AH 11: Student Life in USA - Bank Accounts, Credit Cards and Grades

Varun Says: It has been such a long time since I have posted anything on Happy Schools Blog. Well, here is the thing. I opened 4 bank accounts just to find out which works the best. After a span of an year, I closed Chase Wells Fargo and Citibank. I only maintained Bank of America and Chase being free to students. Chase has a super fast customer service experience as they are new. Right now, I have closed Chase as well because I did not need it anymore. I reopened Citibank as they had a good promo of $300 gift card upon applying for a savings plus checking account with minimum $1000 monthly balance. Currently, I maintain Citibank & Bank of America only. For Credit cards, I have American Express. As per my experience, two bank accounts are more than enough. Just keep one for foreign transactions such as money transfers from India and another bank account for local use such as purchasing groceries. I agree with Raghu that having 4 bank accounts sounds bit strange. It was an experiment as all the accounts were offered for free to students and I was basically doing a research. In the nutshell, two bank accounts are enough. For good credit history, request for a prepaid balance credit card and use it wisely to build a descent credit score.