bounced check). Seems pretty reasonable, and it is one of the few large local banks left I guess. Obviously there are advantages to having the same banking company in both New Orleans and wherever you are from, but these also tend to be the most outrageous with their fees and difficult to deal with.</p>
<p>I have one horror story with my S at another school in Missouri and a certain large bank based in Minneapolis. I thought they has usury laws (look it up if you don’t know the word) until I saw what this bank was doing. I was one phone call away from calling my Senator that is on the Senate Banking Committee until they backed down. Students often make mistakes, and his was one any experienced adult could make. To take advantage of that the way they did was unconscionable. My point is that I think local banks are often easier to deal with if there is a problem.</p>
<p>Having said all that, I have not had any personal experience with Whitney, so those last remarks were just generalizations.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>