Discussion Freelancers - Banking Services

[Kasparov11]

Dear friends,


I'm Stefan, I've been following AnandTech for at least 8 years, although I didn't have an account on the forum, it used me in many situations and I learned a lot of useful things.
On this occasion, I want to create a questionnaire, more in the form of questions, and related to freelancers from around the world who follow this forum.

It is a project for the employer.

I'm interested in which banking services are most important to you, and what would motivate you to open a bank account?

Thanks in advance.
I must to share that I am glad to have become a member of the forum.

 

[sdifox]

free ipad

 

[snoopy7548]

Free boobies each month with a direct deposit.

 

[Kasparov11]

free ipad

We can do something about that.

 

[Kasparov11]

Free boobies each month with a direct deposit.

There is a saying in my village: "If you don't have something smart to say, you better not say anything ..."

But if you mean to be funy, than hahaha

 

[snoopy7548]

I spend most of my days doing smart things, so I come here to relax and get all the stupid stuff out!

 

[Kasparov11]

I spend most of my days doing smart things, so I come here to relax and get all the stupid stuff out!

I understand you completely but the way I set the topic, I thought I was clear enough to expect constructive answers.

Personally, I find entertainment in other places.

On this site and forum, I found a lot of expert analysis, useful advice from various fields and learned a lot about computers and digital technologies. I did not come across a topic to which I did not find an answer in this place, maybe I just had too high expectations ...

Cheers!

 

[sdifox]

I understand you completely but the way I set the topic, I thought I was clear enough to expect constructive answers.

Personally, I find entertainment in other places.

On this site and forum, I found a lot of expert analysis, useful advice from various fields and learned a lot about computers and digital technologies. I did not come across a topic to which I did not find an answer in this place, maybe I just had too high expectations ...

Cheers!

ATOT is for recreation

 

[Kasparov11]

Ouh, my bad!
I didnt found appropriate place to start with this tread and placed it here.
Sorry for that.
I hope that mods will help me and found the right place for this subject...

 

[sdifox]

Ouh, my bad!
I didnt found appropriate place to start with this tread and placed it here.
Sorry for that.
I hope that mods will help me and found the right place for this subject...

I suspect this is the right forum, but you have to expect computer nerd jokes.

 

[Kasparov11]

I suspect this is the right forum, but you have to expect computer nerd jokes.

I expected that, but not only that...

 

[ponyo]

To me, Charles Schwab checking account is the gold standard for travelers.

https://www.schwab.com/checking

No minimum fees, no foreign transaction fees, and unlimited ATM fee rebates worldwide prompted me to open an account. If you know another checking account that can match these perks, I would definitely consider opening another bank account.

 

[FelixDeCat]

^ Its odd you mention travel. I've had a Capital One card since 2012 and just two weeks ago they want to "upgrade" my no fee card to a travel rewards card with a $95 annual fee. That would be great if I actually did any traveling.

I even had a AA Citibank Card and accumulated 92,000 AA miles that I dont know when I will ever use. Its enough miles for free travel to pretty much anywhere in the world.....one way.

 

[ponyo]

I'm not talking credit cards. There are numerous great credit cards for traveling and general use. But great checking debit card is extremely rare. There are only handful and most you generally need to be private banking client. Which means minimum $250,000 to $2 million in assets with that bank. And that's just the base to qualify for the no fee checking with worldwide ATM rebates and no foreign transaction fees.

Here's Chase Private Client checking account. I think the minimum is $250k held at Chase.
https://chaseprivateclient.chase.com/banking

If Charles Schwab checking didn't exist, I would sign up for Chase Private Client banking. But why would I when there is Charles Schwab?

 

[Kasparov11]

Thank you @ponyo and @FelixDeCat that was very helpfull. I will have on mind convenience with card during traveling. We were going in right direction.

I have to rephrase the question a bit. I am from Serbia, where the services that you have been using in the Western world for years have only just appeared or will arrive.

Could you tell me which services caused a "revolution" in your country? Is it applepay and to what extent is it significant? Can you tell me the innovations in banking services, which have happened in previous years and you find them very useful and significant?

 

[ponyo]

Serbia is on my list of countries to visit once the world gets Covid-19 under control. My old college roommate girlfriend was Serbian. He married her and both are now medical doctors in Chicago.

