Need to change banks recommendations?

[Grace_underfire]

I am looking at Bank of America, Compass Bank (the one in Alabama, TX and Florida) and Washington Mutual.
I am looking at the free checking banks in our area with more locations than our bank currently has (only has a couple since it is a small bank.)
Do you have experience with any of these banks? Any others I should look into?

BTW I am in TX.

[jbowman]

Hi, I live in Texas too. DH and I use Bank of America and have free checking (since we have direct deposit). We love the (free) on-line banking--it is super easy to use and very convenient. Plus there are ATMs all over Texas (and in other states). We've had a very good experience with them!

We looked into getting our mortgage there, but went with Washington Mutual.

HTH!

ETA: We have Wash. Mutual through a local bank, if that makes sense.

[Marisa6826]

I've heard bad things about Washington Mutual. Anna (Pritchettzoo) has had problems with them. Do you have a Commerce Bank nearby?

I opened Sophie's account there and LOVE them. They're open SEVEN days a week and I never have to wait to see a teller. Two nights a week, they're even open till something like 8:30pm. NO fees, either.

We currently have our accounts with a different bank, and the only reason I've not transferred everything to Commerce is that I just paid a ton of money for new cheques (I know, dumb reason, but it was a lot of money), and everything is currently linked. Including Jonathan's direct deposit.

-m

[Grace_underfire]

Hmmm... I don't think we have Commerce bank. Do you have a website for them? I will check it out and see if they are in our area.
BTW - I would do the same if I had ordered checks! :)

[pritchettzoo]

No, Marisa--I hate Wachovia/First Union. I told you to look for a Washington Mutual! (My insane ramblings stuck but with the wrong bank name attached...) :)

We switched to WaMu after they bought our mortgage, and they've been great so far. It really is FREE, unlike the other "free" accounts we've tried. Because they hold our mortgage, we can have as many accounts as we want and we get the mama-jamma checking account that actually bears more interest than their money market. Their online access is FREE and pretty easy to navigate. The people in the branches are nice, and you can go into the branch as many times as you want without being charged for it.

Anna

[murpheyblue2]

We have had WaMu for about 6 or 7 years with no problems. Not to sound like a commercial but their free checking is really free. No direct deposits requirements, no minimum balances, nothing. Their website is easy to negotiate and in my area there are lots of branches and ATMs.