<p>"Their ads are always purty, though." I think that's a good enough reason to support that particular institution, don't you? ;)</p>
<p>See, now every time I drive by my local BofA on my way to my fave noodle place, I'll think of the hatred from it radiating from this board.</p>
<p>TheDad said: B of A is the most anti-consumer financial institution with which I've ever dealt. </p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly.</p>
<p>They are greedy and less consumer friendly than any "commercial" bank I've EVER done business with.</p>
<p>That said, it seems we too will be "stuck" using them as D heads off to college. BAH! I will check into Bank North though.</p>
<p>JaM, if nothing else, you could get some "mail deposit" envelopes and just send a deposit to Bank North if necessary.</p>
<p>In addition to her own low-limit VISA that D got after a few months with Bank North, we gave her gave her an AMEX card on our account for any "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass" situation that comes up. She also uses it for booking flights home, which under our accounting is on our nickel. If only it were a nickel.</p>
<p>you could get some "mail deposit" envelopes and just send a deposit to Bank North if necessary.]]</p>
<p>Its Banknorth. One word. If you want to move money fast and safely, you can wire funds into an account for $16.00. I realize it seems idiotic for a bank to charge a fee to <em>receive</em> money, but thats capitalism for ya. ;)</p>
<p>Another option is to deposit, umm, say, 1k in the students checking account at the beginning of the semester for spending money for the yr and make the kido budget. I allow my daughter to charge all her books, as many can be found used on Amazon. </p>
<p>There is a Banknorth branch on RT 9 (the road toward Amherst) about 5-7 miles from Northampton. If you open an account at that location, there should be zip lines, unlike the branch in Northampton where a plethora of Smith students and parents will be all trying to open an account at the same time.</p>
<p>OT- but this may be helpful to alumna who might be buying a house in the near future. Never apply for a mortgage at a bank, not even BofA. :) Doing so is analogous to going to one car dealership and paying any price they ask. It behooves a bank, or any financial institution and sales broker to charge as much as possible for a loan and add additional junk fees. The cost of capital doesnt vary between lending institutions, and the amount above the wholesale cost of funds is profit. I.e. The higher the interest rate and junk fees, the higher the profit and commission to the broker. Use a few mortgage brokers to compare rates b/c they have access to hundreds of lenders. Always ask for a no-cost loan so youre comparing apples to apples. But make sure the broker isnt adding fees to the backend of the loan. If youre borrowing 500k, the loan documents shouldnt say 503K. The same applies for a car loan. Most dealers will <em>tack on</em> as much 2-3% above the interest rate the customer can at their own bank or credit union, if they took the time to check. Again, the 2-3% is additional profit for the dealer.</p>
<p>Heres a fun webpage and its granola friendly too.</p>
<p>This is fabulous. There are few things more frustrating than not being able to print, and their "How to Print in the Library" guide = priceless.</p>
<p>bank of america charges fees (like $4 a month) for students if their parents don't have an account there too, unless you have a direct deposit set up or kep a certain minimum balance. they charge you for each check you write past a specific (small) number each month, and they've twice added the wrong amount into my account when i've deposited checks into the ATM (both times they gave me too little, and while it was caught and fixed, it took a little while--very frustrating on a student budget!)</p>
<p>I was thrilled to move to a part of the country where BoA doesn't operate, forcing me to open a new account. Yesterday I got a permanent address and ordered some checks...once they arrive my first, gleeful, step will be to close my BoA account and tell them all the reasons why!</p>
<p>Now that i'm done ranting, I'd also suggest ING accounts to incoming Smithies (and everyone else!). You link them to bricks-and-mortar bank accounts, so it takes a couple days to transfer money, but it pays more than 4% interest and the website and helpline are very user-friendly. If anyone wants, I can refer them--if you open an account with $250 or more through a referral, you get $25 and I get $10. PM me if you're interested.</p>
<p>Count me in on the hate BoA theme, but when my D headed off to college we ended up choosing BoA because it was the only one that had branches locally (so we could make emergency deposits) and in NYC where she was going as well. My biggest problem with them is how long they take to credit a check. If I want money to go into my D's account quickly, I have to go to a branch and deposit cash. They have done several things that caused my D to overdraw her account and get hit with very high fees. The latest incident was when my D deposited into her account a third party check for a friend. The check was good, but BoA held it for 10 days, hit my daughter's account for the $100 in cash they took out against the check and then hit her with another $102 (3x34) in fees for overdrawing because she was unaware that her account was temporarily $100 less. </p>
