Banking in HV/FM Area

We just stopped banking with Bank of America after 12 years of being with them. They would not help us when we really needed the help, however Wells Fargo went out of their way to help. We also have an account with Compass and are super happy with them. They have more of a small town feel and really help will all finacial aspects, as did Wells Fargo. To sum it up since I seem to be rambling... Wells Fargo and Compass are both great I have business and personal accounts with them.

Hope this helps.

We are quite happy with Bank of America. Free online checking and bill-pay, and I can't recall ever being anywhere that I couldn't find a Bank of America ATM. With 2 preschoolers, I rarely actually enter the local branches. My experience with drive-thru tellers has been positive.

Our only experience with Washington Mutual was with a home loan and it was horrible. Even the city/county tax office personnel said they were horrible and the problems I was having were "typical" of WAMU compared with other lenders.

If you're new to the whole Dallas area, I would suggest you make your choice based on where you will do your most living / what you need. For instance, if you constantly take cash from an ATM, then make sure that wherever you're moving has easy access drive-thru banks. That was my biggest problem when I moved here (I have Wells Fargo and there just aren't very many around Flower Mound, so it was hard for me to adjust)

Washington Mutual is an extremely good and friendly bank, as is Compass Bank. Both seem to nowadays actually cater to the individual and offer things like free atms, etc. Capital One does not really have the individual consumer's best interests at heart and haven't been receiving good reviews just yet. I'm with Wells, and could take or leave it but have been there too long to switch - I have business banking with BofA and have been happy. If you like to support local, the Xerox Federal Credit Union is really making an imprint in that area.

Good luck and welcome to the area! S.

I have heard nothing but horror stories about BofA. I bank with Chase and have been with them for 8 years, they were Bank One back then. I love them.

I 100% agree with Robin. Do NOT use Bank of America. We actually just switched our business accounts to Capital One and our personal accounts to Washington Mutual in Flower Mound, and are very happy with both. My only qualm with WAMU is that they like to put holds on checks for several days when you are new. It is a little annoying, but I guess it is just a business precaution. Most banks probably do that anyway. Either way, they are a millions times better than BoA!

J., My husband and I have been customers of BofA for 10+ years in two different states (FL and TX) and have always been pleased with them. When I first moved to TX 4 1/2 years ago, a bad bad bad employee of Sears at the Vista Ridge Mall in Lewisville drained our checking account by purchasing a stove after I used my debit card in the store to buy a new H2O filter for the fridge. BofA immediately replaced the money in the account so that checks we had written for bills would not bounce and so we'd have money to live on until Sears got everything figured out and reimbursed us. We really enjoy using their online banking and never have a problem finding one of their ATM's around. Best wishes on your relocation.

DONT USE BANK OF AMERICA!!
Anyone else reading this I highly recommend you leave them ASAP.
They have some of the highest rates and charge you for stupid stuff like a tech or other worker taking a look at your account (even if you don't ask them to look at it!). When you complain about it they remove the fees the first few times, but after that they become a pain in the rear about it and begin to deny they are doing anything unfair.

They are also unfair in the ways electronic funds are withdrawn from your account. They wait and let the large withdraws go first then the next smallest and so forth (also a common practice among credit card companies recently labeled as unfair by a private government committee); instead of doing them in the order by what time they arrived in their computer system. This skews things in their favor by giving you more chance for bounced checks than you would have had if they did them in order; then they rake in $35 + fees per bounced check. (BTW consumer check bouncing has become more common than it was 25 yrs ago because of this practice).
On top of that they were late acknowledging the arrival of electronic deposits (aka pay checks) in our account. This was the thing that made us leave them.
My DH’s pay check SHOULD HAVE been in the bank. So I would pay some bills online. Well the pay check would not show up until a few days later; after I had paid bills. So those bills were withdrawn before they acknowledged the arrival of my DH’s pay check!!! So once again we incurred MORE OVERDRAFT FEES!!!
Well after about 4 episodes of this, with adamant calling and complaining, I left them because they denied wrong doing (no surprises there; customer service knew me by name by then).
My DH had used Bank of America since high school (that's over 20 yrs of banking with them!), but our long customer commitment failed to sway them or give us any perks. So we dropped them 5 yrs ago and went to Credit Union of Texas. Now my over draft fees are $1 and things get withdrawn in order. It has saved me so many headaches and SOOOOOOO much money.

