FWIW, from the point of view of many of us as miles and points afficionados and credit card churners, the main perk of CPC WAS (past tense) that it used to be an end run around 5/24. As one datapoint, four years ago I transferred (no capital gains tax) long held mutual funds to Chase specifically to get to CPC and shortly thereafter I was approved for 3 or 4 new Chase credit cards (and bonuses) including Sapphire Preferred followed by Sapphire Reserve 2 months later (a month after it’s introduction) despite being approximately 24/24. Unfortunately, that perk of CPC hit a hard and non-negotiable stop 3 years ago. Main perk for me (until COVID) was higher ATM limit which was helpful for getting a local currency at the best conversion rate without feeling ripped off by foreign transaction and/or ATM fees.

That's not exactly what I mean.

When comparing all non-private banking level top tier banking packages (Note - CPC is not a private banking package, as Chase also offers JPMorgan Private Bank), the best, or I should say the least worst is Wells Fargo. Yes indeed - everyone sucks.

Why everyone sucks? The reason is quite simple - for most benefits, you can get them from Charles Schwab without a balance requirement. For those who offers a rate increase/decrease, the benefit is not as helpful as you choose CU (CUs generally have better interest rates). Safe deposit box is a benefit literally not in existence, given it is difficult to score a new box now.

Wells Fargo is the least worst because it has the lowest requirement to qualify. As other may have mentioned, the beauty of CPC is 5/24 and the welcoming bonus.

I do agree that BofA service sucks, based on my professional experience. Chase's service is standardized - not good, not bad.

This one? https://www.wellsfargo.com/checking/portfolio/

I have had pretty good service with Chase as a regular CC customer. I did sign up for the Sapphire checking account for the bonus a little while ago and have been satisfied with my limited interactions on the banking side. I agree the minimum requirement for most general "private/premium" accounts is too low to provide any meaningful/useful benefits. I wonder if the true private banking relationships (probably way too high for me to qualify) would actually offer worthwhile benefits.

LAX

As someone who has had Wells Fargo Portfolio since 2011 and Chase CPC since 2017 (almost 2 years now), I can say they appear similar, but I still have both because:

• Wells Fargo had 100 free trades on each account when I opened it - my brokerage account was closed due to inactivity and when I noticed that, they would not give the same deal again on new brokerage account - would not re-open closed one.
• Wells Fargo staff in the branch in my town knew less about the products than I did. I had to tell them what it was I needed and bank staff knew zero about the investment side and did nothing to help in that area.
• I do have a safe deposit box at Wells Fargo - free small one included in Portfolio
• The Wells Fargo funds transfer rates to a bank in India I use are competitive (limited to 5K ,but conversion rate at above $4500 is competitive) and no fees added. Obviously they make money in the conversion rate like other services, but not an unreasonable rate.
• Not sure they have changed the trading fees like others.. but I don't trade - but do some transactions - especially this year. The no-fee ETFs have been reasonable. Allows me to still hold some Vanguard Admiral shares transferred as part of inherited IRA, though I am moving to ETFs over time, as they match and easier to reallocate to other ETFs during market hours at same cost level.
• Chase - CPC - the customer service is night and day difference. The banker I use is awesome, knows, no BS and will find out if she does not know. Cares about her customers.
• The YouInvest w/ unlimited free trades for self-managed portfolio is reasonable (not the best but works fine - no issues).
• CPC includes free notarization services that my banker handles - very convenient and she helped us out without any hesitation - including cashing in some US savings bonds in the same meeting session with different notarization services. Don't believe WF includes that - was never able to get them to help much.
• Was able to have my son get CPC benefits based on my CPC status, and our banker helped make sure he got sign up bonus listed on regular checking and then immediately upgrading to CPC account and bonus came through as expected. WF doesn't offer much for those without much resources up front and no family benefits option.
• The CPC free wire transfers may be great for within US, but for the bank in india, conversion rates are absolutely terrible, hence I still rely on WF. Ironically JPMC handles all the wire transactions for the India bank I use but doesn't really offer a competitive conversion rate. :-( Option later may be to use an 3rd party transfer services if I close the WF accounts.
• The free safety deposit box is not available. (Guess that appears to be an issue with all banks and new accounts)..
• I originally considered B of A and even reserved some funds to transfer for the $100k Merrill Edge option to get best rates on the cash back cards, but never pulled the trigger and since then locked in the funds such that I can't do that now.
• I use the Chase UR system having moved from cash back focus to UR points, but still use cash back if it is better.or have special offers on other cards that give a better deal.

