Banking Products
What is the best way to use the banks?
Banks are in the business of making money. There is
no doubt about that. They are constantly nickel and
diming customers with all sorts of fees and then turn
around and pay .01% interest on your savings account.
I get it...Most people do not like anything about the
banking system. With that said, if you change your
mindset to look at the bank like your business partner
then the bank can make you wealthy. Not by paying you a higher interest rate, but rather by lending you large sums of money to buy assets. I am not going to get into all that here, instead, I am going to talk about specific bank products and how to use them, but you can find me ranting about investing in real estate all over this site.
Bank fees suck and you should refuse to pay them!
Here is your challenge. Figure out how to never pay the bank
any fees for basic services like checking accounts, savings
accounts, atm use, overdraft, and check cashing. These silly
fees can add up to a lot of money if you are not paying attention.
I worked in a retail bank when I was younger and I could not
believe how much people paid in overdraft fees. I hate paying
any kind of bank fee so much that I do everything in my power
to avoid it. If I do get hit with some silly fee, even if it is my fault,
I try my best to get refunded. Don't be afraid to fight back on fees, but at the same time understand the requirements so you never get hit with fees in the first place.
Deposit Accounts
Checking, Savings, Money Market and CD's
Deposit accounts serve an important purpose. They allow you to keep money safe, transfer funds to other individuals, pay bills, save money and earn interest. For me, the main goals of these types of accounts are convenience, ease of use and no cost. You should also try to keep things simple. It is silly to have tons of accounts all over the place that you barely use.
I believe the best way to manage your bank accounts is to have your main checking and savings account with an online bank like Capital One 360. You can link your savings account to the checking account for overdraft protection without any fees. Then have one checking account at a big bank like Chase, and then use apps like Venmo and Paypal to send funds. The only reason I still use a big bank is that there are services that I need to actually go to the bank to complete like sending a wire transfer when purchasing real estate, sending a bank check or having a safe deposit box.
The big banks have minimum balance requirements so you need to make sure you can always maintain that amount. If you can't, then just use an online bank with no minimums. Big banks also charge like $35 for each overdraft so you have to be extra careful not to slip up. In conclusion, I believe you need to find what works best for you, but the main takeaway is you need to avoid minimum balance fees, overdraft fees, and atm fees.