I'm elated by the move to credit unions and small banks. I've been with credit unions since 2002 when I closed my account with Washington Mutual. The reason for the move was that they instituted a new policy wherein they would no longer charge customers of other banks to use WAMU ATMs, and yet they still charged a service fee for their own customers to withdraw from non WAMU ATMs. So I walked into the bank and asked the teller...
Me: Let me get this straight, if I move my money to another bank I can use their ATMs for free and also use your ATMs for free. But if I stay with WAMU I can only use your ATMs.
Him: Yes, that's correct.
Me: I'd like a cashiers check for the balance of my accounts and would like to close my accounts please.
The biggest argument I've heard for staying with the "big banks" is the nationwide availability of "free" ATMs: Bank of America ATMs are everywhere. But what a lot of non-credit union (and perhaps even some credit union customers) don't know is that there is an extended network of banks and credit unions that have an agreement to not charge each other's customers to use their ATMs. My credit union is a member of the SUM network that includes an enormous list of institutions with about 5,300 ATMs across the country. They have a page with a list of member institutions. And I just discovered they have an iphone app that helps you find nearby surcharge-free ATMs. Apparently there are 6 within a mile of my house. Since there are so many newcomers to the local bank/credit union family, I thought I'd put this out there to help people find places to access their money for free. And if your bank is a member of a similar network, let everyone know in the comments...