How did you pick your bank?

Stay far away from Wachovia. I got paid on Friday, now it's Monday night and I still don't have any money showing up in my checking account. If you won't need your money out of your account immediately I suggest EmigrantDirect.com because they have the highest interest rate on savings account that I've ever seen (5.05%).

Well I'm sorry I don't know anything about banks in the USA, but the answer to your general question about how did I choose my own bank, is quite simple. I bank with the only UK bank that stipulates what they call "ethical banking". They will not invest in companies that carry out animal experiments, or exploitation of the environment, nor in companies that deal in arms or exploit Third World countries. They may not have the best rates in the world, but some things are more important to me!

We have two checking accounts. One of them gives interest, the other one doesn't. Our main bank is US Bank. We have free checking, including online. We have to pay for our checks. We have 24/7 access to our online billing statement, so we can always be up to date on how much money we have. We have free overdraft protection, up to $2000 I think. We've never had any problems at all with them, and we really like them. They are located in a lot of different places, which is the main reason that we chose them. We also have Wells Fargo. The main reason we have them is just because they are on base. It's much easier to go there than downtown when I get paid from the barbershop. My husband's checks are directly deposited into the US Bank account, and then $100 a month is transferred to Wells Fargo, so that we can keep it free. It's a specially military offer, so I can't really tell you much about how they treat civilians.

We have two banks. One I have used for years and years. They help us out a lot...things like loans and when we have had shorted checks and all then I can call them and they will usually front us some money until payday. BUT...they have some stupid fees and all. So, we keep money there only to say we are active with them, but we do most of our banking at Citibank...they have free checking and are really nice, too. I just can't close our other bank account because severing ties with them will hurt us, I think. :)

I did a little resarch, looked into rates/Fees & then gave it a little more thought. After doing so, I came to bank with WWW.INGDIRECT.COM

It's quite simple. The bank i was with would not offer me the Personal Developement Loan i needed so that i had living funds while doing my college courses, so i went to the bank that the College i was studying at recommended to me, and they were willing to offer me the loan. You're not allowed two student bank accounts open at the same time so i had to switch over to their account to take up the loan offer, so i did, and i'm still with them now!