Poll: Ready to drop brick-n-mortar banking?

[audreyh1]

I’ve noticed that mobile deposits have a limit on the size of the deposit. I ended up depositing a check for my brother because it way exceeded the mobile deposit limit, and given the holidays we decided the easiest thing was for me to take it to my local branch of his bank.

[thepalmersinking]

If there is a problem such as account takeover or fraud. It is always better to go and talk to a live person. If the internet is compromised , you can always walk in and make a withdrawal.

[btdt22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by corn18 Been online only with USAA since online existed.

Same with me- 15 to 20+ years now without a local brick & mortar bank. USAA federal savings bank reimburses me for all ATM transaction costs. They will also overnight six digit 'bank' checks if I find something I can't live without, and the seller does not accept direct deposit, As to cash on hand, most ATM's provide up to $500 in cash and I keep a small reserve on hand just in case.

As to notaries, most local businesses I spend money at have a notary on staff and are happy to keep me as a regular customer. I also use credit cards for almost every transaction I make over $10 given the insurance, warranty, and return options card issuers provide. Some even provide replacement and repair services, not to mention cash back and 'points". The secret is to never pay interest like most card users do, by paying off within the 30 day free loan period.


We keep a fire proof safe for our important document 'originals' with copies in the 'cloud' and/or at our local county recorder's office. Valuables that are to 'expensive' to share with friends and family are sold, as keeping something hidden in a safe-deposit box until I die seems a tad ludicrous, not mention USAA has great homeowner's insurance along with riders for extra high value items.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack And my bank eliminated safety deposit boxes almost 20 years ago, so we have a safe now. Good enough that I don't see a need to have a safety deposit box anymore.

I strongly believe in using offsite storage. We store duplicate hard drive backups at the bank and change out every so often. Also most of our more sensitive papers from home when we travel in addition to the documents one usually stores long term. Whatever we have at home I’m not sure it would survive a fire, so I like having duplicates at the bank.

[COcheesehead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I’ve noticed that mobile deposits have a limit on the size of the deposit. I ended up depositing a check for my brother because it way exceeded the mobile deposit limit, and given the holidays we decided the easiest thing was for me to take it to my local branch of his bank.

That is bank specific. My online bank has accepted checks from me in the high 5 figures without issue.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I strongly believe in using offsite storage. We store duplicate hard drive backups at the bank and change out every so often. Also most of our more sensitive papers from home when we travel in addition to the documents one usually stores long term. Whatever we have at home I’m not sure it would survive a fire, so I like having duplicates at the bank.

I don’t disagree, but when our bank eliminated our safety deposit box along with all customers, we had to resort to a safe. Can’t always, but we avoid hard copies as much as possible, there’s only a few docs we must still keep in hard copy. I don’t want to put our data in the cloud, but it’s tempting without a safe deposit box...

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I strongly believe in using offsite storage. We store duplicate hard drive backups at the bank and change out every so often. Also most of our more sensitive papers from home when we travel in addition to the documents one usually stores long term. Whatever we have at home I’m not sure it would survive a fire, so I like having duplicates at the bank.

I don’t disagree, but when our bank eliminated our safety deposit box along with all customers, we had to resort to a safe. Can’t always, but we avoid hard copies as much as possible, there’s only a few docs we must still keep in hard copy. I don’t want to put our data in the cloud, but it’s tempting without a safe deposit box...

But maybe we should reconsider.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRLLS If a person has a hobby that has a sale or purchase transaction of $3-$10k cash (not checks) like buying or selling a used car, how do people with no B&M bank make that deposit or withdrawal in cash? ATM's have limits right? This is the biggest holdback of mine to making the switch to on-line.

Yes, ATMs have limits, and so does mobile deposit. If you can’t do stuff by ACH or wire, you need to walk into a local branch.

[COcheesehead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack I don’t disagree, but when our bank eliminated our safety deposit box along with all customers, we had to resort to a safe. Can’t always, but we avoid hard copies as much as possible, there’s only a few docs we must still keep in hard copy. I don’t want to put our data in the cloud, but it’s tempting without a safe deposit box...

