09-23-2009, 02:59 PM
Bank of America (BofA) finally completed its acquisition of Countrywide's banking, so my very convenient Countrywide SavingsLink (SL) account is now just a typical BofA money market account.
I didn't keep a lot of money in my SL account because the rate, while decent (~1.45% recently), was lower than other liquid places. However, I had used this as my banking hub because I could do 1-day ACH transfers to and from any bank that accepted ACH transfers (almost all banks). The transfers were free, essentially unlimited, had no loss of interest, AND no holds were put on the funds being transferred in or out.
BofA currently allows free incoming ACH transfers (1 day I think), but transferring money out, surprise-surprise, incurs a fee. A lot of other banks have 3-day ACH transfers where they sit on the money for that time. The lack of interest during that period is annoying but sometimes I need to move money around faster and don't want to deal with bank wires.
I don't transfer money frequently and could go back to checks but 1) that's a hassle that requires me to go to the bank and 2) my banks put a hold on even a cashier's checks > $5k.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a new hub? Any min balance is acceptable as long as it pays a competitive rate (say, 1.4%). More importantly, it needs to have 1-day ACH transfers and no holds or at least nothing more than 3 days. It also needs to be able to ACH to and from 3 or more banks.
I didn't keep a lot of money in my SL account because the rate, while decent (~1.45% recently), was lower than other liquid places. However, I had used this as my banking hub because I could do 1-day ACH transfers to and from any bank that accepted ACH transfers (almost all banks). The transfers were free, essentially unlimited, had no loss of interest, AND no holds were put on the funds being transferred in or out.
BofA currently allows free incoming ACH transfers (1 day I think), but transferring money out, surprise-surprise, incurs a fee. A lot of other banks have 3-day ACH transfers where they sit on the money for that time. The lack of interest during that period is annoying but sometimes I need to move money around faster and don't want to deal with bank wires.
I don't transfer money frequently and could go back to checks but 1) that's a hassle that requires me to go to the bank and 2) my banks put a hold on even a cashier's checks > $5k.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a new hub? Any min balance is acceptable as long as it pays a competitive rate (say, 1.4%). More importantly, it needs to have 1-day ACH transfers and no holds or at least nothing more than 3 days. It also needs to be able to ACH to and from 3 or more banks.