We also reported them to every bank regulating institution, banking practice lobby, consumer watch dog, and better business bureau we could complain to. We never got a response from any of them despite providing ample paperwork to prove our case.
We left Bank of America with roughly $300 in unpaid fees that we deemed unfair and they are still trying to collect on it!

Sorry if this sounds like a rant, but in part it is. Along with being a very forceful warning to others.
RPocai

My husband and I have used BofA for 10 years and have been VERY pleased with them. They have banks everywhere, late hours and have always been very helpful. Good luck!
~L.

I have a friend that banks with Bank of America and I think she told me you only have so many "free" visits to the teller inside the bank, after that, they charge you. I would NEVER use a bank that did that...I use Washington Mutual and have no problems with them. Our mortgage is also with them. We also use Omni American. They are pretty good, their system seems a bit slower than Washington Mutual. With Wa Mu we are in and out and have no problems...I wouldn't use Bank of America if I were you.

L.
Two children, daughter 18 and son, 15

I strongly advise against this bank! Many of their practices are deceitful and border on fraud. 2 examples that happened to my husband and I just this week are this: My husband wrote a check and forgot about it (completely our fault) and b/c he forgot he didn't move the money out of savings into checking. Well, the check got paid but for some reason that the bank couldn't explain it never showed up in his transactions online. Therefore the 5 transactions made after the check cleared were paid but we were charged a 35.00 NSF fee for each. When he questioned the bank they said that sometimes things don't show up online "right away" that it can take days and if we had questions we should call the telephone center. How ridiculous is that? The other thing happened to my account. I had charged lunch at a place near our home on the 7th of April. It remained a pending transaction online (in pending the money is already removed from your available balance)for 11 days. At midnight on the 18th the removed the "hold" and put the money back into our account and then sometime after that but before 7 a.m. that transaction came through. Well, the problem was that we took money out of my account to put in his at 9:30 that night not knowing they would release the hold at midnight. We thought that money was already alloted for that debit card purchase. When I called and questioned them she said that they "normally" do the holds for 3 days and if the merchant has not submitted the receipt they release the funds. When I asked then why did they hold it for 11 days this time she said I don't know, there really is no set amount of days, it's just normally 3. Basically, this bank does what they want and if they can charge you an overdraft fee in the process, all the better for them. I am sorry this is so long, it was just detailed. I really do not recommend this bank. We are getting ready to change to Chase. They are good as is Washington Mutual. Hope this helps at least a little. Good luch with the move.
M. W.

I used BofA for a few years and was miserable. I have been so much happier with Washington Mutual. They treat you like a human and are actually GLAD to see you walk in the door!

We have been with BofA for 10+ years. We could not be happier with their services. All of our banking needs have been easy and smooth. When my purse was stolen, they were great about setting up new accounts and freezing the old one immediately. Two checks were returned accidently during that time and they not only waived the fees of course, but wrote a letter of apology to the people I had written the checks to asking them to waive the fees as well. If they had not, BofA was willing to reimburse me for their error. I find BofA tellers convenient in my area of the metroplex ... I love online banking ... and only go into the bank if I need to do something with my safety deposit box. Our checking is interest bearing, free checks, free online banking, I feel like they are paying me to bank there as there are no fees associated with the type account we have at all! I do agree with the other poster though, check out where you will live and do business and find something convenient. Best of luck to you in your move.

I would suggest Compass Bank, I have small business checking there and they have always been nothing but helpful. We banked at BofA for awhile but always used the ATM b/c of the limit on teller transactions. They were ok, but I have found Compass (on FM 407) to be friendlier and more helpful.

I would suggest Wachovia. I can't say enough good things about them. They are always very friendly, helpful, and have gone out of their way to help me in whatever I have needed. I know you said you wanted information on Bank of America....but I just thought I would let you know what I thought about another bank. Good luck in whatever you choose.