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I've been seeing all these ads lately for Washington Mutual bank. "Look! We offer free checking! And no ATM fees! Isn't that cool and revolutionary? Aren't we the greatest?"
Well, uhm... no?
Never mind that when I was a kid (not so very long ago), free checking was standard and no one had even heard of ATM fees. I mean, we're well past the days where the bank gave you a free toaster or something just for opening an account, but I don't see how you can claim to be revolutionary just for taking things back down a notch.
But it's more than that. Because I see those claims and I think "gee, that's nice, but you know what? My bank does more and has been doing it for years!" WaMu offers free checking? That's nice. My bank gives me interest on my average daily balance (only 1.5%, but still, they're paying me for the privilege of maintaining my account). MaMu offers free ATM withdrawals? Good for them. My bank lets me use just about any ATM in the world, and will refund the transaction fee the other bank charges (up to $1.50 up to 10 times a month). And I get great customer service, not that I even need it most of the time with things running so smoothly.
What bank am I using?
USAA
You ever hear of TIAA-CREF? They offer financial services to people who work in medicine (doctors, nurses, researchers, etc). The idea with them is "you take care of us, so we'll take care of you."
USAA has the same idea, but they serve the armed forces (and their immediate families). They offer banking (checking, savings, loans, etc), investment services (financial advice, mutual funds, etc), insurance (home, car, life, etc), credit cards, and similar services. USAA membership can also get you some deals and discounts (like you get with AAA or AARP or whatever).
All with great terms and customer service.
How do they do it? In large part, I think it's low overhead. They only have one branch in the country. Unless you live in a certain area of Texas, everything is done remotely. Phone, mail, over the web, etc. So, for the ATMs, for example... they don't have any (maybe one or two in Texas). They just joined a bunch of the biggest ATM networks, saved themselves the money it would have taken to maintain their own machines, and then passed that savings along to the members in the form of transaction fee refunds. So, it's stuff like that.
But it's also because their mission is to offer good service to their members, not to make every cent possible for themselves. It makes a difference.
Well, uhm... no?
Never mind that when I was a kid (not so very long ago), free checking was standard and no one had even heard of ATM fees. I mean, we're well past the days where the bank gave you a free toaster or something just for opening an account, but I don't see how you can claim to be revolutionary just for taking things back down a notch.
But it's more than that. Because I see those claims and I think "gee, that's nice, but you know what? My bank does more and has been doing it for years!" WaMu offers free checking? That's nice. My bank gives me interest on my average daily balance (only 1.5%, but still, they're paying me for the privilege of maintaining my account). MaMu offers free ATM withdrawals? Good for them. My bank lets me use just about any ATM in the world, and will refund the transaction fee the other bank charges (up to $1.50 up to 10 times a month). And I get great customer service, not that I even need it most of the time with things running so smoothly.
What bank am I using?
USAA
You ever hear of TIAA-CREF? They offer financial services to people who work in medicine (doctors, nurses, researchers, etc). The idea with them is "you take care of us, so we'll take care of you."
USAA has the same idea, but they serve the armed forces (and their immediate families). They offer banking (checking, savings, loans, etc), investment services (financial advice, mutual funds, etc), insurance (home, car, life, etc), credit cards, and similar services. USAA membership can also get you some deals and discounts (like you get with AAA or AARP or whatever).
All with great terms and customer service.
How do they do it? In large part, I think it's low overhead. They only have one branch in the country. Unless you live in a certain area of Texas, everything is done remotely. Phone, mail, over the web, etc. So, for the ATMs, for example... they don't have any (maybe one or two in Texas). They just joined a bunch of the biggest ATM networks, saved themselves the money it would have taken to maintain their own machines, and then passed that savings along to the members in the form of transaction fee refunds. So, it's stuff like that.
But it's also because their mission is to offer good service to their members, not to make every cent possible for themselves. It makes a difference.
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that's cool about your dad.