Summary: <p>Maddie asks how to pick a bank from all the different options: credit union, online bank, local bank, multi-national – how do you choose?!</p> <div id="attachment_25273" style="width: 650px;" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img class="size-full wp-image-25273" src="https://www.ohmydollar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/27837459163_95fcdda620_z.jpg" alt="Making financial decision" width="640" height="425"><p class="wp-caption-text">Choosing a bank is hard!</p> </div> <h4>Some things to consider:</h4> <ul> <li>How often you need to deposit cash or checks too large for an ATM</li> <li>Hours of the bank</li> <li>Banking fees for holding account</li> <li>Minimum balance required</li> <li>Other account requirements (direct deposit or debit transactions)</li> <li>Your politics (would your rather have a bank or credit union?) – check out <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F03">this list of political donations by banks</a> </li> <li>How good the app or online access is (does it make your eyes bleed?)</li> <li>If they have credit builder cards</li> <li>If you want manual underwriting for a mortgage</li> <li>If you get free checks with the account</li> <li>Sign up bonuses!</li> </ul> <h4>Some banks we mentioned (no referral links below, just information!)</h4> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.usaa.com/">USAA (online only bank for military and immediate family)</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ally.com/">Ally Bank (online bank with high yield checking accounts)</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.simple.com/">Simple (online bank with budgeting tools built in)</a></li> <li>My <a href="https://www.rivermarkcu.org/">local Portland credit union with free business checking accounts</a> </li> <li><a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/chase-signup-bonuses/">Chase bank sign up bonuses (currently $200 or $300) via Nerdwallet</a></li> <li>Automatic savings accounts from <a href="https://www.acorns.com/">Acorns</a> and <a href="http://stashinvest.com">Stash</a> </li> <li>Credit builder cards (google “credit build credit union” and your state’s name!)</li> </ul> <p>I print all my checks at home directly from Word. It streamlines a lot of processes for me! <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Designed-Computer-Printed-Quickbooks-Versacheck/dp/B072M61C9N/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1534351676&sr=8-4&keywords=check+paper">If you want to print your own checks, here’s check paper!</a></p> <hr> <p><em>As always, please write in with any show questions to questions @ ohmydollar (dot) com – and let us know if you don’t use a bank or how you chose the one you have now!</em></p> <p> </p>
