Someone that I know who is not interested in anything related to the world of finance, asked me what is the base minimum of accounts and credit cards which also serve as quite optimal in terms of getting rewards and points. Obviously, this person is simply not interested or has time for the bonus points. She much rather prefers to earn cash and spend them as per need. Not interested in having to juggle with having a big stash of credit cards in wallets or for that matter having multiple accounts, she tasked me with designing a very basic package of accounts. Now she is also with Bank of America and has been disillusioned with their fees and banking account structures in general. This task is quite easy. No bank - regional or national - is going to come close to your good old friendly neighborhood credit union. So the best way to have a good checking and savings account would be to have a nice credit union. A simple online search or using the maps such as Bing or Google would give you the nearest credit union. There are also sites dedicated to finding the nearest credit union near you or your zip code. To have this basic account is a no brainer. Sometimes it is also good to have a national level checking or savings account mainly due to access to the customer service when you are involved in international travel or to have a global banking presence. Though bank of america is good, Chase is another bank that came to my mind. Mainly, due to the fact that having a good Chase banking relationship is often an entry way to their credit card world which is often the best out there in terms of the rewards along with American Express. So it was a no brainer to recommend Chase. For savings account, nothing is beating the online savings account. A quick check in bankrate.com gives a lot of results such as Synchrony, GE Capital Bank or the Ally Bank or Ever Bank etc. I prefer going with the two known names such as Discover Bank or the American Express Savings bank. Both have good customer service and are quite fast in terms of incorporating the latest technology in their banking sites. Not that the other banks such as Ally are any behind. The rate differences are almost minimal from 0.90% APR to about 1.05% APR. This is anyway for emergency funds parking only.
Now comes the big question of which credit card to choose. After going thru the list of credit cards in this site, which is pretty much a filtered and sorted list, I thought I would go with the below:
Barclays arrival+ card( 89 ): Good ongoing bonus with annual fee of $89 waived for the first year was the main thing other than the 2% bonus which is pretty much the maximum for all-purpose rewards card. Mainly, this card is hard to get once you have a good amount of credit history. So better to get it immediately. See my other post about the order in which to get the credit cards.
Close Second would be American express blue cash preferred: Simply one of the best cards around from an awesome customer service team, there is a 6% cash back for groceries and 3% gas which are among the highest out there. There is an annual fee of $75 which could also be offset by the high rewards structure. There is a blue cash counterpart as well as everyday card which is simply not the cup of tea for many users out there who do not want to be bothered with going to various stores and loading money.
Bottomline:
Credit card: Barclays Arrival+ and then the American Express Blue Cash Preferred.
As an aside, I would recommend to apply cards with Chase though no need to carry them in your wallet on day-to-day basis. Cards such as the Freedom card or the Southwest card are always good to have.
Savings account: American Express Savings
Credit Union: Find your local one using the online tool.
Checking Account: Chase Total Checking
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