Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with money and bank

USD to EUR/Spanish Debit Cards

PaulingL — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:51:53 -0800

LivingAbroadFilter: What can I, in particular, do to avoid conversion fees from USD to EUR? I am currently living in Spain. I will be returning to the states as of summer 2010. All my money is in American banks.

Is there something I can do to avoid fees? If not, what would be the best solution so as to keep them to a minimum?

Extra Questions

I have an online ING Direct account, with one of my banks attached to it. 1. Could I withdraw money from the ING location that is near where I am now?

2. Could I open a Spanish account, and use the online ING account to transfer funds between the two? I would like to get a Spanish Debit card.

Thanks!

What is the fastest way to transfer money from one US bank account to another?

Eggbert42 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:43:22 -0800

I need to transfer a large some of money from a relative's bank account to my account at a different bank as fast as possible - how? A relative is giving me a large sum of money for mortgage purposes, and for various reasons I need it in my bank account as fast as possible (same day, ideally).

He banks at a large regional bank and I bank at a large national bank. From what I can tell, my options are wire transfer or withdrawing cash from his bank and depositing at my bank.

My understanding is that wire transfers are fast, but how long will it actually take to hit my account? Cash transfer would obviously be instant once I make the deposit, but I'm not keen to carry this much money on me, even just between banks.

Advantages to brick-and-mortar vs. online banking?

xiaoyi — Fri, 01 May 2009 03:04:08 -0800

I found an online-only bank that's better than my current one. Is being able to walk into a brick-and-mortar bank enough reason to keep my current accounts open? In 2007 I opened a checking and savings account at (what was formerly known as) Washington Mutual, attracted by high interest rates and free checking benefits. But after WaMu tanked and was bought out and interest rates went down the toilet along with the rest of the economy, I started looking elsewhere. I've since discovered the interest bearing checking and savings accounts offered by Schwab One, which has twice the interest rate of WaMu/JP Morgan/Chase (which isn't saying much but it's better than nothing), as well as several other benefits.

I already do most of my banking online anyway, and right now the only reason I need to physically walk into a bank is to deposit paper checks. Schwab gives you free prepaid envelopes and deposit slips to take care of that. So is there any reason to keep my WaMu accounts open?

Breach my britches, bitches!

chrisfromthelc — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:18:19 -0800

"Information from certain Bank of America Check Cards may have been compromised." Did anyone else receive this letter, and does anyone know anything about it? I recieved this letter today, along with a new check card (the Alaska Airlines green card). I've searched, but can't find anything pertaining to any recent security compromise. Does anyone have any information on it?

oh my should I put my money in a mattress?

borkingchikapa — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:29:53 -0800

I'm moving overseas from the US in less than a year, and my stellar powers of observation tell me that there's a good chance the dollar is going to eat shit before then. My savings are <$10,000, what can I do with them to ensure that I'm not cursing the economy when I leave? Is putting it in foreign currency enough, or is there a better option? How do I do that? I know we're probably not talking about anything catastrophic here (though maybe!), but I've had the dollar devalue on me before and it sucks even when it's a fraction of a percent. I have everything in a money market account now, which I like because I'm earning some interest but all of my money is still easily accessible. I'm not looking for some long-term investment solution, I just want to make sure I have roughly the same amount of money I put in there at the end of next year.

Guide me to well written books about financial crimes

reenum — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:49:17 -0800

I want to read more about financial crimes, real and fictitious. Any recommendations? I just read Charlie Wilson's War, which talked about the different ways the CIA laundered money to get it to the mujahideen. I've also read a couple of books about BCCI.

I want to read more about financial crimes. Jewel heists, covert operations, etc. Anything where money is being concealed and funneled to clandestine sources qualifies.

I prefer non-fiction, but well written fiction would also be up my alley.

So I ask the Hive Mind: what should I read next?

How do I check the 'health' of my brokerage?

random1destiny — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:58:36 -0800

How can I find out the health of my investment brokerage (like Fidelity.com, E-Trade, etc)? Can brokerages even crash and lose my money like in a bank failure? Much public focus has been placed on having a bank fail and people not getting their money. I know that in the case of banks, the money is covered up to 100,000 of FDIC coverage and there are sites to look up the health of your bank like http://www.bauerfinancial.com which give banks star ratings based on their current financial stability.

However, what if you have your money in stocks/mutual funds in a place like Fidelity.com or E-Trade? Can these places fail and not be able to pay you back? Are there places that rate how safe/healthy these institutions are?

Who's going to be the next Washington Mutual/Fortis/B&B?

fuzz — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:31:29 -0800

How can I keep track of the health of European banks? I've got some of my retirement money spread around in banks in Spain, France, and the UK. I'm looking for indicators that help me understand whether my banks are getting in trouble.

