We wrote about why Mr. PoP and I combined our finances when we got married, but we actually didn’t end up closing many accounts to do so. Why? Well, basically Mr. PoP’s primary financial institution was a credit union (PSECU), and mine was a big nationwide bank, so all we did was make the accounts joint at both institutions and now we have the benefits of a smallish credit union, and a big nationwide bank.
Our Bank – Wells Fargo
When I was in elementary school and set up my very first bank account (for birthday and Christmas checks) it was a Wells Fargo branch that my mom took me to in 1992! My parents had banked there for as long as I had been aware of what a bank was, and it had the benefit of being within walking distance from our house. So I could walk over with my checks and feel like I was depositing them like a “big kid”.
Even though it was a big chain (regional then, but nationwide now), the service at Wells Fargo always felt very personal, and there were more than a few occasions over the last 20 years that I’ve had accounts there when the bank managers went above and beyond to help me out in an unusual situation. (Moving money internationally, establishing debit and credit cards for me very early, etc.)
So What Do We Have At Wells Fargo?
(1) Complete Advantage Checking Account Package - We’re grandfathered into the Complete Advantage checking account package, but they have a Preferred Package that is available currently and is pretty similar. The basic idea is that there are smallish fees associated with the different parts of the package, but they are waived when you link accounts, have direct deposit, have a Wells Fargo credit card, have a Wells Fargo mortgage, or other similar activities. Unless you can meet these conditions all the time, we wouldn’t recommend an account with fees.
(2) Money Market Savings Account – This was actually set up as part of the checking account package. A direct deposit of $75/month from your Wells Fargo is all that is needed into this account to waive the fees on the account. We have a scheduled automatic deposit from our WF checking to this savings account every month, and I’ve been told by many bankers that if you wanted to schedule a transfer of the same dollar amount back to checking several days later each month (as long as it has cleared), you still get the waived fee, even though your average daily balance in the account would be close to $0.
(3) Wells Fargo Platinum Visa Credit Card – Wells Fargo set me up with my first credit card when I went to college, and this is the card that remains from that. It’s for emergency use only since we get no rewards on it, and the interest rate is actually pretty high. But it’s one of my longest credit lines, so we leave it open.
(4) HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) – We took out this HELOC against our rental duplex. The HELOC has a term of 10 years, where we could pay interest-only if we chose. (We’re not choosing that road – see here for our debt prioritization details!) The current rate is 5.99%, though that’s variable and we expect it to climb as the Fed raises rates in the future. (Though seriously – what is up, Bernanke? You really think it’s a good idea to keep rates this low through mid-2015? *sigh*) The HELOC had very low costs to open as compared to a mortgage – the fees were less than $400 to open a 10-year line of credit for $38K. If we close the account in the first 5 years, there is a $500 fee to close it, but there’s no penalty for having it paid off and keeping it open with a $0 balance, which is what we intend to do when it’s paid off.
(5) Residential Mortgage - This is the mortgage for our home, the PoP homestead. We refinanced with Wells Fargo last year into a 15-year mortgage at a 3.25% interest rate. Though the refinance was a huge headache to complete, it’s hard to argue with those kind of savings.
All in all, Wells Fargo has been pretty good to us over the years. Yes, there was the awkwardness where I met our “personal banker” and was offered a $100K unsecured line of credit. And, yes, there was the headache with the refinance trainwreck, but overwhelmingly over the last twenty years, our experience is that their people know their stuff and take care of their customers.
What’s your experience with your bank? Do you use a big nationwide chain like Wells Fargo, or a smaller local bank? Do you get charged fees? If so, how much?
We use Fifth Third and there are never any fees. That is why I love them!
No fees sounds great – is that even for wire transfers, etc?
I always hated Fifth Third because their of their logo. Nerd that I am, it bothered me that 5/3 is technically read five-thirds, not Fifth Third =)
My dad has been trying to get me to switch but I haven’t gotten around to it..was on the fence but it’s good to read feedback like this!
Switching can definitely be a PITA these days with all of the automated withdrawals and stored account information all over the place. If/when you do switch, consider leaving your old account open for several months or more with a little money in it just to make sure you’re not hit with a surprise auto-pay from the account. There’s nothing to make you bitter about switching like getting a bounced check fee.
