<p>My parents want to start a bank account for me before college starts, so that I can pay my cell phone bill and stuff like that. So they want to know: what do students typically do/what banks are available? My parents are very fond of Chase, and they say that M&T is acceptable. I really don't know anything about money, but could anyone offer any suggestions?</p>
<p>I use and like M&T</p>
<p>M & T is probably most convenient, ATM's and a branch on campus. A lot of students also use Bank of America. There are also many branches throughout Ithaca but it's less convenient than M&T.</p>
<p>I've had M&T since freshman year and now that I've moved to Bethesda, MD I figured I would have to change banks but alas there's one right downtown.</p>
<p>I use M&T and I like it because there are ATMs around campus. You can also use HSBC and Bank of America. Most of these offer free checking with no minimum deposit and you get a debit card which is great for college students.</p>
<p>"and you get a debit card which is great for college students."</p>
<p>yeah, great for spending all of my money online. There's nothing cooler than recieving a package.</p>
<p>omg that is soo true gomestar...but now i'm maxed out :< </p>
<p>bank of america had a great student package...free visa check card with free checkings for my college life and gave me a 600$ credit line ;x</p>
<p>i meant that the no minimum balance was great for college students but i typed it incorrectly.</p>
<p>does anyone use an hsbc checking account combined with an hsbc online savings account? And do you all take the student checking accounts...with no fees, but no interest?</p>
<p>I have no use for a savings account as I have no savings.</p>
<p>LOL...so true norcalguy!!!</p>
<p>I have a savings account - and I totally collect $0.12 in interest every few months. B-ches.</p>
<p>BankofAmerica is the best bet, because M&T isn't commonly found in most other cities on the East Coast.</p>
<p>"M&T isn't commonly found in most other cities on the East Coast"</p>
<p>on the West coast, no, but on the east coast I've seen them all over as I've done quite a bit of traveling. I'm currently in the northern DC area, and there's M&T's all over the place.</p>
<p>The advantage of not having M&T Banks on the West Coast is that you're "forced" to use mommy and daddy's money since you can't access your cash ;)</p>
<p>you just can't deal with the M&T's on 355/Wisconsin ave there, can you?</p>
<p>I hate M&T bank and have had countless problems with them claiming I overdrew my account when I didn't (I had to inform them that I wasn't retarded and do the math for them to get a refund). They also put the wrong account number on a receipt for a 1,000 dollar deposit I made. They are rude, uncompromising ****<strong><em>s who steal your money for *</em></strong>s and giggles. My balance never shows up correctly online or at the ATM, which causes me to overdraw by minute amounts and face ridiculous charges. I've made purchases that have taken weeks to clear, causing me to overdraw, because M&T claimed I had insufficient funds, when online banking said the money was there. Yeah, I know, I should keep a check ledger to the very cent; it's reasonable to have to write down every single purchase I make in a day because the bank's system is highly incompetant (not so much). I plan on switching to Bank of America before I get back to Cornell, so I don't have to deal with the M&T bs. Maybe others have had good experienes with M&T, but I have friends who have had the same problems as me.</p>
<p>I've had the same problems with M&T, but the same problems happened with my HSBC accounts as well. </p>
<p>Online banking is only as fast as the other line when stores finalize your purchase - you can give them all the info they need, but until they process it, it wont show up online. I've had some appear minutes later while some have taken a few days to show up (for instance, the lunch I bought today is already being shown online, while the $33 I spent putting gas in my car Friday is not yet there). </p>
<p>I always use pen and paper to maintain a balanced account, since switching I havn't overdrawn anything.</p>
<p>The fact that the bank has made mathematical errors causing me to overdraw on two occassions (those are the charges they refunded) and then claimed the refund was done out of courtesy, and I was incorrect, bothers me. I guess I cant blame them for the other instances, but I still dont like how I was treated by their customer service people, who were unyeilding and obnoxious, even when I was correct.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I thought the same way, until I dealt with the Comcast cable company. They claimed that our wireless doesn't work not because of their fault, but because it's a problem with our computers. They all just died at once, like a perfect symphony of IT errors. It took an hour on the phone to reach somebody who knew what they were doing ... yeah, their system is at fault. In the meantime, the repair people have told us to **** off and we've spent 9 of the last 14 days w/o internet. 'tards.</p>
<p>Haha, wow. Gotta love incompetance.</p>