<p>I turned 18 yesterday and I'll be a freshman in college this fall so I'm in the process of finding a bank to open a student checking account with. I honestly don't know much about this stuff and my parents want me to open an account with their bank, Bank of America. Are they any good? Who do you guys bank with, and are you happy?</p>
<p>I’d find out whatever bank is by your college. I mean, yeah, Bank of America is probably the best if you’re not part of the military. But Bank of America won’t do you any good if the nearest one is an hour away.</p>
<p>“Bank of America is probably the best if you’re not part of the military.”</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>@withlovemegan, it’d help if you told us where the heck yer going to school.</p>
<p>I use PNC Bank right now, and I think they’re pretty damn great. I got their “virtual wallet” account which is basically three accounts: a general spending checking account, a ‘reserve’ account where you can save for short-term purchases (but the money in your reserve account can still be spent unless you mark it otherwise), and a growth account which is a somewhat high-yield savings account. It’s at 1.10% APY right now, but when I opened the account it was 3.00%… stupid economic downturn.</p>
<p>Customer service is great as well. The only thing is that it doesn’t have many locations outside of the Mid-Atlantic. </p>
<p>I think the best nationwide bank would be Citibank… my parents have it and they can’t complain much about it, and they have an ATM in every 7-Eleven. </p>
<p>Whatever you do, don’t get Bank of America.</p>
<p>why not Bank of America? that’s what I have</p>
<p>Is there a credit union for students in your college town? They are usually helpful and they’re there to serve their members. I have several accounts, I have a bank of America which makes things easier because its the only bank that is both in my home town/area and college. I have not had any major problems with them but you always have to be careful with big banks, they’re out to make a profit off you (duh!). Definitely look into credit unions.</p>
<p>well if you are smart, you won’t have to have a problem with big banks. I got charged with an overdraft fee last year because I forgot to transfer money from my savings to checking account. If you keep a record of your account, you won’t have any problems.</p>
<p>Look for a bank that specifically has a separate service for students; usually, they have extra perks with them. </p>
<p>Like my bank’s student checking account has no fees at all (except for going into overdraft) and gave me $100 after opening the account.</p>
<p>Because BofA are a bunch of thieving pricks. </p>
<p>Let’s say you have $40 in your bank account. You deposit a $200 check. You then immediately go buy something for $40.01.</p>
<p>Congratulations, you just overdrafted, because even though you should have had $240.00 in the bank account, BofA will craftily post debit transactions before credit transactions. It happened to me a few times and eventually I decided I was sick of their shady practices and left them.</p>
<p>Now yes that’s only a problem if you let your account get that low. But I ain’t the only person this can happen to… people who live paycheck to paycheck are most at risk because of BofA’s ********.</p>
<p>The only thing I like about BofA is their ATMs. No need for a deposit envelope, very nice. Hell you don’t even need to type in the amount of the check you’re depositing. If I ever move out of a PNC area I might switch to BofA, but only if I’ll be making enough money to not be living paycheck to paycheck.</p>
<p>the one closest to campus.</p>
<p>BOA is most notorious with problems.</p>
<p>I prefer Well’s Fargo. I have a two checking accounts with them, one of which even gives interest (even if it is a very low amount it is better than nothing). And I have free money transfers among other useful free services.</p>
<p>“Let’s say you have $40 in your bank account. You deposit a $200 check. You then immediately go buy something for $40.01.”</p>
<p>Well if you know it takes a couple of days for the transaction, maybe you can put some savings account money into checking (which happens right away) or not spend more than $40. Maybe BOA works for me since I’m fine with the system haha</p>
<p>And most college students shouldn’t be living paycheck to paycheck.</p>
<p>If you can, go with USAA. No question.</p>
<p>Haha, I live in New Jersey guys and that’s where I’ll be going to school. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about BOA, is it really that bad?</p>
<p>I don’t have a problem with Chase, but a lot of people do…hahaha.</p>
<p>withlovemegan, well you’ve heard the problems. The main problem is that if you deposit money into the account, it may take a day or two to process so you can’t use it right away. If you spend too much than what you “have”, then you get slapped with a big overdraft fee. Bank Of America is perfectly fine if you aren’t a huge spender, and you can check and manage your account so that you won’t even come close to getting an overdraft. Also, if you have money in your savings account, if you notice that you don’t have enough money in your checking account, just transfer money from savings to checking and that happens immediately (I think there’s a limit of 7 transfers a month?).</p>
<p>It all comes down to how careful are you with the money you spend and whether you really want to monitor your account.</p>
<p>I use Chase but wouldn’t recommend, they’ll try to **** you any way they can. I’ve escaped them thus far but I know my day will come.</p>
<p>I just use a local bank with branches near my college. No ATM fees. =)</p>
<p>^Since when do ATMs charge? Well unless you use another bank’s ATM machine.</p>
<p>Bank of America. It’s too big to fail :)</p>
<p>heh, there’s another reason to not use BofA: they couldn’t even manage themselves, how can you expect them to manage your money? :P</p>
<p>PNC is too good to fail :)</p>
<p>@darkdream generally yes it’s only a fee charged by the other bank’s ATM, but some banks also charge you for using a non-bank ATM.</p>