Can you give me any Web resources to keep track of which banks are on government watch lists, what the current CDS spreads are, who's got a lot of toxic debt, or any other useful information? Bonus points if you can explain what the indicators mean.

How likely is MY bank to fail in the coming months?

croutonsupafreak — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:11:52 -0800

How can I evaluate the financial health of a US bank using publicly available records? I know that I'm being paranoid, but the news that the failure of a single US bank could wipe out 10 percent of FDIC's deposit-insurance fund, and that more banks are expected to fail in the coming year, has me worried about the safety of my heard-earned dollars.

I'd like to get a feel for which banks have the most exposure to subprime loans and financial shortfalls because of the housing downturn. Not sure if there's anything else I should consider as I begin my research. How do I begin?

The Prints and the Popper

Christ, what an asshole — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:27:18 -0800

I have this money-making idea in mind, and I wanted to test its potential viability and profitability with some of you who may know more about banking and credit cards... So my idea is pretty simple. For starters, I have great credit. My plan is to take out a couple new credit cards with a $10,000 line. I take it off one and invest it into a CD account with 4% interest (like ING, for example). Every month, I pay off the $10,000 going back and forth between cards, and in the span of a year, I net $400 from interest on the CD account.

Or take out 24 cards and net $400/month (104 cards/$400/week, etc.).

So yeah, it seems simple enough in my head, at least other than for the potential non-FDIC insured $520,000 I'll have floating around and the nightmare of paperwork on tax day.

So do I have it wrong anywhere? Am I overlooking anything?

Foreign Money Tax Filter

paperlanterns — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:06:25 -0800

Foreign Money Tax Filter: This is likely a silly question, but please humor me. Money sat in an interest-friendly account overseas for 20 years, was finally all withdrawn this year.... An older relative deposted a sum of money in an British bank many, many years ago. The money sat there and grew. 20 years later -- this year -- the relative had the money (principal + interest, and closed the account) sent over to the US and it was converted into dollars ($xx,xxx).

How do they claim this on their taxes? The sum total of it as interest income and just state that it's from a foreign bank? The money was earning interest overseas through out the years, but relative never claimed it on prior tax forms-- will this be a big problem for the IRS? Relative wants to just claim everything ($xx,xxx) on this year's tax form and pay all the tax on this interest income now.

Does this make sense? Apologies if there is an obvious answer. And I know you are not my tax accountant/lawyer!

Is the money supply contracting, or expanding?

Pastabagel — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:39:51 -0800

FinanceFilter: Is the money supply contracting, or expanding, after netting all the Fed action, bank closures, mortgage defaults, etc? The dollar falling seems to signal a net increase of money supply, but this is inconsistent with the thesis of a credit or liquidity crunch. If the money supply is growing at a slower rate due to tighter lending practices, shouldn't the dollar be rising, even in the face of Fed-rate cutting? Do we know the net expansion or contraction of the money supply due to the combination of rate cuts and mortgage defaults? I understand that Fed rate cuts have the effect of increasing the money supply. I understand that lower rates lower the value of the dollar, because it puts more dollars into existence tomorrow than existed today, i.e. given a constant demand, the increase of supply lowers the price.

The housing boom that peaked in 2005 involved people borrowing money to buy houses that it turns out they could not afford. This borrowing of money expanded the money supply back then. I understand that as people defaulted on their mortgages, the money supply didn't recontract (as the money that was created was spent on the house and put into the system). But as the dominoes fell, and first the mortgage companies, then regional and national banks, then CDO-holding brokerages and hedge funds were hit and stopped lending out, there should have been an attendant lack of money (from mtge payments, etc.) to lend out to future borrowers. So the money supply in the future should be smaller than we expected it to be last year. Shouldn't this cause the dollar to rise (or fall slower)?

In other words, given the 2005-2006 money supply and interest rates, the dollar had a price. But given future lending trends, the money supply growth should be slower, which other things being equal should increase the value of the dollar, right?

Is it possible that the Fed knows quantitatively the extent of the default/CDO worthlessness problem (and future money supply contraction), and isn't revealing publicly what it knows? If so, wouldn't this mean that when the Fed cuts rates, we don't hear about the amount of the money supply contraction that the Fed's inflationary move is supposed to offset, we only hear about the inflationary part of it and conclude therefrom that the money supply is growing too fast?

Is there an international money transfer service with an API that supports transfers to Vietnam, Sri Lanka?

tnoetz01 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:24:02 -0800

I'm designing an online application for a large number of users, and I'm looking for an online service to automate payments to international destinations using some sort of API or batch process. The service needs to support transfers from the U.S. to India, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. Since PayPal doesn't yet support transfers to Sri Lanka or Vietnam (only from), it's not an option.

