Online banking exclusively?

[tn3sport]

Medallion signature

Lots of Notory's around, but very few can do a Medallion. Many investment firms require this for in-kind transfers. Albeit a rare requirement, only 1 of the numerous WellsFargo branches in my area had a Medallion certified rep.
Thank goodness I had a credit account w/ them. Otherwise, they would not of been able to help.

Having said that, it's (Medallion signature) the ONLY reason I've needed a brick/mortar bank in a long time...

 

[Dash man]

I use USAA, Ally, Synchrony and PenFed for online banking. The ladder three primarily for their higher savings and CD rates. We did recently open an account with TD Bank for a local bank that is near our summer and winter homes. We now have a property manager who uses TD Bank, so it gets the rent to us faster. It also gives us a place to get foreign currency for some upcoming trips. Most importantly, they're paying us $400 to open the checking and savings account with only a 90 day commitment.

 

[bUU]

Medallion signature

Again, brokerages are the solution: I can get a medallion signature at my local Fidelity office.

 

[COcheesehead]

I got rid of my local bank savings account a few years ago and I'm just using Schwab for checking. No problems.

Same here, but I use Fidelity. Only issue is you can't deposit cash. Haven't set foot inside a bank in years.

 

[Alan]

We went 100% online with no brick and mortar bank in 2006 and it has worked well for us. Mobile check deposit, when it came, made things even easier as we had no checks to mail for deposit. We made some changes a few years ago with Vanguard that required Medallion Signatures and we used our local Chase bank free of charge as we had Chase credit cards. We needed Medallion signatures with Vanguard again just before we left and when I moaned about it to our rep, and asked how we were supposed to do this from the UK once we'd moved he said that a Notary would work so we had the documents notarised instead. (Our apartment complex keeps a Notary on hand free of charge, so it was no problem in the end)

We kept our UK bank all the time we were living in the USA and used it online exclusively since the closest brick and mortar bank was thousands of miles away. Since we moved back we now have a branch of our main bank close by - a 10 minute walk - but 99% of our usage is online although we have walked in a few times during this last year to do things that would have been harder online or by phone. We have never had a check to deposit since all businesses and institutions here do things electronically and we have already moved house since arriving here as we rented for 10 months before we bought and moved. The entire process was done online or by phone - when we had to pay £275,000 for the house at "closing" I had to speak at length to a "high value transfer agent" as that sum was well over the limit for an unassisted online payment.

Last night my son, in Texas, told me that the forwarded mail included another 2 checks with refunds from accounts we had closed when we left (AT&T plus our security deposit from the apartment we used to rent). US business are all set up to take your money electronically via credit card or direct debit but rarely seem to give refunds except by physical check. We have become used to this with our extensive travel over the past 7 years so he simply takes a photograph of each check front and check and emails them to me. I then do mobile check deposits. (We've kept a US bank as I still have my pensions paid into it plus we use it for our Vanguard accounts).

 

[Scuba]

Again, brokerages are the solution: I can get a medallion signature at my local Fidelity office.

My Fidelity wouldn't do a Medallion for a transaction that didn't involve funds coming to or going out of Fidelity.

 

[Rosie]

Medallion signature

Lots of Notory's around, but very few can do a Medallion. Many investment firms require this for in-kind transfers. Albeit a rare requirement, only 1 of the numerous WellsFargo branches in my area had a Medallion certified rep.
Thank goodness I had a credit account w/ them. Otherwise, they would not of been able to help.

Having said that, it's (Medallion signature) the ONLY reason I've needed a brick/mortar bank in a long time...

Which is precisely why I set up the account at the local brick & mortar bank, because that particular bank had a Medallion rep, and I needed Medallion signature guarantees for transferring FILs assets in probate. (A Fidelity rep would not have helped because the transfers did not involve Fidelity).

As I mentioned in post #46, once probate closed and I no longer needed Medallion guarantees, I dumped that bank. Their poor service and high fees did not earn my commerce.

 

[Bestwifeever]

....
Have any of you moved to online banking exclusively with no local banking presence? I'm thinking about moving in that direction as part of my "simplify prior to retirement" movement.

