I've split this post into three independent parts, please feel free to respond to any or all.
Would appreciate feedback from the knowledgeable folks here.
1.
I'm taking a slightly critical look at the Big bank checking accounts (BoA, Chase, etc) that offer "perks" for higher balances, to determine if they have any merit.
Looking at Bank of America's Preferred Rewards - Gold tier, which starts with a $20,000 balance, here are the perks:
https://info.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards
If you click on "No Fees", details:
Questions:
- Are these real/substantial benefits (worth the $20K) or just gimmicks?
- Do other banks/CUs offers these for free?
2.
I recently came across the Checking account of Charles Schwab and the Cash Management Account of Fidelity.
I'm impressed by the features:
- No minimum balance, no monthly fee.
- No ATM fee, worldwide,
- Reimburse other institution's surcharge.
- No foreign transaction fee on ATM cash withdrawal.
So are there good reasons to bank with the likes of BoA, Chase, Citi which have none of these features?
I'm trying to see if there are downsides to Schwab/Fidelity accounts, or under what situations would one prefer BoA/Chase for checking?
For comparison, BoA has $2.50 non-BOA ATM fee. To waive it you'd need minimum balance of $100,000 - and that would still NOT apply overseas. Outside the US you'd pay $5 + 3% !!
3.
Capital One 360 Checking.
It has similar benefits as Schwab/Fidelity, except it doesn't reimburse other institution's ATM surcharge.
Does Capital One have any benefit (within US) over Schwab/Fidelity that would offset this?
I know it has one benefit outside the US. Capital One is Mastercard, which has 0.2 - 0.5% better exchange rate than Visa. So that might offset the non-reimbursement of foreign ATM surcharge? And might make Capital One and Schwab/Fidelity come out even overseas.
Thoughts?
Thank you for your interest and responses.