Taffylola

BenK91

Wells Fargo have been fairly good to me. Started out with a secured credit card, two years later I now have a 730 credit score and an unsecured card with them and also one with Capital One.

Noorah101

Your choice of bank doesn't affect your credit file. Just choose the one that suits your needs the best. A lot of people like Wells Fargo. A lot of people like the smaller credit union banks. But really, it's up to you.

Rene

Olly_

Unlike the UK, bank accounts don't appear on your credit file in the US and most banks only do a soft pull when opening an account.

There's a separate reporting agency called ChexSystems which basically only holds derogatory information for bank accounts.

I have accounts with numerous banks and personally I like Chase, their internet banking and mobile apps are good, their customer service seems decent and there are plenty of branches around here - obviously YMMV as they don't have a presence in every state.

Giantaxe

I have accounts with several banks too and agree on Chase. I would avoid Wells Fargo like the plague given their string of illegal behaviour which, amazingly, is still coming to the surface two years after the first revelations:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclu...131824414.html

lansbury

CA-NY

Another vote for Chase. Have used them since day 1 for checking, savings, investments, credit cards (they gave us a c/c right from the start with a low credit limit to get us up and running) and they even gave us a mortgage on an L1 visa. Very helpful in branch and willing to go the extra mile to do business with us even when being a non US citizen can be a lot of extra work for them to get accounts set up. Banked with them both in New Jersey and now in Texas and it seems to be the same good service across the country. When you first go in to get everything set up, it's worth making an appointment in advance. There's a lot of photocopying and scanning of passports / visas / salary details etc. at first and you'll be there a while so if you can get a proper sit down appointment with a personal advisor, it's much easier than just walking in off the street and trying to speaking with a teller behind the counter.

dave2702

My advice is to find one that's close to where you work and where you live and one that has plenty of ATM's

Here you're paying around $3 for the privilege of drawing cash from another bank's ATM so you want to avoid doing that as much as possible, and it's no point having the best bank in the US if they don't have a branch or ATM anywhere near you

expatdoc

Went with TD plenty on East coast they waive fees also for ATM etc if maintain a minimum balance

wtkp0u

Agreed. This is key. Chase is good but they are closing a lot of physical branches and when you go to another city there might only be one or two ATMs.

Depends how much bank you need, but CapitalOne360 online only account has zero ATM fees in the UK, no US fees and pays (tiny) interest.

BenK91

One of the main reasons I didn't swap from Wells Fargo to Chase. Chase's new account offers were very attractive and they seem to get A+ reviews but there are hardly any physical locations or ATM's near me so it's a bit of a no go.

Giantaxe

I rarely use ATMs these days... I pay a lot of stuff with a debit card and get cash back when I make purchases. Additionally, the few check deposits I make are done on my 'phone. But I do have a Chase branch near my condo... which I've used once.

mrken30

I have used BOA for a long time with only a few issues. I do also have a Wells Fargo account, but could not recommend them. Just be careful of the fees. WF opened up a savings account for me paying 0.01% interest and duly charged me $15 a month fee. Their fee system does not take into account the total relationship amount. With BOA I get a free safe deposit box to keep my documents in at the bank.
Credit Unions are easy to use and tend to have less or reduced fees. eg wire transfer with my credit union is $15, with banks it's more like $50. As for ATMs, I don't think I ave used one in 7 or 8 years. I get cash back at the grocery store if I need cash. I take out cash maybe once every 2 months. I do get a certain amount of fee free ATM withdrawals a month

With transferwise my citibank account has a lot less value. With Citibank I can transfer funds back to the UK in minutes in case of an emergency.

Just look for a local branch either near work or home, it's fairly easy to change if you don't like a bank.

As for credit cards, I think Amex still allows global transfers of accounts.

mrken30

I did open a Chase account, took the $500 and then duly closed the account after the qualifying period.

lansbury

Isn't Chase part of the Allpoint ATM network so you can use all those machines for free? Similar to a great many credit unions being in the Co-Op or Moneypass networks so a local CU has free ATMs all over the country.