<p>I need to open a new bank since my current one is local. Any good banks to open an account in?</p>
<p>I'm not sure New York City has any banks. You may have to go across the bridge to New Jersey for that.</p>
<p>I just opened a bank account at Commerce. They're relatively new but opening rapidly all over the east, and I think there's one 2 blocks from Columbia. I see Commerces all over the place in the city now. I like their free checking program.</p>
<p>In addition, Citibank is probably one of the most globally-established banks (they're everywhere in the city), while Chase and Washington Mutual are also very common. There's a Citibank right on campus in Lerner Hall, but I've also heard that Citibank has a lot of charges. I suggest you do some research on the 4 banks I've mentioned (I believe all 4 banks are near Columbia) and figure out which suits you best.</p>
<p>i've heard that Washington Mutual is teh way to go. completely free checking, and very close to campus.</p>
<p>Chase and Citibank will have the most branches and ATMs, both have free checking for students, online banking, etc.</p>
<p>Go for Washington Mutual. It's totally free checking with a debit card, no direct deposit needed, and their ATMs don't charge fees. (which is good even if they aren't your bank). There's a branch across the street from campus on Broadway and 112th. I actually opened my account with them just for school, I was previously a customer of the Bank of New York, but their branches are hard to come by above 59th street.</p>
<p>Citibank is nice, because they're right in Lerner Hall, and I think (but am not sure) that you can use your Columbia ID as your ATM card. There is a $3 monthly fee, though, unless you have direct deposit or a minimum balance of $1500.</p>
<p>Chase requires monthly direct deposits for free checking. That and the citibank fees are the reasons why I did not go for either of them.</p>
<p>Wash Mu or Commerce! I've heard good things about both.</p>
<p>Oh hey, another good thing about Washington Mutual is that they're open Monday-Saturday until 6 pm. Six!! Commerce is open until 8 on weekdays, and they even have Sunday hours. That's really awesome.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, don't go with Wachovia. The closest Wachovia to Columbia is somewhere around West 50th Street--over 50 blocks away from CU.</p>
<p>thanks for all the responses! i think i have a general idea and think i will research more about wash mu and commerce. i dont want to pay any fees so i guess that eliminates citibank. </p>
<p>actually, the bank i currently use is Citizens Bank in MA and was wondering if there were any branches near Columbia. maybe i won't have to change branches after all since i researched a little and read that there were some citizen banks in NY (just not sure where)</p>
<p>if they dont have any branches, i guess ill be opening up one soon. thanks</p>
<p>or maybe ill get citibank, since i guess it is affiliated with columbia, and i bet most students have citibank accounts (since citibank is the preferred bank on the columbia financial website)...but the fees, although only 3 dollars, are annoying as hell, but hopefully i can keep 1500 average monthly</p>
<p>Hey shosty, go to WaMu. Not only do they have free benefits, but they have free food too :)
At least, that was my experience at one of the branches near my workplace. I deposited a check and got some eggrolls and cake, woohoo.</p>