Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !
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DO NOT keep money in an account more than FDIC coverage limits
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DO NOT link PayPal to an account with more money than you are willing to lose.
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DO NOT Keep Cash or other assets at Banks with whom you have Credit Cards.
Please feel free to add your suggestions.
However, being a former FWer you all probably have multiple bank accounts which you can use for different purposes
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Reserved for Quick Summary
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Those who are churning bank bonuses, make sure to take note of monthly maintenance fees, if any. If there is a minimum balance needed to waive the fees and you can “park” that amount for at least 180 days before you can close it w/o ETF, do so to save time/effort in “babysitting” such account(s).
For those who got in the MTB bonus bandwagon the past several months, once you see six statements have posted to your account, you can send SM to close it after you transfer funds to your other accounts. If that is the last account left, just pull the funds using your bank hub and once balance is zero, send SM to close account. So far, I’ve closed several accounts painlessly via SM.
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@Ma-Barker
I heard that for M&T you have to go to the branch to close the last account?
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@marcopolomle I have several accounts opened and when I see there’s six statements, I transfer whatever balance is in that particular account to another account. Once there’s zero balance, I send SM to close it; so far, so good. I have already closed several, but there’s a bunch more to close. I’ve read that if you can’t go to the branch to close, they require a notarized letter sent to them plus a $10 closure fee. I won’t know until I close the last.
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If you use an ATM card, make sure your bank reimburses you for ATM fees.
If you use a checkbook, make sure your bank provides free checks and does not require a minimum balance.
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@marcopolomle said in Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !:
- DO NOT keep money in an account more than FDIC coverage limits
But if the rate is high and the institution is solid? Can’t be worse than other uninsured funds.
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Also, there is a little trick you can employ…which is sanctioned by the FDIC and also NCUA to extend the coverage (up to as much as 1,250,000) at the same bank or credit union…
By adding extra beneficiaries…5 to get the maximum…And they can include non profit charities (like aspca, united way, etc)…if your bank/cu allows it…
For example: you could have 2 people beneficiaries in the main savings account…then open up an additional savings or a cd account where you keep a small amount, and stick the non profits in that one…The 5 beneficiaries do not have to be in the same account…There are articles about this online…like this one:
https://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/2011/05/maximizing-your-fdic-coverage-with-beneficiaries.html
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For those high yield checking accts from CUs, this trick worked for me in the past to get the high rate where they required ten swipes of the DC. I did SCO at WM adding a few cents to a WMgc to fulfill the ten swipes requirement in just one trip. I just got the high interest rate and when they lowered their rates, I just pulled all my funds from there.
Whenever swipes are required to fulfill bank terms in getting bonuses, this trick still works well for me w/o the need for cashier intervention.
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@david-scubadiver said in Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !:
If you use an ATM card, make sure your bank reimburses you for ATM fees.
If you use a checkbook, make sure your bank provides free checks and does not require a minimum balance.Those recommendations are too specific.
My main bank doesn’t reimburse ATM fees, but it’s the closest ATM to my house and they have ATMs almost everywhere. I also have two secondary accounts that do reimburse fees that I keeps some money in, so in a pinch, I can use any ATM for free. I would recommend that people try and pay as little in ATM fees as possible, not that they need to limit themselves to a bank that reimburses ATM fees, though it is a good thing to have in a pinch.
As for free checks, this is such an uncommon thing banks offer today, you would be severely limited if you only banked at places that offer free checks. A $10 order of checks has lasted me over 3 years and I write a check almost every other week. That’s such a small amount of money that getting free checks is a negligible benefit. A better recommendation would be to buy your checks from a discount company instead of directly from the bank. They’re often 50% cheaper.
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@meed18 said in Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !:
As for free checks, this is such an uncommon thing banks offer today, you would be severely limited if you only banked at places that offer free checks.
Is it really such an uncommon thing? I haven’t banked locally for quite some time. I haven’t paid for checks in years.
(A quick check of some local bank websites show that they do offer free checks on some accounts that require high minimum balances, if not in the checking account itself, among other accounts.)
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I’ve signed up for close to 20 bank accounts in the past year. I don’t know the exact number, but I think I got maybe 2 sets of free checks. And that was only from accounts where I was required to maintain a high balance. Those data points lead me to believe that free checks have gone the way of the dodo. If they haven’t yet, I believe they are headed that way.
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@meed18 said in Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !:
@david-scubadiver said in Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !:
If you use an ATM card, make sure your bank reimburses you for ATM fees.
If you use a checkbook, make sure your bank provides free checks and does not require a minimum balance.Those recommendations are too specific.
My main bank doesn’t reimburse ATM fees, but it’s the closest ATM to my house and they have ATMs almost everywhere. I also have two secondary accounts that do reimburse fees that I keeps some money in, so in a pinch, I can use any ATM for free. I would recommend that people try and pay as little in ATM fees as possible, not that they need to limit themselves to a bank that reimburses ATM fees, though it is a good thing to have in a pinch.
As for free checks, this is such an uncommon thing banks offer today, you would be severely limited if you only banked at places that offer free checks. A $10 order of checks has lasted me over 3 years and I write a check almost every other week. That’s such a small amount of money that getting free checks is a negligible benefit. A better recommendation would be to buy your checks from a discount company instead of directly from the bank. They’re often 50% cheaper.
@meed18 said in Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !:
@david-scubadiver said in Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !:
If you use an ATM card, make sure your bank reimburses you for ATM fees.
If you use a checkbook, make sure your bank provides free checks and does not require a minimum balance.Those recommendations are too specific.
My main bank doesn’t reimburse ATM fees, but it’s the closest ATM to my house and they have ATMs almost everywhere. I also have two secondary accounts that do reimburse fees that I keeps some money in, so in a pinch, I can use any ATM for free. I would recommend that people try and pay as little in ATM fees as possible, not that they need to limit themselves to a bank that reimburses ATM fees, though it is a good thing to have in a pinch.
As for free checks, this is such an uncommon thing banks offer today, you would be severely limited if you only banked at places that offer free checks. A $10 order of checks has lasted me over 3 years and I write a check almost every other week. That’s such a small amount of money that getting free checks is a negligible benefit. A better recommendation would be to buy your checks from a discount company instead of directly from the bank. They’re often 50% cheaper.
You are of course correct. It is better to pay for your checks rather than get them for free. And it is better to use a local bank even if they don’t reimburse your for your fees charged by other banks that will reimburse you for the charges of our local bank.
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I’ve opened 3 checking accounts in the past 6 years where I needed checks. Only one of the banks offered free checking. That didn’t stop me from asking, and getting them for free at all three. I haven’t yet had to re-order.
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@honkinggoose said in Common sense rules of banking - tips & tricks !:
I’ve opened 3 checking accounts in the past 6 years where I needed checks. Only one of the banks offered free checking. That didn’t stop me from asking, and getting them for free at all three. I haven’t yet had to re-order.
Good call. It never (well, almost never) hurts to ask!
