Banking options in relocating to Seattle

August 1, 2007 10:32 AM

I'm moving to Seattle later this month, and--being an ignoramus about banks--am trying to figure out the best banking arrangements to set up for myself.

My first question is to what extent it would be advisable or necessary to get an account at a local brick & mortar bank, vs. just moving everything to an on-line bank (such as ING, HSBC, etc.) In addition to the typical expenses of living, I'll be needing to pay for stuff like apartment deposits, establishing accounts with utilities, etc. where I'll need to be sure things will go through quickly and with no problems--is it better in such cases (and perhaps more reassuring to potential landlords) to use paper checks drawn on a local account? (I currently have an ING savings account, but have never used a totally web-based checking account.)

Second, if it does seem like a good idea to set up an account with a brick & mortar bank, could I get bank recommendations from Seattleites? My priorities are dependability, quality of customer service, and easy-to-use account management website. Washington Mutual and Bank of America appear to be the biggest players, but are there others I should be considering?

posted by Kat Allison to work & money (12 comments total)

I've been very satisfied with Washington Mutual for the last 6-7 years. My wife uses their online bill-pay for a number of our bills, there are no charges for using non-WAMU ATMs, customer service is generally excellent.

I was with BoA for a while as well and didn't enjoy the experience as much, mostly from a customer service and "ridiculous-fee" point of view.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 10:50 AM on August 1, 2007

are there others I should be considering?

The best bank is no bank if you have access to a credit union that you can join instead.
The Seattle area has brick&mortar credit unions catering to many of its industries (like tech, software, or aerospace).

is it better in such cases (and perhaps more reassuring to potential landlords) to use paper checks drawn on a local account?

Local cheques might have an edge, yes, but I think overall it's probably going to be better to be able to use cheques that you know will work, rather than putting things off until you've got a new account set up, rushing to set up a new account because you can't do anything until that's done, or trying to use temporary cheques (which no-one accepts) while waiting for chequebooks from new accounts to arrive.
posted by -harlequin- at 10:50 AM on August 1, 2007

i've always thought it easier to go to an actual branch when you need to do wire transfers and get cashiers checks. yes, you can do these things with an online bank, but its not as simple as just driving down to the local branch. those two things are typically things you need when renting apartments, buying houses, but not everyday things.

i also have a safe deposit box for things like my cars' pink slips, mortgage, insurance policies, etc.

i have a regular direct deposit job (which is best with online banks), but I also get paid with checks every so often for a side job. i don't like the idea of sending my deposits in the mail, where the odds of something going wrong are (still low, but) higher than making a deposit at an ATM or teller, with a receipt.

i use Bank of America. they had free online billpay before a lot of other banks, which i loved, but now i think most banks have that. they don't charge me anything for the accounts nor the safe deposit box. i rarely write checks for anything. i just send paper checks from the online bill pay.
posted by uaudio at 10:59 AM on August 1, 2007

I don't see how the landlord is going to know what bank you use until after he/she decides to rent to you. They are mostly concerned with whether you have income with which to pay the rent. Where that income is stored has never been an issue. As far as utilities, I've been able to do that completely online; I've never had to give a paper check.

At least with ING, you don't get paper checks to write (they mail them to the recipient for you), and depositing paper checks seems to be a hassle. (Lifehacker article) This would keep me away from online checking, personally.
posted by desjardins at 11:25 AM on August 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

BECU (Boeing Employees Credit Union) is now open to all residents of Washington. Lots of branches around the area, might be worth a checking-out.
posted by The GoBotSodomizer at 11:59 AM on August 1, 2007

I'm a non-Seattleite, but my family and I just switched to a credit union and I'm amazed at how much better it is - we're never, ever going back to a bank for our day-to-day money management. We have much higher limits for ATMs and online purchases, awesome customer service, the same Visa check cards we had before, a fantastic and actually useful website that lets us transfer money instantly between each other, pay bills, and do a bunch of other stuff without having to go to a branch, and they're open seven days a week! Even better, there are essentially no fees. We actually get reimbursed for a certain number of ATM fees per month if we're outside of the area, but we've got 25,000 ATMs across the country we can use without fees since 8,000 ATMs inside 7-11s are now on the Co-op network, which is free for credit union account holders across the country if their CU participates, which most do.

