What bank do you recommend

They just changed that! If you sign up for online statements, they will not charge the $10 to make your mortgage payment. I gave them grief for most of the three years we had to pay that - my auto loan didn’t require any payment to make an internet payment. We don’t have any retail outlets in New York. I wouldn’t have my checking account where my mortgage is for anything. Large banks just don’t know how to SERVE!

Tell me. TD BANK took over Peoples. They have turned our local community oriented bank into a sterile, box. It is like walking into an operating room. Every one now dresses the same, there are only bank approved color coordinated holiday decorations and there are a million cameras watching the staff as well as the customers.

And their systems analysts form designers forgot that color is important to indicate function and previously color/function deposit and withdrawal slips are not all the same two colors. eeeekkkk!

As soon as two women who work there leave, I will go to a different bank. I have little to lose and community bank means I am not going into the maw of some corporate entity.

Online or electronic payments usually/always won’t be charged a fee provided the bank is the same as the one servicing or owning the mortgage.

But let’s say I want to pay online from another bank... Then yes!

As far as what bank to use, generally a smaller, local/hometown bank is a no brainer. It is much preferred to know the people, be able to sit down and talk with them in person. If there’s a problem it’s much easier to get handled that way, versus navigating a computerized phone bank offsourced to golly knows where.

For people who have a lot of money, in excess of 100,000 (nice problem to have, I suppose), the old timers would spread their accounts around to numerous banks.
Creates problems for heirs at best.

There is a CDARS program for those lucky folks that will do this utilizing participating banks, and receive a consolidated statement. The rates aren’t the best but they aren’t very good right now anyway.

If it’s absolute safety at the individual or family level (and it sounds as if many people are considering that angle) why not bypass the banks altogether, for perhaps a portion of deposits, and deposit directly with the Treasury?

You can with the TreasuryDirect program. They got a website, it just takes a little time to set up an account. Both US citizens and “entities” can deposit as little as $25 (there is no upper limit for US Treasury afaik) in a zero interest account, or EE or I savings bonds, 10 year notes, 1 year T-bills, various maturity TIPS, and even notes ranging in maturity of a few weeks to 30 years.
No, I don’t work for them but it’s surprising to me that more people don’t know about this. There’s no commission when buying direct from Treasury, too. Older, paper savings bonds can be converted to electronic entry and sold from computer if desired.

“I don’t give a damn, they pay the highest interest.”

Obviously, that choice is up to you. But GE Capital was on life support early last year and the money to be that ‘competitive’ comes from TARP that it shouldn’t have gotten because it didn’t fit the legal description of a bank, so it started one. And now it covers for the commies to keep access to the slush fund, or maybe it does it because it agrees with them and would rather end up on top with whatever it takes to get there other than the honest way.

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