<p>She has a campus edge account that does not get charged a monthly fee because I have a set $50 deposited directly into her account from my paycheck. Now that she is heading to Smith come September, we will probably stay with BoA, simply because she has learned what to expect from them and what not to expect.</p>
<p>Those tactics illustrate exactly why I avoid BoA like the plague. A very bad plague.</p>
<p>but BoA held it for 10 days,]]</p>
<p>That's strange. 10 days is called an "extended hold" Banks normally only do that if there have been other overdrafts in the past or there is no activity in the account for 30 days so. If the check was local there is even less of an excuse to hold the funds for 10 days. The normal check hold is 4 days. I would attempt to get the 102.00 credited back to your daughters account</p>
<p>They said it was being held for 10 days because the check was not in her name, but signed over to her. They did eventually refund the overdraft fees, but in trying to do a favor for a friend she was left with very little money for close to a week.</p>
<p>I can't say enough about the convenience of having my checking account and those of my college age nephew's (all living in different states) in the same bank. I'm the trustee of their trust funds that are intended to pay for college and college related expenses, so I imagine that I have some of the same banking issues as many parents dealing with their children's college expenses. </p>
<p>I have my own account as well as a joint account with each of my nephews. I do all of my banking online with all of the accounts linked together so that I can access all accounts but they can only access their own. Whenever they need money for tuition, books, emergencies or a small monthly "allowance" for personal expenses, I just access my account through the Internet and make a transfer. The transfer is free and virtually (ha ha...) immediate. I've made a transfer while one of my nepehews was standing at an airline ticket counter and needed money to change a ticket. I label each of the transfers as I make them and that way I have a convenient record of their expenses online that I can also download into Quicken.</p>
<p>To avoid those $33 overdraft fees (my nephews make mistakes from time to time) I also opened a small joint savings account with each of them that provides overdraft protection where money is drawn from savings to cover an checking account overdraft. Something the bank didn't tell me at the time I set up the accounts, is that there is still an overdraft fee, but it is only $10 and not $33. The boys know that they have to pay for these fees out of their allowance, so they're pretty careful about it.</p>
<p>It's really easy to keep track of where each account is at at any given moment, because I see all of the accounts under a single logon.</p>
<p>The big drawback for me is that we bank with Wells Fargo and there are no branches in Noho, but I've managed ok with that. I really have very little need to go to a branch even when I'm at home.</p>
<p>Monthly account fees <em>could</em> be an issue but I have a type of account with no fees, so I'm not sure what the fees would be otherwise.</p>
<p>Wells Fargo and BoA would formerly put 10 day holds on checks drawn on other banks if they fell into one of many categories -- one of which was if it was a very large check, and particulary if the branch was located in another state. Their justification was that the check may not clear and if you had already withdrawn the money, they would be left "holding the bag." Of course, it VERY seldom took 10 days for the checks to clear, but it was really just another way for the banks to make money on "float". If you made a fuss with the customer service rep. or branch manager, they would release the funds as soon as the check cleared, (minor strings attached) but the whole thing was really aggravating.</p>
<p>However, sometime last year a whole bunch of new banking regulations were implemented and I believe that among other things, banks can no longer place a hold on a check for that long a time. I think the maximum hold time is 3 days now, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>I believe that among other things, banks can no longer place a hold on a check for that long a time. I think the maximum hold time is 3 days now, but I could be wrong.]]</p>
<p>Banks, Brokerages and Mutual Fund companies-- e.g. Vanguard-- can place a hold for 10 days under Reg CC With companies like Vanguard, any funds deposited automatically, and without exception, cannot have checks written against the deposited amount for 10 days, although youre credited interest from the day of deposit. Idiotic.</p>
<p>If the money is needed immediatly, most banks will call and verify the check in question and credit your account in a day or two.</p>