I'll need to be sure things will go through quickly and with no problems

Everything we've asked them to do so far has been either done instantly over the phone, or expedited on their end. A misprinted ATM card was replaced in one day, via overnight shipping, from their card-printing place in Omaha. We've got a branch right next to the supermarket we use and as long as you beat the rush for the half-hour after work, there's never even any waiting in line, especially on the weekend. My checks arrived just 5 days after opening my account, which was a week faster than my B of A account got them to me when I reordered them.

I used to have an account with Bank of America and my family was at WaMu, and compared to what we have now, they treated us like dirt. Routine errors on statements, overcharging on fees, refusing to cash a check even after they'd verified that funds were available, ridiculous check-clearing times on deposits, a constant need to call customer service as local tellers were often unable to manage things, and (at least with B of A) a ridiculous online security system that made things way more complex than they needed to be for the end user.

Here's a credit union open to everyone who lives and works in Washington; they're a member of a branch-sharing scheme that lets you do lots of things like cash checks and make deposits and withdrawals among other things at nearly 200 credit union branches all over the state.

So then: keep your online accounts for when you get settled, and head to a credit union for brick-and-mortar needs. Sorry if this turned into a screed, but given that I've received the same or better services at a credit union as I would at a bank for the majority of your day-to-day financial stuff, I do feel happy enough to be a bit of an evangelist here.
posted by mdonley at 12:01 PM on August 1, 2007

Finally. I have been waiting all my life to say this. The people who work at the Bank of America on Stone Way are FUCKING IDIOTS.

Ok, yeah, most people are happy at WaMU. Welcome to Seattle.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:47 PM on August 1, 2007

I'll second BECU. Real checks are really good thing to have. The "Electronic" checks from ING have taken more than three weeks to arrive for me before. Plus in an emergency, it's easier to access a normal checking account than an online savings account.

Still, keeping the ING account for savings would be good, as you won't find a brink and mortar with as good rates, but you can use your BECU (or whatever) account to pay the bills.
posted by TheSlate at 2:08 PM on August 1, 2007

WaMU has an online savings account with 5.00% APY with a linked checking account.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:35 PM on August 1, 2007

I would agree on Wamu, because of the savings account. We actually are in the process of ditching our Washington-based BofA accounts (my husband used to work for them in Seattle) because WA, OR, and ID are on some other stupid goddamn archaic system that meant that going to the bank here in Texas was something my husband had to do, to talk them through the intricacies, and then they had a policy change so that the last time I used them they froze my paycheck for a week (hence the move to Wamu). So, uh, not a big fan of WA-based BofA accounts at the moment.

It may depend on how often you use ATMs. That is why we chose Wamu over a credit union, though we may join one once we recover from buying a house and have a little more cash.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:21 PM on August 1, 2007

Welcome (in advance) to Seattle! I nth the "credit union!" answer; I like Watermark. Anyone can join. Also, you can use Yelp to find reviews of banks (and other businesses).
posted by TochterAusElysium at 6:17 PM on August 1, 2007

Get an account at an Internet bank. Schwab has a checking account with no fees, no minimums, 4.25% interest, free checks, free bill pay, and unlimited ATM fee rebates at any bank's ATMs. Also, they will waive the $1000 minimum for opening a brokerage account with them if you open it at the same time as your checking account.

I have State Farm Bank and they also have the unlimited ATM rebates and no fees if you have direct deposit, but they don't pay interest on your checking balance, so I'm thinking about switching.

The only downside is that if you get a lot of paper checks, it takes a while for the deposit to go through because you have to mail the deposits in. It could make sense to have a second WaMu account for those deposits. You can always transfer money between accounts using PayPal if you need it in one place or another (though that takes a few days).
posted by kindall at 7:25 PM on August 1, 2007