Billium

Hi guys I'm going to open my first savings account finally My mom is telling me to choose BofA or Chase. What do you guys think?

magician

I've found that most credit unions far surpass banks in their level of service. I've been a customer of SchoolsFirst (formerly Orange County Teachers) Federal Credit Union for years; I'd never go back to a bank.

To be a member of a credit union you have to be a member of a particular group (a teacher in my case), but the groups vary widely: there's a credit union in Orange County, CA where the requirement is that you live in Orange County, CA.

I'd encourage you to look at all the credit unions in your area and see if you qualify for any of them. Then compare their services to BofA and Chase; I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

JohnsS2000

I am a credit union member and would not go anyplace else. I have never paid a fee aside from using an occasional out of network ATM. Not once has my account been short (18 years as a member now) and have found that most traditional banks could car less about any member unless you have a substancial commercial account.

Billium

Well I'm 18 and a senior in high school so I dont really know anything about credit unions. I was planning to get a savings account, but I will definitely ask my mom about the credit unions. Thank you guys

Bryan720

I just started an account with Chase. Keep an eye out for deals in the mail. They gave me $100 for starting a checking account than $150 for starting a savings and now $200 for opening a credit card.

Billium

Yeah they also sent me a $125 gift card for a checking account, im leaning towards that

C U AT 9K

Now that's classy banking...

rwheelz

Yeah how does that work? Do their accounts have exorbitant fees or something?

datdude1119

I hate chase, any time ive had to deal with them the employees were always rude and it seemed very unprofessional. My girlfriends mom also had an employee take money out of her account and send it to his own

suprmonky73

If you go with a bigger bank, make sure you watch your account - if anything looks weird or they don't give you the $100 bucks they promised in the ad or anything : a) make sure you have read the fine print correctly and b) call up and ask what happened.

Large banks have stuff fall through the cracks. You'd be amazed at the complexity of systems that all keep track of your money/transactions, with tons of people managing them and yet simple things go wrong easily, all the time.

Also, get a credit card. You don't have to use it for everything but establishing yourself as a good citezen who can show a consistent track record of repayment on loans (any loan, Credit card, car loan etc.) it will help you out in the long run. When applying for big loans like for a car/house you'll be able to qualify for better rates that can save you a lot of $$ down the line, and you also won't have to worry if you'll be denied due to having a 'thin file'.