I was going to open a second account at a bank (mainly for my eBay/PayPal dealings--I don't like PayPal having access to my main bank account) and wanted to see if anyone had any good advice. Ideally, I'd like to find a bank that has a coin changer, but I doubt I'll find that. My main goal would be to find a bank that is coin collector friendly. So what sort of questions should I ask when I call around? If anyone knows of a great bank in southeastern Wisconsin, feel free to let me know also.
Ask them precisely that. How they respond will tell you much. And certain branches of banks can be better or worse. Depends on the manager.
One thing I would pay attention to is whether or not they receive shipments of coins in large quantity. Often, smaller credit unions do not order bulk quantities of coins at all. Therefore, you may not be able to order coins, and they will not have new coins (like half dollar rolls) for members to look through often. Just one thing I found.....hope it helps!
Had an interesting experience the other day (in a PA bank). I went in and there were 2 tellers standing there. No other customers in the bank. Asked the guy teller if he had any rolls of half dollars and immediately the lady teller said we have none in the bank. The Guy said yes we do. The Lady said no we don't. The the guy opened the drawer between them and yes we do right here, don't you remember. I took two rolls and knew that I would probably not be able to go in there again for rolls. I would imagine the lady gave him a hard time after I left. No silver though, so she did not miss out.
Look for few fees, low minimum balances, and as few fine print gotchas as possible... Even credit unions are getting into the act, sorry to say. Mine just announced a "three tier" system driven by how much money you had there. Little money = larger fees. Another thing to consider is whether you are charged for not using the bank/credit union enough. I fired my last bank after I started getting hit for not using my ATM card six times a month!
I will add that some banks have the stupiest rules. Like the above post I too fired a bank because they charged me a $6 fee for using my checking acct. If I had not written any checks, then there would be no fees. When the lady explained that to my I said that has to be one of the dumbest things I have ever heard of. Her response was, I don't make the rules, I just follow them.
I just left a bank that not only wanted to charge a premium for buying rolled coins from them, they tried to charge one when I turned rolls back in. Some banks get very imaginative when it comes to dreaming up new ways to make money.
Which reminds me... find one with a coin counter so that you don't have to reroll coins! We're lucky-- the closest branch of where we bank has one.
There can be reasons for charges like those. Especially if it is a smaller bank. Banks do not like to have to order coin or return surplus to the Fed. They try to have a small buffer amount on hand and then operate so as to balance the amount of coin that comes in with that coin that goes out. From experience they know just how much they need to have on hand to service their commercail clients that need change, and they know roughly how much will come back in from their commercial clients. When an unexpected demand for a bunch of rolled coins happens they have to worry about not having enough for their regular clients and they may have to order extra in. But the bank has to pay the face value for that extra coin PLUS a shipping charge from the armored car service. So the bank LOSES money whenever they order rolls of coin. If someone comes in and gives them a bunch of rolls they also have a problem. If they don't need those coins they have to get rid of them rather than have inactive assets sitting around. But if they send them back to the Fed, they get credited for the face value, but once again have to pay a shipping charge to the armored car service. So they also lose money whenever they have to send coins back too. You can understand then why many banks are not that coin collector friendly. Collectors who keep wanting to get rolls or who dump rolls on them not only generate no income for them, but actually cost them money. And may interfer with their relationship with larger commercial accounts that DO provide the banks with income.
Hear, Hear. You are SO right. Can't find ANY silver here. Glad to know I'm not cursed when it comes to finding silver. lol. I'd settle for finding some 40% silver halves. Oh well. Atleast I have good luck with currency and nickels. Maybe my luck will change with silver.
Most banks around me love to get rid of half dollars. So don't ask for silver, ask for the halves. A lot of employees don't even know some of the coins contain silver.
my bank gave me a free large safe deposit box w/ my account..no monthly fees and they even have a coin changer. they also have worked out an arrangement w/ a local dealer who used to work at the bank. they sell some of his items for a cut. look for the additional perq's w/ your account.