Thanks,
Lumpy

A very long time ago we opened up an Ing savings account when that was the cool thing to do and maybe they paid a little bonus for signing up. We never really used it. I believe Ing turned into something else?

Now we have no "online bank with no local banking presence." We have our primary checking and savings accounts at our hometown bank and a secondary checking account at Chase, which has a branch here too. Virtually all of our primary banking is done by me, but online, but DH likes to stop in at that bank for cookies and coffee (try getting that at the online only institutions ). DH maintains the secondary account that has "his" money, almost exclusively in person with a teller, as he always has many many questions. We tried to close that account when he er'd but they talked us into keeping it open.

I'd be happy with an online-only bank but I don't think I could deal with DH's questions and there's really no downside to us with our existing banks.

 

[CodeJuggler]

I haven't had a local bank for over 20 years. I've been with USAA for longer then that and they've never been local to me. I haven't had an issue that I can recall. Used to have a lot of issues with the local banks. I used to use cash often until a coworker told me he had never really used cash for anything. I think the next day I started using the credit card for almost everything and haven't looked back. That was about 15 years ago.

 

[foxfirev5]

As long as my local bank has no minimum, no fee checking I'm keeping it. However all the serious cash is with two online banks.

 

[calmloki]

Maybe 35 years ago we were growing our rentals - borrowed against a fixed up place to buy another; did that several times using a local bank. Really was clueless that there were other options or rates. Used that local bank to make all the rental check deposits and pay the bills. Bank changed it's name about three times, but we stayed with the building. Bank managers and tellers came and went, but we were constant.

In 2010 we bid on a house while traveling through California - kept going on our trip and in Payson Arizona the auction company was calling us saying we had to sign contract immediately and pungle up a pretty substantial amount of cash - immediately. I called our hometown bank, they recognized my voice, went through some verification, and we had the funds transferred and did the house purchase using a phone and the motel computer and fax ability.

Now we still have and use the hometown bank, as well as Chase, as Chase has branches all over. Good to have a safe deposit box and a handy notary. Most of the cash is in online banks though, dragging down that ~1% interest, and with a telephone and computer we have wires sent to title companies to fund closings with loans we make to flippers. I find the online banks - Discover is one we use - can make the transfer of funds very fast and easy.

 

[aja8888]

Being a U.S. Air Force Veteran, Chase gives us a free Premium checking account and free safe deposit box. We use the account for daily/periodic expenses as our SS checks get deposited automatically each month. We use Bill Pay and have an Amazon 5% back CC through Chase. This works very well. Cash is obtained via a ATM card. We have four Chase offices within a 5 mile radius of us.

All other financial stuff is in Vanguard, Schwab or PenFed where it's all electronic transfers, payments,etc. We do keep a checking account with ALLY Bank also.

 

[MrFlish]

We use both local CU and web based (USAA) banks. It's always good to have options.

 

[jetpack]

I'm primarily online, but found many reasons to use local bank:
- Medallion signature guarantee (needed to move securities online)
- Getting Cash / Depositing Cash / Converting Cash & Coins
- Certified or cashiers checks
- I don't like or use ATM's
- free donuts & coffee on fridays

 

[meierlde]

We went 100% online with no brick and mortar bank in 2006 and it has worked well for us. Mobile check deposit, when it came, made things even easier as we had no checks to mail for deposit. We made some changes a few years ago with Vanguard that required Medallion Signatures and we used our local Chase bank free of charge as we had Chase credit cards. We needed Medallion signatures with Vanguard again just before we left and when I moaned about it to our rep, and asked how we were supposed to do this from the UK once we'd moved he said that a Notary would work so we had the documents notarised instead. (Our apartment complex keeps a Notary on hand free of charge, so it was no problem in the end)

We kept our UK bank all the time we were living in the USA and used it online exclusively since the closest brick and mortar bank was thousands of miles away. Since we moved back we now have a branch of our main bank close by - a 10 minute walk - but 99% of our usage is online although we have walked in a few times during this last year to do things that would have been harder online or by phone. We have never had a check to deposit since all businesses and institutions here do things electronically and we have already moved house since arriving here as we rented for 10 months before we bought and moved. The entire process was done online or by phone - when we had to pay £275,000 for the house at "closing" I had to speak at length to a "high value transfer agent" as that sum was well over the limit for an unassisted online payment.

