Alternatives to Bank of America?

[cmarshall]

12 hours ago, OliverKlozerof said:

One guy PM'ed me saying he also uses SDFCU. He said he found about them through American Citizens Abroad (ACA), and had to join ACA first (70 dollars), which gave him an intro to SDFCU. Did you have to do something similar? Do you think I can do this all from Thailand? Thx

Yes, you can do it from Thailand.  I opened my SDFCU account from Thailand.  They want a copy of your passport, etc., but it was not a problem.  I joined the American Consumer Council, not the ACA to qualify for membership. 

 

I like calling them on the phone.  They are polite and helpful.  

 

Plus if you get direct retirement benefits, such as SS, to your SDFCU account you qualify for a reduced fee of $6 (instead of $20) for a domestic wire transfer which I use to make transfers to Bangkok Bank.

Edited July 3, 2019 by cmarshall

[Kuhn Kamala]

You would not believe the Benefits of Schwab.com   a  big brokerage

[joealx]

5 hours ago, cmarshall said:

 

 

1

17 hours ago, OliverKlozerof said:

One guy PM'ed me saying he also uses SDFCU. He said he found about them through American Citizens Abroad (ACA), and had to join ACA first (70 dollars), which gave him an intro to has a hoop SDFCU. Did you have to do something similar? Do you think I can do this all from Thailand? Thx

Yes, you can do it from Thailand.  I opened my SDFCU account from Thailand.  They want a copy of your passport, etc., but it was not a problem.  I joined the American Consumer Council, not the ACA to qualify for membership.

SDFUC  has a hoop to go through like verifying your address in Thailand which I didn't like. So I joined USAA.  Very good, but you have to be a military veteran. They even  have an 800 number from Thailand.

[taxout]

"You would not believe the Benefits of Schwab.com   a  big brokerage."

 

The problem with Schwab is simply that you're always on edge that one day they'll suddenly close your account because you're living outside the U.S.

[OliverKlozerof]

Again, not directly related to my original post but...
What benefits are there of joining American Citizens Abroad (ACA) and/or American Consumer Council (ACC)?

(I could google it but I'm lazy.)

Are they similar/different?

[joealx]

4 hours ago, OliverKlozerof said:

Again, not directly related to my original post but...
What benefits are there of joining American Citizens Abroad (ACA) and/or American Consumer Council (ACC)? 

(I could google it but I'm lazy.)

Are they similar/different?

The benefits don't matter. You have to join one of the groups for access to SDFCU. ACC has a low cost membership.

Edited July 3, 2019 by joealx

[cmarshall]

On 7/3/2019 at 2:26 AM, joealx said:

SDFUC  has a hoop to go through like verifying your address in Thailand which I didn't like. So I joined USAA.  Very good, but you have to be a military veteran. They even  have an 800 number from Thailand.

I have accounts at both SDFCU and USAA, but prefer SDFCU for two reasons.  First, you can initiate a wire transfer at SDFCU entirely online.   I had to make a phone call to USAA to do that.  Second, if your retirement benefits are setup for deposit to your SDFCU account, you qualify for a $6 rate on domestic wire transfers which include Bangkok Bank, which is a US bank.

 

 

[Pib]

On 7/3/2019 at 8:12 AM, cmarshall said:

Yes, you can do it from Thailand.  I opened my SDFCU account from Thailand.  They want a copy of your passport, etc., but it was not a problem.  I joined the American Consumer Council, not the ACA to qualify for membership. 

 

I like calling them on the phone.  They are polite and helpful.  

 

Plus if you get direct retirement benefits, such as SS, to your SDFCU account you qualify for a reduced fee of $6 (instead of $20) for a domestic wire transfer which I use to make transfers to Bangkok Bank.

Did you use your Thailand address or US address for the SDFCU account opening?  Your post implies you used your Thailand address but I want to be sure.  Thanks.  

[cmarshall]

13 hours ago, Pib said:

Did you use your Thailand address or US address for the SDFCU account opening?  Your post implies you used your Thailand address but I want to be sure.  Thanks.  

I used the Thailand address.

[mtls2005]

On 7/2/2019 at 11:19 PM, moana said:

Note that Fidelity (and Etrade) charges 1% FTF. Schwab is 0% FTF.

 

They refund ATM fees out of pocket, yes. It is WAY cheaper than setting up their own ATM networks, and we get to enjoy it worldwide.

 

I know that Fidelity's Visa-denoted ATM Debit Card states this 1% charge for using ATM's outside the U.S., but I have never been charged this 1% in ~ 350 int'l ATM disbursals over ~ 20 years. I get the Visa rate for that day (confirmed via email before the cash pops out), and any local ATM fee is rebated, usually within 24 hours. Perhaps this is waived for certain customers? Any domestic U.S. ATM fee seems to be reimbursed in a few minutes, at least that was my experience using it at a BofA ATM ($3 fee) this week.

 

Fidelity also offer FREE domestic (ACH) transfers and FREE international SWIFT transfers (I had to set up standing wire transfer orders, in person during a trip back home, for BBL and SCB, and I have to phone in each transfer; transfers take less than 24 hours assuming no holidays/weekends in THL). Their Visa credit card is good as well, some decent cash-back promos. 