We put a safe in long ago. Hidden in the basement. My wife loves it. Stores her jewelry in it along with other important stuff. We get more convenient use from it than we would from a safe deposit box.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelyman I forgot about the free coin machines, they’re nice to have access to in a setting that’s financially-oriented (vs a wide-open grocery store, etc).

The coin counter at my main grocery store gives Amazon or iTunes (or other retailer) amounts for no cut, so we happily use that on the very rare occasion it’s needed. I don’t think any of our local branches have coin counters as they are small branches.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcheesehead You give the cash to someone who will write you a check. You then use the auto deposit app and put the check in your account.

There are limits on mobile deposit too. Chase, for example, limits mobile deposit checks to $5000. This is a pretty serious limitation.

Just like there are ATM limits on withdrawals. Typically $1000 a day. Or can quite a bit less per withdrawal depending on the machine.

Asking someone to deal with my cash and write me a check feels like an imposition.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack I don’t disagree, but when our bank eliminated our safety deposit box along with all customers, we had to resort to a safe. Can’t always, but we avoid hard copies as much as possible, there’s only a few docs we must still keep in hard copy. I don’t want to put our data in the cloud, but it’s tempting without a safe deposit box...

Our data is quite large - most of it numerous images and video files that would cost quite a bit of iCloud storage and also slow to upload, download. These would be personally devastating to us to lose as it’s almost 2 decades of nature photography and video.

Not to mention numerous sensitive personal files/dos/records that we prefer not to store on a cloud even though it’s not nearly as large.

[COcheesehead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 There are limits on mobile deposit too. Chase, for example, limits mobile deposit checks to $5000. This is a pretty serious limitation. Just like there are ATM limits on withdrawals. Typically $1000 a day. Or can quite a bit less per withdrawal depending on the machine. Asking someone to deal with my cash and write me a check feels like an imposition.

As I mentioned above, my bank has taken checks in excess of $90k through my mobile app.

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

My pension and my Dw's pension both flow into a savings account with a local brick&mortar bank. They could flow into any bank, even an online bank would do.

We get some cash income from Farmer's Markets, and we are landlords some tenants pay in cash and some pay with a check. So it is handy for us to deposit cash & personal checks at a brick&mortar bank.

I am interested in the idea of using an online bank, but I would still need to be able to handle cash.

[JustCurious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unpaintedhuffhines Withdrawing a large amount of cash ($1,000+) in denominations greater than $20 bills. I went into a bank that was not mine with a bunch of $20s wanting to just trade it for a few hundreds, and they wouldn't do it because I wasn't a customer of theirs.

Here is the solution to this issue... I use Schwab Bank for online banking and I do not have a local brick and mortar bank and as you pointed out, one of the potential issues with not having a local bank is getting cash, and in particular getting large amounts of cash in denominations other than $20 from an ATM. Here is what I have learned in order to resolve these issues.

I can get a cash advance from the Schwab debit visa card (not a credit card) by going inside a local bank (of which I am not a customer) and going to a teller and requesting a cash advance. Apparently the local bank does not know or care whether the cash advance is being advanced from a credit card or a debit card. The teller then transacts a cash advance using my debit card and the money is withdrawn directly out of my Schwab checking and hands me the cash in the denominations of my choice. The benefit to getting cash this way is 1) you avoid the ATM transaction limit (which is usually $400 - $500 depending on the ATM), and 2) you can get whatever combination of denomination bills you want, whereas most ATMs only give you $20 bills, and 3) you do not have to pay an ATM fee. To be clear, this is not a credit card cash advance, this is a debit card cash advance, so there are no interest charges. I was not aware that a debit card cash advance was an option until it was explained to me by a very helpful Schwab customer service rep.

I should also note, based on my research, that most U.S. banks do offer debit card cash advances, but a few don't, including Citibank and Suntrust (again, based on my research, not based on personal experience). I can only say from my personal experience that there is a Chase branch close to me that does provide the service.

