Any reason to maintain a local (brick & mortar) checking account?

[rk911]

we have accounts at both a brick and mortar bank and an online bank. we have a checking and money market account there plus a safety deposit box. $30 p/y for the box and no fees for the checking. the online bank is used for excess savings. we write maybe 50-checks a year. we could likely switch everything to but the box to online but we've had accounts at a B&M bank for 50-years. like an old ez chair it's reliable and comfortable.

 

[KenZ71]

Got both

Got car loan through local credit union as they had best rates.

When we needed a notary for a home purchase POA they refused. UPS store covered us.

Schwab sent bank checks via overnight mail for the house deposits.

 

[Exchme]

DW makes us keep enough money in a local savings bank to buy a car ever since the time I accidentally ran the checking account down below that level - on the day she went to buy a car. Oops.

We also have been trying to consolidate IRAs to Vanguard and they want Medallion signature guarantees every time we go to move money, so it's handy to have a relationship with the local bank. We found a local bank that still has safe deposit boxes, so we keep a little money there too.

My daughter wanted to refinance her fairly small mortgage and couldn't get any on-line people interested, but the bank made a decent offer.

So the total amount of cash tied up is just part of an emergency fund that I wouldn't have invested anyway and it's handy to have those services.

 

[PatrickA5]

I need a safety deposit box.

Brought back memories....

When I was 16, I worked in the cash vault of a local bank. They hired local high school kids in the CEO program to work half days. We counted cash and coins and gave the tellers their cash in the mornings. So, here they had a 16 year old and a 19 year old "supervisor" in charge of tens of thousands of dollars. It was a fun job that I had from 16-20 while going to school.

Anyway, the Controller once heard me say "safety" deposit box to a customer. I got in big trouble because it's a "safe" deposit box - or so she said. That has stuck with me my whole life. That, and the nickel an hour raise she gave me one year bringing my wage from $1.35 an hour to $1.40 an hour. I almost told her to keep it.

I kind of liked that job. I could count a strap of 50 bills in 11 seconds. I also found a ton of silver coins that the bank allowed us to keep (if we replaced them). Sold them years later for a nice down payment on a car.

 

[davebarnes]

and I need cash.

I have not used cash in the USA in the last 2 years.
Not once.
Apple Pay, credit cards, and Venmo.

 

[mountainsoft]

I moved our savings accounts to Discover online bank a couple years ago, but still keep our checking accounts at our local US Bank branch. The main reason is to have access to our safe deposit box where I keep a backup of my computer data.

It's also nice to have a local branch for the rare times I need to withdraw cash or talk to a real person (almost never).

I have a small business checking account, which I have not been able to find an equivalent online.

We also still have a couple credit cards through the local bank, though we no longer use them regularly and just keep them active as emergency cards (they have higher credit limits than our main credit card).

 

[Blue531]

I still use the same Brick & M bank I started with over 35 years ago, however I rarely ever go there unless I need to deposit a rare check. My paycheck was automatically deposited in my checking all these years. I pay bills with my checking account. I don't deposit into a savings account anymore since i opened a brokerage account. I transfer back and forth between my brokerage and my checking as needed now since I don't collect a paycheck. I don't think my bank is online yet, however I can access needed information over an automated phone line. Works for me.

 

[mrfeh]

The only time I visit my CU is to get a cashier's check.

 

[BeachOrCity]

My little brick and mortar Credit Union earned my trust and loyalty years ago.

They don’t charge me anything to have an account there. They are “low fee” and most importantly they know me.

Why is knowing me important? When someone called in pretending to be me to get access to my account they did not recognize them. They were not only denied, but I got a phone call and a personal explanation so I could be alert.

This is priceless to me. Think your internet bank would even know....doubt it.

So this credit union is my hub account. Big bucks are elsewhere but they get my direct deposit and all my day 2 day transactions.

 

[Dtail]

I use my B&M bank for the reasons below. All bills are paid through my Fidelity CMA account. I have Ally for CD's.

Safe Deposit Box (Free)
Large cash withdrawals without messing with ATM
Cashiers Checks
Notary and Medallion signatures (Free)
Deposits of cash

I keep $5K in the free checking account for emergency purposes.

+1 same reasons as above.

 

[athena53]

Just curious, how do folks without local B&M banks handle larger cash deposit and withdrawals? (e.g.10k or more)

I sold a car to someone who paid me $2,000 in cash. I may go through that much cash in a year- I like to put everything on credit cards to get the 2% cash back and pay in full every month.

I gave the $$ to my church Treasurer as an advance on my annual pledge. I usually pay that by check so no 2% lost. Because it was in an envelope and I handed it to her (didn't just throw it in the collection), it was properly recorded. Never needed a large amount of cash for anything- I suppose I'd have to plan ahead and do daily ATM withdrawals till I had enough.

