Originally Posted by
kayanco
Thanks for sharing your BOA experience.
Can you say why you got a Capital One 360 account if you already have Fidelity? I thought if you have either Fidelity or Schwab, then Capital One 360 would be redundant. Are there other aspects to it?
I know Cap 360 would be "slightly" better overseas due to being Mastercard, but I'm assuming Fidelity/Schwab would still come out ahead since they reimburse ATM fee.
You thoughts ?
First, Cap One has better interest rates. Up until now I have not cared as I was focusing on paying off debt and maxing out my 401K for savings. I was intentionally cash poor and used the HELOC and other credit as my emergency fund, thankfully not needing to be tapped. Now that my debt is about gone and the HELOC draw is expiring and has to be closed anyway, I expect to start building more cash and want to keep some liquid. Cap One is .75% under $10K and 1.3% over $10K. I think the checking account is .2% While not stellar, much better than Fidelity's 0.04%.
Second, I don't like to carry the debit card attached to my bill pay account. If my wallet is lost/stolen or ATM card skimmed and a thief goes on a shopping spree, all of my payments bounce. While I would expect to be made whole eventually it would be a major PITA to straighten out a bunch of missed payments. The Fidelity account keeps a small amount isolated from my main accounts. If that card is compromised I won't be out more than a few hundred until it is replaced and have the Cap One debit as a backup in the meantime. Basically just keeping my eggs in multiple baskets.