Preparing for the transition: banking.

Saturday I head to Houston. Yes, I'm panicking a lot, but I do hope that once I actually get to Institute I'll be too busy for worry. Much of my life is in flux right now. It's somewhat hard to plan when I still don't know where within the Delta I'll be living.

Regardless of where I am, I'm still going to need access to my money. I settled on USAA for my new primary checking account since the refunds of others' ATM fees and the deposit checks from home via scanner feature seem ideal for people who're moving around a lot, not surprising considering that USAA exists primarily to serve military families. The shiny new debit card and eight checks arrived in my mailbox last week.

I decided to put off ordering an entire box of checks until I figure out what my new address will be. However, I'm not sure I can make it through the move without writing more checks so I guess I'll keep my current local bank account open as well, at least for now. How do I close it when I'm done?

If all else fails, I can keep $400 in the checking account to avoid monthly fees, transfer everything else to online savings, and just ignore it until I visit my parents and can go to the bank to handle closing my account in person, but it seems like there should be some simpler way. We're a fairly mobile populous, and I'd imagine banks have figure out how to accommodate their customers' needs during cross country moves. Any guidance from folks who've done this type of thing before?

How do you pick a bank?

One of the minor hassles associated with moving will be changing banks. The local bank where I have my checking account has many branches in my part of the state, but there won't be any in the Delta. I hate to leave it behind since I've never had any problems, except the time they lost my $3,000 deposit, but that could happen anywhere and they handled it quickly, professionally, and courteously once I discovered their error.

My only non-negotiable criteria for a new bank are: low or no minimum balance to avoid fees, free transfers to and from online savings, good customer service, and being able to write paper checks. A somewhat convenient location would also be nice. I've withdrawn cash from an ATM around three times in the almost four years I've had my account so I don't think ATM locations will be tremendously important. I've never used bill pay or my current checking account's online banking so that isn't a big priority. Since I don't intend to park large sums of money in my checking account, earning interest doesn't matter all that much either.

Traveling and moving present fewer problems when there are branches and ATM's all over the place so the big national chains have some clear advantages. Unfortunately, the only national bank in my area is Bank of America, and I'd prefer to avoid them. They have a reputation for finding every possible opportunity to charge their customers fees.

Community banks and credit unions are an appealing option. Keeping money in the area would be nice, and I could pick a bank/credit union with locations near my home or school. However, I couldn't set up an account until I find out about my placement in July, and that wouldn't be convenient while in Houston or mid-move.

Setting up a checking account with USAA might be a good alternative. They've always offered stupendous service when I have questions or concerns about my credit card, and they are one of the most reputable companies out there. They offer an account with no minimum balance, no fees, free checks, and some small amount of interest. I'm not sure the option to deposit checks from home using a scanner and the refunds of ATM fees is quite enough to outweigh the complete lack of brick and mortar banks, but it would be convenient while my life is in transition.

Impulsive money moves

Yeah, wild and crazy girl that I am, I changed my plan for what to do with the money I transferred out of my savings account. After getting rate sheets from a slew of banks, it became apparent that I could do as well locally as I could with ING. I ultimately and, I admit, somewhat rashly decided to put the entire sum into a seven month cd instead of creating a ladder. This way all of my assets will be liquid again just before I graduate. Since I am somewhat uncertain where life will take me after that, it seemed not unreasonable to want to be able to access all of my money. I may end up kicking myself in May if I don't need to spend the money and rates plummet, but it seemed like a less than terrible decision this morning. Or at least, like a better long term decision than blowing all of the money on a used Miata. Darn responsibility.