LooPtruy

Hi All

A question on banking in the US, for a newcomer into the country (relocating there in 2 weeks with my wife, no kids).

I am a young professional, working for a big Pharma and am relocating from Switzerland to Boston in 2 weeks. I do ALL my banking stuff online and I would like to keep it that way while in the US, making sure all the bills are directly debited from my account so I am not bothered about them, plus being able to make a monthly transfer of money abroad, back to Switzerland.

In Switzerland, I do not use any of the fancy banks like UBS or CS, but rather Postfinance. It works well and has 0 fees as long as you have around 7.5k USD on it.

My reloc company is recommending Citibank or HSBC, but with the caveat HSBC may not allow me to actually operate in the US as they are only in Miami for offshoring banking.

I have read nasty things about CitiBank.

With this, any recommendations at all?

Also important to mention I plan to open also an account to be able to invest in ETF/mutual/index funds, not in stock. Perhaps recommendations can also be around that?

Thanks in advance!

nun

Vanguard. Fidelity or Schwab for mutual funds. They are inexpensive and give you access to all your funds online.

Most US banks now offer online access, bill paying and foreign transfers. Look at BankofAmerica, Chase etc etc.

Pulaski

HSBC is no good if you're going to Boston (HSBC is mostly in NY, and I'm not sure about the advice about HSBC in Miami because you are going to be distinctly on shore in Boston), and Citi has too many mgnt issues, and funnily enough isn't that big in the US. I'd look at either Bank of America, or Chase, and you should be able to get free banking, incl on-line banking, so long as your salary is credited directly to your a/c.

LooPtruy

thanks then, either BOFA or Chase then for banking and will check those 3 brokers you mention. I mostly care for index funds with TERs of less than 0.3%...

nun

All three of the brokers are good for those. Vanguard has some funds with ERs less than 0.1%

Bob

xe.com for the international transfers.

For a bank, TD or BoA for big ones in the area.

LooPtruy

never did a transfer of money with xe, is it really good? is it because of the exchange rate or the fees?

cranston

Both, customer for 5 years and very happy.

Credit Unions are far better then banks...Look at www.alliantcreditunion.org

TimNiceBut

Another vote for a local credit union, although it can be tricky to get an account with them when you've just been washed ashore.

My advice would be to check with local CUs (check eligibility criteria), then local community banks and only as a last resort go to a TBTF bank.

Bob

For CU's, you can join Rockland CU if you're a AAA member, which isn't a bad idea as there are plenty of other benefits from being a AAA member.

Chase and Citi aren't really options in the area either, if you want brick and mortar.

Pulaski

Mom and pop grocery stores are also better than Walmart. It's easy to pass an opinion on banks v credit onions, and there are plenty of people who swear by CU's, but most people find the services provided by the large, and very large, banks to be good, or better. As with any large business there are a few customers who have a bad experience, but the truth is that all the major banks have upped their game in the past few years. Personally I'd go with a bank, a large one at that, everytime.

I do agree with xe.com though, great service, and I would recommend it to anyone, and, in fact I do.

Bob

Thing is though, they also tend to nickel and dime you far more, BoA are pretty evil for that kind of nonsense, so you do need to be far more aware, especially as there aren't that many big operators in the area compared to other places....but you do tend to find BoA ATM's all over the place, especially in malls, but then plenty of other banks will refund the fees for using other bank machines :/

Plenty of small to mid sized banks though like Middlesex, Sovereign etc, etc.

All really depends on what you're looking for and whether you're going to be moving around much out of the area/state.

LooPtruy

Actually, my employer has a Credit Union "inhouse" where I would be entitled to open an account, savings account, investment account, etc.

Perhaps after reading all these comments I should rather check them.

TimNiceBut

If your employer has a credit union, join them for the day to day banking. I would still use the likes of Vanguard or Fidelity for investing, though.

cranston

I prefer Walmart any day.

Not all CU's are the same, some are better then others.