Is anyone else having bank problems?

mr. creosote — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:41:53 -0800

Has anyone noticed banks here in the U.S. pulling shenanigans today? This may be nothing but I want to ask anyway. One of our friends tried to cash his CD today for several thousand dollars. The bank manager had to call a higher-up to get approval, and they declined to cash the CD saying that because it wasn't paid for in cash, it couldn't be cashed out. Another friend said their bank imposed a cap on wire transfer limits this week.

Tonight, my wife and I were doing our monthly bill paying, the same way we've always done. Up until last month the web interface always allowed us to move money immediately between our accounts. It no longer allows this and is making us wait until the next business day (Monday), thus we're unable to pay our bills out of that account this weekend and understandably we're pissed.

And of course what do I hear on the news but job numbers being way down and Bush finally talking about a recession.

Is this just weird coincidence or have you all noticed any new troubles?

Bank error in my favor?

gueneverey — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:03:15 -0800

The mystery of the missing check: I wrote a check for December's rent. My apartment management company deposited it on December 11, and apparently it cleared. A month later, the money still has not been taken out of my checking account. The transaction did not show up on last month's statement either. What's going on? I haven't noticed anything else amiss with my account. There's always plenty of money in there to cover my expenses. I have written two other checks since December 11, which have been taken out just fine.

So, what the heck could cause this? And more importantly, am I being over-optimistic in thinking maybe I just got some free money? Is there a limit for how long a bank can take to carry out a transaction?

Or, is there any chance there's something fishy going on that I should be concerned about? (By fishy, I mean identity theft or something...my apartment management co is fantastic, and I would not at all suspect them of trying to pull something)

I'm with US Bank if it makes a difference.

Transferring money from a US bank account to a german one?

freddymetz — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:35:39 -0800

Transferring money from a US bank account to a german one? I just got my first translation job and i'm having trouble with agreeing on the payment method.
She wants to pay the money to a US bank account but i don't have one.
I have two options:
i could theoretically let her transfer it to the bank account of someone i know in the US.
The problem there would be, how would that person then transfer the money to me, and what charges would be applied?

I use paypal by the way and would like to use that, but the woman doesnt have it.

The second option is, that she would transfer the money directly to my account (postbank germany). What charges would apply then if its even possible?

Also should i demand payment before sending her my translation or after?

The More Bank Accounts the Better?

andoatnp — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:56:25 -0800

Any reason not to open a couple more bank accounts for all the gifts/rewards/incentives they offer? Right now I have an old bank account from California (checking and savings) and a credit card attached to it which I use frequently, a new bank account for the city I moved to, which doesn't have any branches of my old bank (checking only), and a credit card with a third bank, that I only use a couple of times a year.

This more than covers any banking needs I would actually have, but a number of local banks are offering various incentives to open an account, most enticingly, 75 dollars in free groceries if I set one up.

If I am financially able to park whatever the minimum amount is in a free checking/savings account for a year, is there any other downside to opening up a couple more accounts for the rewards?

I'm specifically wondering if it does any damage to my credit score, as I understand having a number of unused credit cards would. Is there any other reason not to?

What bank and/or credit card are best for implementing a 100% online, paperless, automated, personal finance system

lsemel — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:06:59 -0800

What bank and/or credit cards are best for implementing a 100% online, paperless, automated, personal finance system? I want my entire personal finance system to be online, paperless, and automated. My bank is maddeningly archaic when it comes to online banking. It deletes transactions after 3 months so you can't download them and have to type them in, won't export automatically into Quicken without paying exorbitant extra fees, constantly sends me paper statements and other solicitations, uses cryptic identifiers for merchants so you can't actually identify where you bought anything, makes me 're-verify' my online access should I log in from a different computer, and basically seems stuck in the last century when it comes to the Internet.

I want to find a bank and/or credit card that:
1) let me download all my transactions, whenever I want, and never deletes them
2) keeps all statements online, in PDF format, forever.
3) automatically downloads into Quicken or another personal finance program, without incurring any extra fees, and without having to manually log into the site every time
4) does everything via email -- doesn't send me paper statements or tons of other crap
5) lets me set up automatic payments to anyone I choose, using whatever schedule I choose
6) sends account alerts and notices via email
7) uses understandable descriptions so you know what a transaction was

Has anyone found anything like this? Or is the entire banking system hopelessly behind the times?

cashiers check no account?

debu — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 12:17:01 -0800

I need to pay someone within the next few hours, and I found out I can't do this in cash (which I have). Also, I'm in another city, my bank isn't here, and I don't have my checkbook. Does anyone know of a bank or similar that will let me get a cashiers check without an account (I'm in San Francisco btw) ? Or is there a place I can get "1" money order for $750 ? the person doesn't want "multiple" money orders :/ thanks

Alternatives to the "suitcase full of £50 notes" method

doctorpiorno — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 04:45:35 -0800

What is the best, most cost-effective way to transfer about £9,000 from a bank account in the U.K. to another in Spain? I will be relocating from the United Kingdom to Spain in two weeks. This is a semi-permanent move, and therefore I would like to tranfer the funds in my HSBC current account into my existing Spanish (Caja Madrid) bank account. I have looked at previous AskMe threads for advice, but most of it seems to be quite U.S. specific.

