Banks

So, I dislike my bank. When I got to the States, I needed to move fast to start my new job, so I went with BB&T because my parents used them and they had branches in Tennessee and D.C. So far though, I’d estimate I’ve paid them at least $100 in fees, and I’m tired of them.

When I opened my account with them, I decided to put $5000 in one of their CDs. I knew that I was going to be moving and that my finances were uncertain. When I explained this to the guy opening the account and asked about transferring money in and out of the CD, he told me I could to so once a month without penalty. Once I got to D.C. I had to take some of it out to cover my security deposit and was promptly penalized.

About a month later I deposited my paycheck in an ATM. It turns out that the checks weren’t signed. So, the bank removed that amount from my account. They didn’t however remove the hold that had been placed on that amount, so effectively withdrew those checks twice, overdrawing my account. After going to the bank twice and getting the amount straightened out, I asked them to remove the $100+ in overdraft fees since they had overdrawn my account, not me. I called them twice and they kept saying they were doing it and finally they removed about $50 of them. I just didn’t have the energy to keep calling them.

I’ve never been in there and it taken less that fifteen minutes to do anything. I went it to close my CD yesterday and after almost 45 minutes and a lengthy phone conversation, one of the managers managed to get it closed.

I’m just tired of it and want a new bank. My money is currently broken down into four main categories:

• Checking: Money for monthly expenses. All I need here is a check card of some sort and online bill payment. I didn’t ever get a checkbook for my account because my address keeps changing and the only check I have to write is for rent. The one thing BB&T has done right is making it easy to get a check sent to him.
• Emergency Funds: This is a chunk of change for dealing with something like a car accident or chipped tooth or whatever. It needs to be accessible within three or four days. For this I’ve got a savings account at ING Direct named “BB&T Sucks” that’s earning 4.35%.
• Retirement: MPP does a SIMPLE IRA through American Funds. I’m withholding almost 20% at this point. I’m trying to push my income as close to the $30,000 jump from 15% to 25% as possible.
• Investing: This is still theoretical because I’ve been upping my IRA withholding to compensate for extra money I have. (I’m actually withholding 30% currently, but that will average out to 20% by the end of the year.) In a month or two though, I’d like to put a couple thousand dollars in something, probably an index fund.

So, does anyone have a bank they’ve been really happy with? Branches in Tennessee and D.C. would be nice. Not sucking would be awesome.

(If anyone ever decides to open an ING account, let me know. For a referral, I get $10 and you get $25.)