Right now we both have accounts (like you we had previous individual accounts but are now joint)at a local credit union. I’ve never had a bad experience with them and we don’t get charged fees for anything. Overall I’m happy with them. I’ve never used a national bank like BofA or Wells Fargo, although I did try to refinance our home through WF and it ended up not going through but they did help fix a lot of the problems that our original loan had so if I had to go with a big bank Wells Fargo would be my choice.
Glad that you don’t have fees for anything – does that include things like wire transfers? If so, you have a heck of a deal there!
We do have to pay for wire transfers but I’ve never had to do one and I don’t anticipate ever having to do one in the future.
Gotcha.
My wife & I use US Bank. I know they have some fees, but we’ve always been able to avoid them all. We do have our mortgage through Wells Fargo as they were able to get us the best rate at the time.
Glad you got a good rate with WF. Was it your initial loan or a refinance?
I am not loyal to banking institutions to use them as one stop shopping – I know what I am looking for in each type of account and search for it specifically. But I am loyal in the sense that as long as I find a good provider on my criteria, I am not looking to jump ship for marginal improvements.
Checking account – no fees, good bill payment online interface and branch not too far away – in that order. Signed up with PNC as a student and stayed ever since. I am probably not the best deal for them because I keep very low checking account balance. I would hate if I had to maintain minimal balance or remember to take certain steps to waive fees – that alone would make me leave immediately
Saving and money market – decently high rates, good online interface, easy opening of sub-accounts. ING Direct meets all these nicely
Mortgage – rate of course, but also good online tracking info and customer service. Used BoA before, but just went with an ING 5/1 ARM. If we ever get a new house and need fixed term will likely go to a mortgage broker and let them find me a deal
Credit cards – rewards and (you guessed it) good online tracking. Currently use Amex BlueCash Preferred for supermarkets and gas, Chase Amazon for the online shopping and restaurants, either of them is OK for anything else, and I keep my oldest credit card for credit score purposes with a few automated payments on it.
I like that approach – and it’s got to be worthwhile to switch in the long run. Not just for a temporary rebate.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about ING. Our credit union rates used to be comparable to ING direct, but have fallen off over the past couple of years. The incremental benefit of switching just hasn’t been there, though.
We just started using the Amex Blue Everyday (the baby version of the Preferred since I’m not convinced it’d be worth the $75 fee for us) and the only thing that has annoyed me so far is that their bonus mall has seemed to be perpetually “out of order”. What the heck is up with that?
Our mortgage is with Wells Fargo and we just had a terrible time with refinancing but ended up with the 3.25 rate as well. I’ll have to read your story and see if it is similar to ours. We don’t really have any big chain banks in our small town, so we use a local one with no fees and have savings with ING because their rate is a little better.
I’ve heard a lot of people like ING, their rates have not traditionally been much better than our credit union, so it hasn’t been worth it to give it a shot.
Do you think your loyalty to WF has helped you throughout the years, aside from the outrageous offer of the 100k unsecured credit, haha? Also thanks for the encouragement on my cc debt free post!
You’re very welcome!
I think the loyalty has helped somewhat in that there have been times in my life when bankers bent the rules a little bit to get stuff done for me and maybe they wouldn’t have if they didn’t know I had been a loyal customer for so long. They weren’t huge rule bends, but little stuff like getting me a full-blown VISA debit card before I had reached the age when they usually allow it, helping streamline the process on wires (which for some reason I feel like I’ve had to do too many of in my life!), reversing fees, and even simple stuff like letting me deposit checks made out to just Mr. PoP into our joint account even if it’s my signature on the back. Technically I think none of those things should really fly, and maybe they just do it for everyone, but I think the more likely scenario is that our loyalty has helped us in these very small ways.
I signed up for a brick and mortar nationwide bank when I was little and that’s pretty much the only reason I still have it. I also have a lot of direct deposits and automatic bill pay’s tied to it so also out of laziness. I’ve never got amazing service, and I definitely haven’t gotten the best rates on mortgages, CD’s etc. I use Ally for most of my banking needs and they have provided me with awesome customer service and I’ve only had to go in to my local bank to get a money order once in a while.
There’s a lot of intertia involved with switching banks – that’s definitely part of why we’re still with Wells Fargo, although it sounds like we’ve gotten better customer service than you have had with your big bank.