Should I open a new bank account?
January 6, 2018 2:02 PM   Subscribe

I moved recently and am only now discovering that banking is mildly inconvenient with my old bank in my new location.

I just moved to the Bay area a few months ago. I just got a final paycheck paid out yesterday, rather than direct deposit (apparently some weird california law that requires that you get paid out on your last day or something). I don't write a lot of checks since we've got these satellite-connected personal computers in our pockets, so it wasn't until now that I discovered that there isn't a single Suntrust branch or ATM near me.

Are there any advantages or disadvantages to moving my money to a new account? Would it be worth it for me to just pay the postage and mail in the occasional check? If not what should I look for in a new bank?
posted by postmillenial to Work & Money (14 answers total)
 
Does your bank allow you to deposit checks from your phone? My bank (USAA) doesn’t really have branches, and you can use their mobile app to deposit checks. Basically you endorse it and take a picture of it, and the money goes in your account.
posted by jeoc at 2:08 PM on January 6, 2018 [3 favorites]


SunTrust has mobile deposit on their app.

My banks are in Michigan and Illinois while I live in New York. The only thing that’s a pain is depositing cash. Not having a branch close by isn’t necessarily a problem in the 21st century.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:12 PM on January 6, 2018


Best answer: I'm in the Bay Area too and none of my banks have branches. This is mostly ok til I got a paper paycheck for similar reasons and the amount was too high to deposit with the mobile app. I think I wound up mailing it in. You can also walk into a branch of the bank printed on the check and they have to give you cash for free. Other than this one occurrence, I have never been inconvenienced by not having local branches. So I wouldn't say you need to get a local bank if this is likely a one-time occurance.
posted by bleep at 2:30 PM on January 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


There's no disadvantage to opening a new account unless it ends up costing you more than your current account. And as you've seen there is some advantage to using a bank with a local branch. Ideally you want a bank that won't charge you a monthly fee, has a competitive interest rate for savings and at least some interest for checking as well, has free overdraft protection, and has a lot of ATMs where you can make withdrawals without paying a fee. If your current bank provides all that there's probably no great need to switch, but it might be worth spending half an hour to research local banks and compare what they offer to what your current bank offers.
posted by Redstart at 3:01 PM on January 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


Best answer: I prefer having a local bank for a couple of reasons, which may or may not be relevant or compelling to you:
  • getting foreign currency (some banks won't do foreign exchange for non-customers and they tend to charge worse rates to non-customers)
  • quarters for laundry (or find a local bank that will sell your quarters without an account)
  • knowing you can get a cashier's check or large quantities of cash if you need to (good luck buying a used car privately, for instance--the seller might take a money order, but try getting a money order for thousands of dollars without access to a local bank)
I do most of my banking with a credit union that isn't local, but I keep a local account with enough money for them not to charge me a fee is.
posted by hoyland at 4:14 PM on January 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


Unless it's a credit score related account I wouldn't hesitate to open a new account. You can keep both accounts for quite awhile for a transition period.
posted by TheAdamist at 4:42 PM on January 6, 2018


knowing you can get a cashier's check or large quantities of cash if you need to (good luck buying a used car privately, for instance

Just FYI, if your debit card has a Visa/MasterCard symbol on it you can walk into any bank and ask for a cash advance if you need more cash than the daily ATM limit — I discovered this recently in exactly this situation (private car purchase).
posted by rabbitrabbit at 5:07 PM on January 6, 2018


Best answer: I've moved cross-country a couple times and opened up new accounts both times, and I only ever have banked at local credit unions. The first time I moved from my home town and let my old account linger for a bit before eventually closing it out when I visited home at some point. The second time I cashed out and got a cashier's check before leaving town, then took that check to start my new account when I got to my new area. I obviously wouldn't hesitate to start a new account (and close the old one), just make sure any payments you've made from it have cleared and you don't have any autopay or direct deposits going into it any more.
posted by LionIndex at 5:21 PM on January 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


A lot of people don't trust ANY kind of check nowadays, even a traveler's check. When buying a used car it can be convenient to go to your bank and give the seller a check direct from the bank or cash if that is what he wants.

It's difficult to buy a new car or house without a cashier's check.

Side note: in my experience credit unions don't give cashier's checks, they give the equivalent of a company check, not sure if those are accepted for all purchases.
posted by H21 at 5:38 PM on January 6, 2018


If you were to close your current account, and you have any sort of autopay or autodeposit set up on that account, you'd have to transfer all of that over. But you don't have to close your current account just because you got a new account.

I don't understand why you think it wouldn't be worth it to pay postage and mail in a check occasionally, it sounds like you don't often get checks that can't be taken care of with mobile banking. And many banks have fees so it might well cost more than the stamps to have another account.

If you want a local account it can be useful for some things though. If you decide you want a new bank, you should figure out what things you'd need to do there and look for that. Most people like there to be convenient locations and hours for banks they need to visit in person as well.
posted by yohko at 7:20 PM on January 6, 2018


Seconding that SunTrust has mobile deposit. Lots of banks do now. (I am not a customer of theirs but have seen ads for it.)

I’ve banked with my primary bank for 17 years or so. They have never existed in my state, and I have never been to the state they’re in. Mailing checks was a slight inconvenience (and worry) but I’ve had scan to deposit and mobile deposit for ages now, so it’s just cash that’s annoying. Plus I get interest on my checking account (not very much, but some is better than none), and their customer service has always been helpful for me, so I don’t really have any reason to set up a local account. (And I have, a few times, just to handle deposits and stuff, but every time I end up forgetting it was there and the bank closes the account.) if you’re not doing a lot of check deposits or having to deal with cash a lot, I’ve not seen any real benefit to having a local bank, other than just to keep stuff local.

I will note that my needs are pretty minimal - no business checking, no major asset loans (through them), etc. I more or less just need a debit card and numbers for my paycheck to be deposited. I will note that the last time I bought a car they took my regular check, but it wasn’t that expensive of a car and the down payment wasn’t very much.
posted by mrg at 9:51 PM on January 6, 2018


You don’t have to give up your existing account at bank A if you open a new local one with bank B. There are some upsides to separating the accounts for critical items (rent, insurance) from daily expenses, so long as you don’t need to keep too much of a minimum balance in either account (and are this forfeiting better interest elsewhere).
posted by janell at 10:57 PM on January 6, 2018


Response by poster: fwiw mobile deposit is what I usually do; this all came up because the suntrust app couldn't read the check.
posted by postmillenial at 1:45 PM on January 7, 2018


If you ever have a problem with your bank that necessitates going into a physical branch, you may run into problems. That is probably not going to be a common issue but if you're in that scenario, for example if your account gets locked down for fraud or something, you are probably not going to want to sit on the phone for hours trying to resolve it. Personally I feel more comfortable with a local bank, even though I almost never actually go into a branch -- just knowing it's there and I can walk in at any time and talk to them.
posted by possibilityleft at 6:51 AM on January 8, 2018


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