Credit unions? Banks? A jar in the back of my closet?

[dj-daeva.livejournal.com]

Hi folks!

I'm relying on all you savvy davis square people out there to help me figure out where to go next for my banking institution :)

I currently have my checking and savings accts with the Harvard University Employees Credit Union and need to make a switch. They were ok when I worked at Harvard, but now that I'm working in Waltham it's a flipping PAIN to get to their ATM's or branches when I need to deposit money other than my direct deposit. Plus they don't clear any funds immediately when you make said deposits (I've routinely had to wait 5-7 days before getting a single penny of several large checks over the last 6 months).

So...who do you like to bank with? I have my visa card with BOA so I was contemplating going back, but I really didn't like their service at all...plus they're evil :)

Bonus points for a credit union that has branches in Waltham and Somerville that don't charge maintenance fees with direct deposit :)

Help a sista out...BOA is desperately trying to recruit me...offering $50, then $100, then finally $250 to open a checking account with them...save me from their evil clutches! :)

Thanks in advance! :)

<3

Comments

Re: not liking Wainwright

[cos]

I've used Wainwright for years (ever since Fleet bought BankBoston and I fled from Fleet's awfulness). In my experience, customer service at the Harvard Square branch is usually not good, but at Davis and Alewife it's great. And you're right about cards, that's their biggest blot: Wainwright is too small to actually handle credit cards themselves, they outsource that to some other company that does cards for a lot of banks, and that company sometimes really pisses me off.

On the other hand, when it comes to payments and checks, I've found that they often deliberately reshuffle the order of transactions to my benefit. Like, if they have a check to pay off my account, and see that I've got a deposit coming, that hasn't cleared yet, they make it work.

Re: not liking Wainwright

[xuth.livejournal.com]

many banks have explicit policies of running all external deposits and then all external withdrawals for the day all at one time. Some do so in the opposite order. Some just have other ways of organising things which have various levels of friendlyness to the customer. I knew what this ordering was for most of my previous banks but have had no reason to know for Wainwright and have not explicitly asked. Something that has happened recently is that now that checks may be electronicly transferred between banks rather than requiring the paper document, checks can potentially be settled between banks within minutes rather than the day or so minimum that it was a few years ago.