Right now the only option seems to be simply asking my bank to wire the money. While their fees are reasonable, the exchange rate they apply means they get to keep about €150 (vs. the exchange rate quoted at XE.com). It's not as horrible as I had feared, but it still strikes me as kind of cheeky.

I have also considered getting a Lloyds TSB International Account, but they have weird restrictions when it comes to accepting money transfers from third parties into these accounts. This makes it unusable for my purposes, since I plan to become a freelance contractor and those transfers would be my main source of income.

I guess there have to be some British expats in the Hive Mind who have been through this before, so I thought I would ask for your input. Does anyone know of a more cost-effective way to send the money over without much fuss and expense? Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance!

How do i cash this canadian money order?

BSummers — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:45:38 -0800

How do i cash this canadian money order? i have recieved in the mail what appears to be a canadian money order from the toronto dominion bank for 500 CAD. it says on it "OUTSIDE CANADA NEGOTIABLE BY CORRESPONDENTS AT THEIR BUYING RATE FOR DEMAND DRAFTS ON CANADA" so maybe this is more like a cashiers check, my problem is i do not have a bank account so how do i turn this into real money?

Can I ETF to the wrong name?

acoutu — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 15:38:24 -0800

Banking Filter: Can I do an ETF if the bank account number is right but the name is wrong? Last year, I asked about cashing a cheque with the wrong name on it. Flash forward 12 months and I want to know what happens with electronic funds transfer in the same situation.

Google Adsense pays by cash and by ETF. The cheques have both my business name and personal name on them, so I have the choice of depositing to either a business or personal account. However, when you try to set up Adsense for an ETF, it only lists the business name as the account holder. Does this matter? Can I set up the ETF to go to my personal account, which is under my own name?

Thanks.

Bad Credit Mistake, Good Person

mammamia — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:35:05 -0800

I have a question about resolving an issue with my credit that is keeping me from opening a new bank account. I was overdrawn at Washington Mutual in California. The amount is around seven hundred dollars. It went to a credit agency a while ago and now shows up on my credit report. I have moved to Pennsylvania and when I went to open a new bank account, surprise surprise was not allowed to. The bank employee told me that what I needed to do is call the credit company and tell them that I will pay the full amount, (which I want to do, and thankfully, can now), if I get them to agree to send a written confirmation that I have made good on my debt and that the matter has been resolved. He said that is the only way that I will ever get to open an account at any bank. A few weeks ago, I went through metafilter with a fine tooth comb to find advice on how to go about this, but didnt find the answers I need. These are two of the more helpful threads about credit issues that I found.
http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/49726

http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/34048

I went to the websites suggested by the metafilter community but didn't come out any wiser. Basically, I dont want to screw this up and do even more damage to my credit. How do I get the creditors to agree to send a statement before I make a payment. What exactly should I ask them to state? What would be ideal, and what is realistic to expect? How do I avoid paying the money and not getting any letter, or getting a letter that the bank wont find satisfactory enough to let me open an account? Help! Signing over paychecks to my mom to cash is getting old.

All Hail the Union

pomegranate — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 07:55:40 -0800

How do you find and pick the right credit union? I'm finally moving past the bank my parents picked for me 25 years ago, and generally taking more responsibility for smart personal finances. I'd like to move all of my partner and my accounts to a credit union, but I don't know how to pick which one. My partner works for a university now but soon won't, and my company doesn't offer any particular memberships. All the credit unions I see online seem local and really small, is that a problem? Would I get worse rates and benefits if I went with a larger one like Smart Financial? If you use a credit union, how's it going for you?

Are ATMs the perfect machine?

TBoneMcCool — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 12:00:45 -0800

Do ATMs make errors? I realized the other day that after a more than 15 years of constant ATM use, I've never erroneously received too much or too little money from a cash machine. ATMs break down all the time, and they sometimes run out of money, but I've never heard of a cash machine handing out too much or too little money. My question is twofold: First, have any of you ever received an erroneous withdrawal amount from an ATM? Second, how can these machines operate with such an extremely low error rate? Every other electronic/mechanical device that I can think of -- cars, bicycles, computers, electric grids, airplanes -- break down or make critical or catastrophic errors from time to time. But the cash-dispensing functions in an ATM somehow seem to be immune.