It's hard to say what banking services are revolutionary. I do like Apple Pay and use it in stores. But that's only because I get 2% cash back on purchases if I use Apple Pay linked with my Apple credit card. Otherwise I wouldn't use it much although it's convenient because I can just pay by tapping my Apple Watch instead of pulling out my wallet. But it's not really game changer.

I think must have feature but is old tech now is Bill Pay on checking account. I used to hate writing paper checks to pay bills. Ever since switching to online Bill Pay like 20 years ago, I rarely write checks and can pay any bill from my online checking account using my phone. That saves me money on postage and makes life easier since I can pay all my bills online from anywhere around the world as long as I have internet. That was a game changer.

In terms of recent revolution, I think Robinhood app completely revolutionized the online stock trading and investing forever. Robinhood brought free stock and option trading to the masses and made it super easy to use. It forced all other banks and brokerages to offer free stock trading too or else risking business to Robinhood. Even though I don't personally use Robinhood I've benefited from their disruptive tech since everyone now offers free stock trading as a result.

As far as banking app, I know Square CashApp is growing like gangbuster. CashApp saved Square this year and probably added like $40 billion in stock market cap for Square.

What I found still difficult even with today's technology is sending small amount of money international to someone. I recently sent $4k to my nieces in South Korea as present so they could buy MacBook laptops and it was still pain in the butt. I found Western Union is still the cheapest way to send money. Sending money to someone in the US is easy as texting them and is completely free but if you want to send money to someone internationally, it's still incredibly difficult and full of fees. There's probably some US anti-money laundering laws that prevent easy and minimal fee international money transfer but I can't believe Western Union is still the best and the cheapest option. Pretty ridiculous in today's technology world.

 

[Red Squirrel]

A good online banking site would probably be my #1 as that is the service I use the most. Ex: a site that does not require activeX, or any nasty stuff like that. A site that will work in any browser on any platform and not have weird requirements, or be slow and bloated to use. That's my bare minimum. The actual features and ease of use is a good asset of course. Unfortunately this is something you only find out AFTER you setup all your accounts... but a bad enough site would probably drive me to close up the accounts and find another bank. I could not care less about an app though, if it's there, great, but I want an actual site that I can go to from my computer with a normal browser.

And #2, good customer service. The smaller banks are good for this. I can call my bank and actually talk to somebody that day. It's not that often I actually do need to talk to someone, but I've been with the big banks before and trying to talk to someone is like pulling teeth. I'm with a local caisse now, which is basically the same idea as a credit union. I would never go to a big bank again.

 

[Kasparov11]

Serbia is on my list of countries to visit once the world gets Covid-19 under control. My old college roommate girlfriend was Serbian. He married her and both are now medical doctors in Chicago.

It's hard to say what banking services are revolutionary. I do like Apple Pay and use it in stores. But that's only because I get 2% cash back on purchases if I use Apple Pay linked with my Apple credit card. Otherwise I wouldn't use it much although it's convenient because I can just pay by tapping my Apple Watch instead of pulling out my wallet. But it's not really game changer.

I think must have feature but is old tech now is Bill Pay on checking account. I used to hate writing paper checks to pay bills. Ever since switching to online Bill Pay like 20 years ago, I rarely write checks and can pay any bill from my online checking account using my phone. That saves me money on postage and makes life easier since I can pay all my bills online from anywhere around the world as long as I have internet. That was a game changer.

In terms of recent revolution, I think Robinhood app completely revolutionized the online stock trading and investing forever. Robinhood brought free stock and option trading to the masses and made it super easy to use. It forced all other banks and brokerages to offer free stock trading too or else risking business to Robinhood. Even though I don't personally use Robinhood I've benefited from their disruptive tech since everyone now offers free stock trading as a result.

As far as banking app, I know Square CashApp is growing like gangbuster. CashApp saved Square this year and probably added like $40 billion in stock market cap for Square.

What I found still difficult even with today's technology is sending small amount of money international to someone. I recently sent $4k to my nieces in South Korea as present so they could buy MacBook laptops and it was still pain in the butt. I found Western Union is still the cheapest way to send money. Sending money to someone in the US is easy as texting them and is completely free but if you want to send money to someone internationally, it's still incredibly difficult and full of fees. There's probably some US anti-money laundering laws that prevent easy and minimal fee international money transfer but I can't believe Western Union is still the best and the cheapest option. Pretty ridiculous in today's technology world.

You are welcome in Serbia whenever the opportunity arises.

I really appreciate the information so far, you helped me a lot...

Some pictures of Serbia...