<p>Hi all, </p>
<p>We are now about a week away from our departure to Madison for son's freshman year move-in. His and our bank accounts are with Wachovia/Wells Fargo, but it does not seem that there are many convenient Wells Fargo ATM's or branch locations in Madison. Son is considering opening a local account in order to have easier access to cash (free ATM withdrawals vs. fee) and other needs he may have while a student (depositing a paycheck should he get a job, etc...). Are there one or two banks that seem to have multiple locations and easy access and tend to be used by UW students? Suggestions and recommendations welcome as we do not live in Wisconsin or the mid-west so are unfamiliar with the most commonly used local banks. Thanks! </p>
<p>It seems that there is a new credit union option through UW which may be worth considering, but we are not sure whether to go with that (and still have limited locations) or find a fairly common and widespread institution so banking will be easy no matter where he goes in the wider area.</p>
<p>If you want an actual branch nearby, Chase is a pretty good choice because they have branches within walking distance (but still pretty far). I personally use Wells Fargo and don’t have a problem with it. There is an ATM on state street that is free to all banks so I use that, otherwise there is a Wells Fargo ATM at the corner where University turns into Gorham where I drop all my paychecks. I know a lot of students who do switch to using the UW Credit Union though (I think the new thing you heard about is how Wiscards can now be used as debit cards through them) with good results. I’m glad to have stuck with Wells Fargo though-it hasn’t been inconvenient and I’m glad to know after four years I’ll still be with a bank I can continue using.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about UW Credit Union (which is not new) they are fabulous. They have locations on campus (obviously =P), the closest being one on State Street, and one on Monroe. I cannot recommend UW Credit Union more. They have been so good to me, and I love the accounts I’ve set up there (savings, checking, student credit that was a great do for me). The service they provide is amazing, too.</p>
<p>You can do this Wiscard thing this year, but I’m going to keep mine separate for now, for safety reasons. :]</p>
<p>It is not very prevalent outside the Madison area, so going into a wider area you will not find much about it. They have locations in Milwaukee, Whitewater, Green Bay and Stevens Point, but that’s it.</p>
<p>What I did was I opened up a UW Credit Union account, and kept my old account (which was a bank local to my county). So I have two checking accounts. The one my parents put money in when they want to/I want them to, so it’s very convenient for that. So you he could keep his current one, and open one at UW (or another location). Not a big deal.</p>
<p>Great, thanks. This is exactly the info we needed. And, sorry, I misspoke…it is the Wiscard tie to the credit union which is new. :-)</p>
<p>One more question, pathetique. If you keep 2 accounts which is one option we are considering…you say your parents put money into your home account - when they do that, how do you gain access to those funds while in Madison? </p>
<p>badger12- it is good to know it isn’t a big deal to stick with Wells Fargo.</p>
<p>We chose Associated Bank. Branch and bank’s ATMs are close enough, and he gets 4 free use of other bank’s ATMs each month. UWCU has ATMs all over the place, and doesn’t charge a fee to non-UWCU customers.</p>
<p>The main reason for Associated Bank is there is also a local branch at home. That way, in an emergency, I can go to the local branch and make a deposit.</p>
<p>I suggest opening up a Joint Account so the parent can do transactions on the account.</p>
<p>Thanks, OD. That is how we do it now - his account is joint with me and we both have online banking so it is very easy to transfer back and forth and do transactions, etc… However, we live in VA so it does not seem that the best option in WI matches anything we have here in VA. So, there is no UWCU or Associated or Chase branch near us. The Wells Fargo seems to be the only one and is what we have, but seems to only have 1 or 2 Madison locations so may not be not super convenient. If he goes with UWCU or Associated, for example, I may have to see if there is a way to “link” or transfer from his/our account here to there online…
We will figure it out as we have a couple of options. 
Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>If he already has the Wells Fargo, then you might want to keep it. Have him open up another account with UWCU. That way, if you need to get cash to him in an emergency, you can deposit at your local Wells Fargo, and he can hoof it over to the east side of campus and withdraw the money. Then he can deposit it into his local account.</p>
<p>Think of the Wells Fargo for emergencies, and UWCU for day-to-day.</p>
<p>Yep, thanks, that is exactly what I am thinking. I also believe that it may be possible for me to use the routing number to his UWCU acct and send funds electronically to that account from the Wells Fargo if absolutely necessary. </p>
<p>Sounds like a plan. We will open him a UWCU and keep the WF as well. It may also help him budget if he simply deposits his “semester spending money budget” into the UWCU to start and keeps his larger savings in the WF. Then he can really practice managing the UW acct and, hopefully, not blast through funds too quickly -or at least not without some extra effort and oversight.</p>