 

[misanman]

Friends of ours recently had a possible bank fraud issue come up on a Saturday night (don't ask!). They went to the police department. The police called the president of the bank (which was local). He went in to the office at 10:30PM to put a freeze on their accounts and then they went in on Monday morning to clean things up. I suppose there would be a way to handle this with an online account but I thought they got really good service. They were so pleased they closed their BA accounts (which they access online) and moved everything to the local bank.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

My mom and uncle inherited some U.S. Savings bonds. She processed hers at her local bank. He used a credit union, which couldn't cash them. He had to open a bank account for that.

 

[walkinwood]

Thanks all, for your comments.

I have never needed a Medallion Signature, but if I need it in the future, that seems to be a good reason to keep the account.

I am trying to simplify our financial landscape and wanted to reduce the number of financial institutions. But for now, I think I'll keep the local B&M account.

Thanks again.

 

[FDC319]

After I moved to my retirement state I opened a local savings account at a well respected local chain for all of the reasons mentioned above. I keep $1K in it so as to avoid fees/have a small local reserve. I also added this bank to my brokerages in case I get frozen out of my primary bank. My primary checking is still with USAA, but it is nice to have local access.

I have also been selling a few items locally for cash and am sitting on about $1500 ish in a coffee cup. As there are a lot of cash only services here, wood, plow, some FTF transactions, I plan on keep the cash. If I acquire more, the local bank is convenient for deposits.

 

[FDC319]

I have never needed a Medallion Signature, but if I need it in the future, that seems to be a good reason to keep the account.

I have never been a bank customer with a bank which offered a Medallion Signature Guarantee until a couple months ago, but have needed said signature three different times. In my experience, it is a royal pain in the backside to find a bank which will offer them to non customers.

 

[athena53]

The last time I needed a Medallion Signature Guarantee was in 1979 when I liquidated a mutual fund. I still remember calling the bank where I had a passbook savings account and getting confirmation that yes, they'd be open that evening on my way home from work. It was locked up and only the drive-through was open. We had to use the drive-through to get them to let us in the building.

What transactions require a Medallion signature these days?

 

[FDC319]

What transactions require a Medallion signature these days?

I needed one to get gifted stock out of Computershare, transfer a Roth IRA from Dodge and Cox to Fidelity, and one other, I forget which. This was all within the last 10ish years and was wholly company dependent.

 

[RunningBum]

What transactions require a Medallion signature these days?

Vanguard required one for some transactions, like gifting/transferring to my son's VG account, not too many years ago. That's been replaced by their voice confirmation. Might be only for brokerage accounts. I know that when I switched to that I was still using the old form that required the medallion sig, but the brokerage version of the form did not.

Will I have another need in my lifetime? I don't know. For keeping $500-$1000 in a Wells Fargo savings account, I'm covered for this and the other things I mentioned. Worth it to me, even though WF doesn't have the best rep, but I wasn't with them during the bogus account openings fiasco. I was with BofA, but they've closed too many branches and they often aren't convenient to me.

 

[Gotadimple]

Interesting discussion. I have a credit union account that I uses for checking, savings, and borrowing. That said, I haven't been in the branch in years, and do most everything electronically. However, there are times when I need to break a larger bill into smaller $1 bills, as I prefer to pay tips in cash. That's when the drive-up window becomes important.

 

[TrvlBug]

I use my B&M bank for the reasons below. All bills are paid through my Fidelity CMA account. I have Ally for CD's.

Safe Deposit Box (Free)
Large cash withdrawals without messing with ATM
Cashiers Checks
Notary and Medallion signatures (Free)
Deposits of cash

I keep $5K in the free checking account for emergency purposes.

The above plus tip money and ATM access when traveling.

 

[troutnut1]

While working on an estate and all that entails I found out that being able to get a Medallion signature guarantee is crucial, and I don’t know how I would have ever gotten one if I didn’t have my normal brick and mortar (literally in this case) banking relationship. We have always left at least several thousand there locally and pay bills out of that account sometimes. Recently I needed $7,500 cash for a second hand riding mower and it was handy to get a big wad of cash at the drive-up window on short notice. Had our revised wills notarized and witnessed there again recently in case we die of covid. They made special arrangements to meet us even thought their lobby is closed to the public, and even offered to meet us with the notary and witnesses at our car. But most of our funds are online at Fidelity and such. Still grateful I kept the local one though!

 

[street]

I would never give up my local bank, ever. For all the reasons given and it is a place I can park money and be able to walk in a place and do business eye to eye with people I trust.

 

[triangle]

I visit my local credit union a few times a year, most often to get $100 bills for travel or a gift.

But I do wonder if/when there will be a decline in physical bank locations. While I have not noticed any bank branches closing in my area, I do not remember seeing any new ones being built since the '08 financial crisis.

 

[jeffmete]

We moved after retirement and we kept the old credit union and banked remotely. Then I sold a classic car and the guy showed up with $24K in cash! So I joined a credit union here instead of driving 5 hours to our old CU. They also told me not to deposit all at once, I think they said after $10K they were forced to let the government know I was depositing cash.