Charles Schwab

I have had only one dealing with Charles Schwab and am totally un-​impressed. I took my son (25 year old military vet) into the Reno office to open an account. I have dealt with Schwab’s competitors for years and have had outstanding service. However I have heard good things about Schwab over the years and they have a conveniently located office here in Reno. So we thought we would give them a try.
Totally unimpressed. No explanation whatsoever on the services offered by Schwab. No explanation on what types of accounts were available. Not even a brief sales pitch. The front desk lady handed us a form and told us to sit in the corner to fill it out. Fortunately I was with my son as I was able to lead him through the form. Otherwise he would have been at a total loss. No help from the representatives at all.
We handed the lady the completed form and received a very curt any questions? that was it. She told us that we would be hearing from them after everything was processed.
I figured we would at least receive a «thanks for choosing Schwab» or something like that. No such luck. They acted as if they were doing us a favor for letting us open an account there.
Don’t know if this is typical of Charles Schwab or just the Reno office. However I will stick with their competitors.

It’s been 3 years since I opened my bank account at Charles Schwab. Their customer service continues to floor me. It’s actually quite fun to talk to them on the phone, and I love that they crack jokes.
There are still no international/​atm/​checking fees.
I don’t know why you wouldn’t bank with them.
I have nothing negative to say.

Charles Schwab is my best friend! I wish he was my neighbour!
*Amazing customer service consistently
*No ATM fees globally (they even refund the fees charged by the ATM owners)
*Automatic overdraft protection between accounts
*Awesome name
*24 hour American assistance
All of the other banks can go pound sand — Mr. Schwab has my business forever.

I wish Unilocal had something more streamlined for reviewing national banks or things like it, but here I am.
I agree with the earlier reviewer– the interest paid on all deposits (no minimum balance), and refunds for ALL ATMs are great. Extra bonus for not charging a fee at international ATMs (which also means you can exchange money without paying a fee!). I lived in London for a year, traveled a lot, and Schwab made that very easy.
Most banks have documented histories of paying settlements over discrimination, profit-​gouging, and other abuses (see pretty much every big bank) or spend tons on lobbying for loopholes and anti-​consumer regulations. I’ve scoured the web and I never see Schwab implicated in those terrible practices.
Schwab bank is unique in how consumer-​friendly it is. Normally I’d be attracted to credit unions or start ups like Simple– but with Schwab I really have everything I’m looking for!

I opened accounts at Schwab in 2008 and Umpqua in 2011. Both accounts have high portfolio balances. I have found Schwab to be obstructionist, non-​responsive and they invent reasons for nonsensical paperwork. Umpqua, on the other hand, has been very easy to work with.
In the past 12 months I’ve met my Umpqua account manager many times, usually at his suggestion. I’ve NOT ONCE met my Schwab account manager — and I’ve been a client for almost 5 years!
I’m moving everything out of Schwab ASAP!

Great service and no fees for anything. Best bank I’ve ever had.

There a many reasons to «Talk to Chuck,» and even more reasons to house your money at Chuck’s place.
One of the best reasons to use this broker and his bank is Chuck’s conveniently located local branch, found just beyond the old SW on McCarran.
Chuck pays higher interest on your money than do traditional banks and there are no fees whatsoever, including ATM fees because Chuck refunds all ATM charges assessed by other banks.
Unlike most brokers and banks, from the moment you deposit a check into your Schwab trading account, it’s credited to your account and you can buy stocks or funds. You can even get on one of the several cubby-​holed computers at their office to make a trade if you need to make the trade Right Now!!!
Customer phone service is consistently excellent. The staff is efficient and courteous and your call is never ever routed to India, even in the middle of the night.
Next to my Husband, Chuck’s the Man.

I have so many great things to say about banking with Charles Schwab. I switched to online banking from Bank of America, and before that I was with KeyBank. I believe you have to open a trading account and put a certain amount of money into it in order to qualify for the investor checking account.
There are literally no fees with this account. All ATM fees are refunded. I was stupid and overdrew my account by $ 1 once and they just transferred it over from the cash in my brokerage account… no fee.
I am kind of a high-​maintenance financial services customer and every single time I’ve called customer service they have been extremely on-​point. (Except once, and the next person I called fixed it and apologized profusely for something that wasn’t even her mistake.)
My only gripes would be that my «high yield» checking account has been at a ridiculously low APY for forever – not really their fault, but blergh. Also, I never seem to have enough envelopes to send checks in. You can only order one thing at a time, and it comes with like 5 envelopes and 40 deposit slips.