I frequently talk about credit cards and I have a lot of credit cards but up until recently you may not have known that I have completely done away with activating and using rotating categories, circulating cards, carrying 2% cashback card, trying to figure if 1.5 UR is better than 1.5 MR at a given moment, etc. As I mentioned in my recent post, for roughly 6 months I have been using only two credit cards as my daily driver. Now in a similar fashion, let me talk about my day-to-day bank accounts.
Over the years I have opened many bank accounts but only a handful have been my day-to-day bank. This is partially because you are incentivized to close bank accounts from big banks, like Chase, Citi, U.S. Bank, and Bank of America, as they provide a healthy size of signup bonus to new customers. For example, I just reopened a Chase Business checking account for $750 signup bonus. There is an opportunity cost of continuing to keep bank account with banks that give bonus to new users.
So the bank I use is the one that had no signup bonus for several years (I think they have $100 signup bonus these days) yet is all-around excellent. My primarily “bank hub” is Alliant. The amount of external bank accounts I have linked to Alliant is too high and they seem to not care at all. E-check deposit is easy and the deposit happens instantly. It is rather quick on pulls and pushes and credits me next business day on pulls. The app doesn’t get in the way of using the account so that is a plus too.
It is important to mention that I do not have credit card with Alliant nor do I care to have one with them. So, for whatever reason should they choose to shut me down, my damage will be minimal as opposed to getting shutdown by likes of Chase or Bank of America because they didn’t like something on my checking account.
The second bank I use is One Finance. Yeap, its that fintech bank that temporary shut me down for crypto activity. The shutdown, although temporary, is a clear indication to not do crypto business in accounts that you care for. Anyway, the reason I like One Finance is simply because of the fact that 10% of any direct deposit I make can automatically be saved into an account that earns 3% APY. Although it is practically a gimmick, I like the idea of automatically putting away 10% of direct deposit. Plus, here and there I get a chuckle out of random things counting as direct deposit.
The third bank I use is HMBardley which gives 3% APY on up to $100k. I’m no where near 100k but it is an account where I tend to send few hundred dollars here and there. I could get far superiors rate (8-14 p.a.) with stablecoins but the peace of mind from FDIC insurance is real. Sure, I could also chase after 5% APY checking accounts but most of them have variously monthly requirements, like credit/debit spend, and that’s an easy pass for me.
So, you’re probably thinking, but what if you need to go to an actual nearly bank because of some random reason, like American Express wanting a letterhead from your bank for verification purposes. Well, that’s what local credit unions are for. However, because I’m jumping from one bank to another, I usually have an account with one big bank with good coverage in my area.
And if for whatever reason I need to withdraw cash, no ATM fee from Schwab and Fidelity is the real deal. Rip Denizen, you tried to be cool.
Closing Thoughts
Don’t hack my account. And sorry no MO secrets here.
