So I've been thinking about opening a new market rate savings account primarily for accessible emergency funds and short term saving for things like vacations or cars. I've had an account with Bank of America since 1988. It was actually SeaFirst (Seattle First) when I opened the account but I suspect they were already owned by BofA even back then. I've heard lots of bad things about BofA even though my experience is about as positive as one can have with a checking and savings account. Still, I've been thinking about moving away from them.

A quick search of local and regional banks in my area and one that caught my eye was Navy Federal Credit Union. Not for any particular reason other than it seems to be well reviewed. Of course when I specifically look for reviews I find this gem:


I have absolutely no idea what she said there. It usually occurs to me that the people that have the most problems with any institution are stupid and rude. Another insightful review lamented not being told that the balance transfer to his new credit card was going to have a fee and that put him over limit and caused some problems. Another complained that after opening a new credit card his credit score dropped 20 points so he would have to work even harder to raise it.

Anyway, the only real problem I ever had with BofA was a credit card payment of $57 that inadvertently had the decimal point shifted two places to the right. I was out of town and I suspect my wife typed five-seven-point-zero-zero but the website didn't register decimals so the payment was one hundred times larger than desired. The overdraft protection kept transferring money in increments of $25 with a one dollar charge for each back into my checking account. Trying to put an end to this as transactions kept posting before any fix posted resulted in a bunch of extra fees and it took several calls to take care of it. The story kept getting harder for each new representative to understand so on my last call I ended up closing all credit cards. A couple months later, still owing the fees, I called back and told them I would be happy to reopen the card that was linked to my checking account if they could reverse those fees. They did so it was resolved positively in the end.

Post your thoughts/experiences/why Bank of America is evil stories.

But are you planning to take loans out under a credit union? If not, probably stick with BoA. TDbank pretty much gives you the same experience.

Do people go with credit unions for just moral reasons? BoA may be evil but CUs can be shady as well.

I think credit union customers tend to have better experiences. I'm done with loans, can't picture having a loan again with the exception of a mortgage. I've had a couple of auto loans from credit unions in the past and I do know my most recent one was very fair. I'm sure the other one was as well but that was twenty years ago so I don't recall. I looked at the market rate accounts at BofA and it seems to me that NFCU doesn't charge you if you fall below $2,500, you just don't earn interest. I could be mistaken though.

Hate bank of america. Weren't they the ones that started teller fees? You go into the bank to deposit or take out money and they charge you a fee? Also talked to them about a mortgage a long time ago and their fees were through the roof and the rate was terrible. My wife had been a customer of them for decades and they started charging a fee for each account under her name -- she had a few accounts, savings, checking, savings for each of the kids, next think you know they were trying to charge her ~60/month just to keep her money there. She closed all her accounts and moved to a local credit union.

I'm happy with my credit union. As long as I have direct depost through work and use the debit card ~6 times a month I get all ATM transaction fees credited back to me so I can use any ATM I want. I will never do business with a "bank" again if I can help it. Credit union loan rates and fees are always significantly lower for me. I've used them for house loan, boat loan, car loans, motorcycle loans, etc. I don't know why anyone uses a bank.

I've strictly used credit unions for both personal and business for the last 8 years. I couldn't be happier. I get better service, lower fees (or no fees at all on some services), better interest rates, and no scams (see Wells Fargo).

You also are right that most people who have issues are those who don't understand bank policy or are completely terrible at managing their money and probably shouldn't have a bank account in the first place.

The credit union that I used in Kentucky was decent enough but I'm leaning more towards something like Ally these days. I no longer have a need for a brick & mortar bank.

I virtually never go inside a bank. Hell, since I found out how well depositing checks on the mobile app works I don't even head to the ATM to do that anymore. Occasionally we'll get some cash at the ATM but that's about it. Still, I think it makes sense to have a financial institution I can go to should the need arise. Of course I will be making deposits to a new savings account by online transfer, or that is the idea anyway, so I may look into some online options.

I used BoA when I was in the US. They seemed good enough.

I had Navy Fed for a long while, but couldn't keep it since the nearest branch was about 300 miles from me. Their customer service is utterly outstanding, and having known dozens of people who still use it to this day, I've literally never heard anything negative about them.