College student...financial advice.

[knawlejj]

I go to college pretty far from my home, and thought it would be a good idea to set up a bank account in the area because I spend 11/12 months here.

Anyways, I really want to have a savings account that has a debit/atm card with it. I know US Bank does this, but not sure if any credit unions do at all. Any input?

Say I want to open a checking and savings account, are there any huge advantages to a credit union or a commercial bank? I realize the rates in CU's are usually higher when it comes to savings interest, but anything besides that?

 

[Ns1]

Sorry, why do you want a debit card for your savings account? That makes no sense.

That said, WaMu still pwns most CU's (it most certainly pwns both my former school CU as well as my current company CU)

This applies to banking only, not loans.

 

[Farang]

I think it depends where you are. Here in Washington state we have a huge credit union so it is a great deal and still convenient. When I was down in norcal I noticed credit unions aren't as good because there are just a few small ones it seemed like so you're sort of isolating yourself.

 

[Mo0o]

I would stick with a large commercial bank that you might be able to access from home as well as at school.

 

[dullard]

With a savings account, you can make 4-6 withdrawls a month depending on the bank (federal reserve regulations). Put an ATM/debit card on that account, and you are highly likely to exceed that limit. That will give you massive fees and other headaches.

Savings accounts are for saving.

Checking accounts are for frequent deposits and withdrawls (ATM/debit cards).

There are two main differences between credit unions and banks. First, credit unions often give you better terms - although the difference can be quite minimal. You may get slightly more interest on your savings and/or slightly lower interest on your loans. But, with a big bank, you usually get a great website, 24 hour phone service, local branches all over the country so that you can talk to someone if you need to, and lots of ATMs.

You don't have to really make a tradeoff there. You can have both. You can have a credit union for savings/loans and a bank for the convenience.

 

[ponyo]

Get a checking account with one of the major national banks which has convenient ATM access everywhere. You're going to be hitting the ATMs often and you don't want to pay ATM charge.

 

[Mo0o]

Oh another thing you can look into is a Checking/Savings account with Charles Schwab online. I have it and love it. Good rates, you get prepaid self addressed evelopes to deposit your checks. Your ATM card has NO ATM FEES ANYWHERE. So basically it's as if you have a bank account anywhere.

I have it linked to a BoA account incase i need to withdraw a large wad of cash and have to enter a B&M bank

 

[knawlejj]

Originally posted by: dullard
With a savings account, you can make 4-6 withdrawls a month depending on the bank (federal reserve regulations). Put an ATM/debit card on that account, and you are highly likely to exceed that limit. That will give you massive fees and other headaches.

Savings accounts are for saving.

Checking accounts are for frequent deposits and withdrawls (ATM/debit cards).

There are two main differences between credit unions and banks. First, credit unions often give you better terms - although the difference can be quite minimal. You may get slightly more interest on your savings and/or slightly lower interest on your loans. But, with a big bank, you usually get a great website, 24 hour phone service, local branches all over the country so that you can talk to someone if you need to, and lots of ATMs.

You don't have to really make a tradeoff there. You can have both. You can have a credit union for savings/loans and a bank for the convenience.

Thanks for all the replies. I usually keep quite a bit of cash on me, so the withdrawals per month at the ATM wouldn't be that many at all. I usually plan a month ahead of time on what money will be spent aside from emergencies.

Having said that, I will probably just go with a commercial bank, thanks for the second opinions =]