 

BofA has some decent credit cards as well: Travel Rewards: no annual fee, no foreign transaction surcharge, and Cash Rewards (no annual fee) with decent cash-back promos. Bof A also offers Zelle, which I've had to use a couple of times.

 

No one bank or FinServ company is going to meet all the requirements listed, IMO. And it's probably better to have at least two in-hand anyway.

[moana]

20 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

I know that Fidelity's Visa-denoted ATM Debit Card states this 1% charge for using ATM's outside the U.S., but I have never been charged this 1%

It's a 1% FTF in essence (specifically it's the ISA fee charged by visa itself), on any purchase/withdrawal outside the US. Schwab (and any card that declares FTF 0%) absorbs the fee and pays Visa out of pocket, but Fidelity does not. I've yet to see a Fidelity customer that pays the actual visa rate when inspecting the statement vs. the correct daily visa rate. Perhaps they have an account tier where they absorb the ISA fee, but it just might be a case of miscalculation...

 

20 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Fidelity also offer FREE domestic (ACH) transfers and FREE international SWIFT transfers

Schwab also offers free ACH and, with a balance of $100K+, 3 free wires a quarter.

 

It's a bit odd that your wires are free, as according to this and this they should cost $10/$15. Might it be because you're letting Fidelity do the currency exchange? They use exorbitant rate spreads on currency exchange, so they'll happily waive the wire fee in such cases. Chase uses the same dirty shtick. If that's what's happening you should probably think about switching wire providers.

 

Interactive Brokers offers one free wire per month, no nonsense or contingencies. There are also many other reasons to love IB, check them out. Note that they do have a monthly fee that's waived at $100K+ balances.

 

20 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

BofA has some decent credit cards as well: Travel Rewards: no annual fee, no foreign transaction surcharge

Agreed. It goes from 1.65% up to 2.625% cashback ("rewards") for all purchases, depending on account tier. The higher tiers are definitely offering competitive cashback rates in comparison to other 0% FTF/AF cards out there!

Edited July 7, 2019 by moana

[mtls2005]

1 hour ago, moana said:

I've yet to see a Fidelity customer that pays the actual visa rate when inspecting the statement vs. the correct daily visa rate.

 

I pay the Visa rate, according to that page. I check it each time. The ATM fee is rebated at the same rate/same date. Always EXACT, but anything north of 1/2 cent gets rounded up.

 

1 hour ago, moana said:

It's a bit odd that your wires are free, as according to this and this they should cost $10/$15.

My international wire transfers are FREE.  Nothing odd at all.

 

1 hour ago, moana said:

Might it be because you're letting Fidelity do the currency exchange?

No. I do not let Fidelity do the currency exchange. My funds leave FidInv as USD, pass through JPMorgan Chase Bank NA (no fee there either), go to Bangkok Bank as USD, get converted at their TT rate, less 200 baht. I am quite pleased with the results, which seem to beat Transferwise by a tad.

 

The BofA international transfer via BBL/NYC was pretty slick; that was $3 at BofA, but BBL/NYC charged something (was it $10?), and then BBL/THL charged 200 min (500 max). Obviously the Fidelity path is better now, but it has to be set up in person (ideally - no medallion thingy required), and transfers have to be phoned in each month. They have my Google Voice number in my record, and I'm enrolled in their speech reco program. It's pretty simple - I get an SMS in seconds, transfer in progess, then another, transfer completed, then ~ 24 hours later get a detailed SMS from BBL.

 

BofA Premium Rewards is also a great card, well worth the $95 annual fee, assuming you can avail yourself of the benefits, which more than offset the annual fee, IME.

 

https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/premium-rewards-credit-card/?campaign=4034200~72~en_US

 

 

 

BAck to the OP: given they have BofA, FidInv and Schwab, those would be hard to beat. Maybe a fourth provider for some specific benefits, or resiliency? I was looking at that State Department CU option, but haven't pursued it to date.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by mtls2005

[OliverKlozerof]

FYI, after filling out the application for checking in my schwab acct...took couple days for new acct to show up in my list of accts. I tried to 'fund' the new acct right away, but the new acct didn't show up in the "to" menu. A couple days later that was ready. Then funding the acct was simple, since I just transferred some cash from my investment acct over.
BTW, they do have an online 'travel notice' feature, which I was happy to find. (Haven't tried it yet, of course.)

 

[ifmu]

i hate the banks     wells fargo  boa    i use credit unions  and have been very happy .. 

[Martyp]

3 hours ago, ifmu said:

i hate the banks     wells fargo  boa    i use credit unions  and have been very happy .. 

My credit union in the US doesn’t do international transfers. 

[JimmyJ]

Schwab has a longstanding offer of a $100 bonus for opening an account.

 

It currently probably requires a referral from an existing account holder (who gets nothing).

 

1k minimum usually to open account although some people have gotten it for depositing a minimal amount.

 

If you don't have a referral, ask if you can get it anyway - I've found them very easygoing in general.

 

There is a hard pull when opening an account there.

Edited July 25, 2019 by JimmyJ

[STALINGRAD]

Citibank.