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?