While Chase CPC and WF Portolio are supposed to be "special" but basically they are primarily for "reduce the bank fees as much as possible" and try to get some useful banking services in the process. The investing side is leveraged to help meet balance requirements so that we don't need to keep lots of $$$ in near zero interest rate accounts. But luckily I get something out of both Chase CPC and WF Portfolio for now to keep them both. WF would eventually go in my situation - unless they suddenly get much better. I had moved one account over from WF to Chase for a bonus that is still pending - which would be lowered by the $95 closing fee from WF account that I paid.

Hope the pros/cons I encountered are useful for others to know - but each persons situation could be different - especially if the staff at local branches are different.

EDIT: Customer service on Chase has been great - used Secure Message feature online and called - no issues. WF was not easy and so generally avoided trying to get them to do much - was too painful each time on phone and in branch.

Yes indeed.

Not exactly.

Exactly.

FWIW - I am not opposing this kind of top-tier banking. Instead - before you are attracted to these, think about this - how exactly can you benefit this kind of accounts?

If you say CPC will give you $2K for 250K, go for it. Otherwise, many published benefits are not worthy when you compare institutions like Schwab (Schwab offers ATM rebate worldwide, but not Fidelity or eTrade).

Sorry for going OT, but unless it has changed recently, I did get my foreign ATM fee rebated by Fidelity 2 or 3 years ago.

LAX

That's my first thought, but after I see this:

"Please note that there may be a foreign transaction fee of 1% that is not waived, which will be included in the amount charged to your account."

So I would say no.

I just do not see any need to have Chase PC. Chase Sapphire gives me everything I need. The one special thing none of other competitors offer is the free wire transfer all around, in and out, domestic or overseas. You can easily save $40 for an outgoing transfer overseas. But if you never use it, then it is of little difference.

Other than that, the difference is very little. Schwabs does not have min balance requirement. Citi offers possible discount on some CC fees. BofA offers good Preferred Rewards program with CC bonus. But both Citi and Chase brokerage suck big.

For ordinary folks, Schwabs is very good. But if you need to have a local branch, then pretty much anything goes.

I think the international wire transfer benefit has been devalued by the competitor Transferwise which has had consistently lower rates than CPC rates.

The ATM refund aspect has also been devalued in my view by external circumstances as well; my primary use case for ATM refunds was international while traveling, and as an American, the short/medium term outlook on international travel is not good!

I'm glad we have a lot of choices. For this topic at least, I wish CPC had tie into UR bonus and the bonus was allowed for retirement assents. (YouInvest bonus allows retirement assets, but CPC bonus does not - very ironic). UR specials for CPC clients would make it more relevant for me at least - similar to BofA Rewards being boosted by Merrill Edge (or whatever it is called now - just Merrill?).

I have the Wells Fargo portfolio It's a good place to gather multiple accounts to avoid any fees but that's about it. All their products have walls between them so my local banker knows nothing about brokerage who knows nothing about Credit Cards etc.

Every time I talk to my "banker" they have to call someone else on the same number that I would call myself.

I've become so frustrated with Wells that I can see now hoe the start up banks will succeed and dominate.

The final straw was last week when my son (who is attached to my portfolio) had a cashiers check from BofA that he wanted to cash to buy a car. Wells wouldn't cash it. He had to deposit it and wait it to clear. On pushing them they said I could go into the branch to "guarantee" the funds with my account (even though they are linked.

I agreed to do that then they said. Oh, wait we don't have $14,000 in cash on hand. We can give you $5,000 but it'll be iin 20's.

End of rant........

Don't blame Wells. Your rant is primarily based on your lack of knowledge.

Depending on the nature of your request, there is a necessity to transfer.

Not just Wells, but industry-wide, each banker's authority is different. Just because a banker can do something, it does not his/her colleague can do that as well.

Also - to avoid mistakes, a banker generally defers specialized issues to the respective specialists. For example, you want to re-finance? You will need to talk to a mortgage specialist.

It is a standard procedure for all banks, given it is a cashier check. Even you bring the check to Chase, Chase will only deposit it and make it available the next business day.

You want cash? Only BofA can do that.

Depending on the branches and insurance purposes, branches may not have necessary cash. While this is unspoken rule, banks would prefer customers to tell them a business day ahead for large withdrawal so that they can be prepared.

Also - $20 bill is more common in daily usage (many merchants do not accept $100 bill). So banks do not order bills they don't use.

I've been a customer of WFB since 1976 and have multiple accounts with them and at times large amounts on deposit. You show me 1 single WFB employee that can work with you on all their products. If you can then great. I suspect you can't

Due to a confidentiality clause, I can neither confirm or deny the existence of such employee.