As a Schwab customer, I do not pay a fee, either to the local bank or to Schwab. Regarding the cash advance fee, the local bank from which you draw money is still charging a fee through the visa cash advance system (although it is a debit card cash advance, it uses the visa cash advance system), and that fee is being paid by Schwab to the bank as a fee for using them to advance cash to you, but the difference is you as the customer do not see the fee and do not pay the fee, it is being paid behind the scenes between Schwab and the local bank. This is different from the situation where you use the ATM and you do have to pay a fee (usually $3) and then you get an entry on your statement for $303.00 when you withdrwaw $300 from an ATM, and then at the end of the month you get a $3 credit from Schwab for the fee. The benefit to using the card as a cash advance is for spreadsheet nerds like me, when you get a cash advance, you only see a $300 transaction on your statement and it is much cleaner from a bookkeeping perspective and there is no need to account for the $3 with another transaction to balance out your records.

Here is another tip: Some banks are now deploying newer more advanced ATMs that have higher cash limits, and allow the selection of different denominations of bills, not just $20s. For example, I recently went to a local Chase branch that has a newer free standing ATM inside the lobby next to the teller windows that disburses $100s and $20s and I think $10s. A teller inside the bank explained that the cash limit for the outside ATM was $500 whereas the cash limit for the newer machine inside the lobby was $3,000. I was able to use the inside ATM to withdraw cash over $500 and get different denominations, the only denomination that I wanted that it did not have was $50s, but I was able to go to the teller window after withdrawing my cash and exchanging some of the $20s for $50s.

[sengsational]

Nice explanation on using the Visa debit card. The banks and CU's push those cards and I've never seen much need for them because you don't get the protection you get with a credit card. But the use case you called out is valuable. And I also encountered another use case in overseas travel...my ATM only card (non-Visa) often did not work, even though I was on a Cirrus or one of the other network ATM, but the Visa debit did work. So even though Clark Howard calls them "fake trash", they can come in handy.

[dtbach]

I like to keep about a month's worth of cash in a local bank. Useful for quickly cashing checks that I get now and then. Have used both Notary and Medallion services. Really only have about .5% of my assets with them.

[corn18]

USAA mobile deposit limit is $100,000. My bonus check always exceeds that so I have to FedEx it to USAA. Would be easier if I had a local B&M bank, I guess, but we move around a lot, so a local B&M is less manageable.

Cash is also an issue. I just get a money order and mail that in.

Getting a certified check takes a day, so not as convenient.

Notary services would be nice but we have always been able to find someone for free or $5.

We use offsite storage for our data: my MIL. I have a big safe for onsite disconnected storage and mail a HDD to my MIL twice a year. My wife brings the old HDD back when she visits.

I would love to have a B&M bank that has a hometown feel to it, but never stay anywhere long enough to establish a real relationship. So we just live with online only. USAA makes that easy, but they are not the best bank. CD rates are pathetic. Loan rates are just OK. Mutual funds are terrible, but they let you buy FIDO funds for free.

[jollystomper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sergio Why I keep $3k in a checking account at a local brick and mortar bank: 1. Can deposit cash 2. Can withdraw large amounts of cash ASAP (never needed this, but just in case) 3. Ability to withdraw $100 bills (for wedding gifts) or rolls of quarters (super useful when I lived in apartment and paid for laundry). 4. Can get a cashier's check or certified check ASAP 5. Notary services 6. Safety deposit box

Great list! I agree, many of these are why we keep a minimal (<1%) of our cash in a local bank (and the account is linked to our online banks). any interest lost is negligible compared to these services.

[dixonge]

For almost 30 years we have rarely used any sort of B&M bank. We were with USAA for many years, and they've never had any branches that I'm aware of. Non-paycheck deposits were a bit of a pain. Then briefly we used Wells Fargo in the 2006-2010 range. Then back to USAA and now with Schwab for the last 3-4 years. Schwab *does* have branch locations, but few and far between. And we'd have to fly back to the States to use them.