Last night my son, in Texas, told me that the forwarded mail included another 2 checks with refunds from accounts we had closed when we left (AT&T plus our security deposit from the apartment we used to rent). US business are all set up to take your money electronically via credit card or direct debit but rarely seem to give refunds except by physical check. We have become used to this with our extensive travel over the past 7 years so he simply takes a photograph of each check front and check and emails them to me. I then do mobile check deposits. (We've kept a US bank as I still have my pensions paid into it plus we use it for our Vanguard accounts).

Just a thought after a few more years you might check the abandoned property site for the state in question. I recently had a check dribble in a few years after I moved and it eventually showed up in the unclaimed property site. In particular settlements to lawsuits can show up this way years after you have moved.

 

[Alan]

Just a thought after a few more years you might check the abandoned property site for the state in question. I recently had a check dribble in a few years after I moved and it eventually showed up in the unclaimed property site. In particular settlements to lawsuits can show up this way years after you have moved.

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[Zero_Footprint]

Capital One 360 - Online Bank

Virtually all of our banking is online. The bit that isn't is an ATM to get cash which I rarely carry anymore.

I haven't been into a bank branch in years. I see them littering street corners and I wonder who goes in there and for what. I suspect in a handful of years, bank branches will be closing in record numbers as online banking and "smart" ATMs with remote tellers become the norm.

Sadly local bank branches will become another victim of technology and the associated local jobs will be lost.

I'm sure the executives will enjoy fat bonuses for cutting costs and increasing profits.

 

[MatatuPuncher]

My only hesitation in going online bank exclusive is the occasional circumstance where I need to withdraw or deposit a large some of cash, say $5,000-10,000. Is there anyone that has found a work around?

 

[brucethebroker]

Thanks, OP, for the thread. We have both options, and have considered getting out of the local B&M bank business.

Interesting comments.

 

[Alan]

My only hesitation in going online bank exclusive is the occasional circumstance where I need to withdraw or deposit a large some of cash, say $5,000-10,000. Is there anyone that has found a work around?

If you are still in the cash economy to that extent then I would think you still need to have a walk in bank or credit union available.

 

[Dash man]

My only hesitation in going online bank exclusive is the occasional circumstance where I need to withdraw or deposit a large some of cash, say $5,000-10,000. Is there anyone that has found a work around?

Typically I either wire or ACH large sums of money. Wouldn't want to carry that kind of cash around.

 

[MatatuPuncher]

Typically I either wire or ACH large sums of money. Wouldn't want to carry that kind of cash around.

Yes, agreed and I certainly don't do it much. It just seems like there are maybe 1-3 times per year when I need it or need to get rid of it. Car/motorcycle purchase or sale, cash to a contractor or mechanic for a substantial discount or a very spur of the moment trip to Vegas.

 

[Dash man]

I guess I'd never trust a contractor or mechanic that offered discounts for cash. If they're likely cheating on taxes what is the quality of work they'd be doing for me to save a few bucks?

 

[bigcmagor]

I guess I'd never trust a contractor or mechanic that offered discounts for cash. If they're likely cheating on taxes what is the quality of work they'd be doing for me to save a few bucks?

+1

 

[MatatuPuncher]

I guess I'd never trust a contractor or mechanic that offered discounts for cash. If they're likely cheating on taxes what is the quality of work they'd be doing for me to save a few bucks?

I do almost all my own car and home repair so I don't do this often but there is occasionally the need. I always use a known person with a good rep and it's usually a one or two person small business. In my experience they will do a far better job than some of the big companies. They have their word of mouth reputation to rely on for new business. Last week I had a slow air leak on a custom race-tuned suspension and the repair is a bit above my skill level. It turned out to be simple fix, done in my garage and was charged $100. If I took this to one of the big shops it would have been a thousand. Did the guy claim the $100 as income? Don't know and not my problem. He's the one running the business.

As for online bank use only; i'll probably have stick with at least one brick an mortar establishment.