banking around The Villages
 

Are there many banks around the villages? which ones would you say were the best ones? Thanks

Name any bank and there probably is a branch(s) near TV.
A google search of banks in TV brought up 30 locations.

Yes.

For years we used a East Bay local bank with about 30 branches (Fremont Bank) and would have stayed with them if they expanded to TV.

We switched to Wells Fargo because there is a branch in our town in CA and now TV.

Chase and B of A were also in both places. No Umpqua Bank, Bank of Alex Brown, West America, etc, etc.

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LUV Citizens, in 1 yr. have not written a check BUT I pay all my Fl. bills on line with them.

:bigbow:

I have been extremely pleased with SunTrust. Their branch is nearby and if I have a problem, I can go right in and speak to them eye to eye. Hate those Citicorp type banks where you can only call an 800 number and try to work things out over the phone.

Their on-line banking and bill paying system is pretty good too and I use it often. I was up in North Carolina for the summer and there was a branch and ATM machine in the next town.

We bank at a credit union. Recently we used a ATM at the Citizens Bank. We were headed out of town and wanted to withdraw $500. Put the card in and punched in all the info and NO MONEY. The machine said the transaction went through. Went inside the bank and they said it was our credit unions problem. We contacted the CU and they took the info but said it would take 7 -10 days to correct. It has taken 10 days to get a temporary correction. We still did not have the cash we needed for the trip. Still waiting for Citizens to correct the problem.

For my personal accounts I use B of A because they seem to have convenient branches wherever I go around the USA. When I spent a month in TV in 2011 the closest B of A was pretty far from the house I rented so I tried my B of A card at a Citizens. The machine wanted $5.00 to give me some cash if I recall correctly. That left a very bad taste in my mouth so I went the distance to a B of A.

I am curious as to whether I can use a Schwab card at a Citizens at no charge since Schwab charges me nothing on using bank ATMs, even in foreign countries. They apparently eat the fee or have worked out deals with many or most banks. I did not have my Schwab card with me in TV so if anyone knows the answer please advise and I will bring it down on my next trip.

Citizens seems to have a pretty tight lock on the banking business in TV and has plenty of branches. I recall reading somewhere that when Morse signed on with Schwartz in the early days they could not get appraisals and loans high enough to sell homes at the prices they wanted to obtain since the surrounding housing in Central Florida was way too low priced compared to what he wanted to get for what he was building. Of course the surrounding housing did not offer "free" golf and the other amenities TV was providing so one could argue it was an apples versus oranges situation. To solve this problem Morse established his own bank to do the lending.

It does not surprise me that Citizens receives higher interest rates for mortgages on new homes. Buyers, with good reason, are worried other lenders may not process their loan requests in time to meet their deadline. I am refinancing a home (not in TV) right now and although a 25 day lock was available at a slightly lower rate the mortgage broker who is a personal friend told me to go for the 55 day lock since there was no way they could process my re-fi in 25 days. It is what it is.

Real estate agents frequently receive (or perhaps used to receive) referral fees (commissions) from lenders. I am not current on this and the situation no doubt varies from state to state. Does anyone know if Citizens pays referral fees to TV's sales people?

Our agent was quite pushy for us to use Citizens even though it was offering a higher interest rate!
So i guess, yes, they must get some sort of perk from TV

I do most of my banking online so I have Bank of America. I really like their online banking and they have locations in both Michigan and Florida and a lot other places too!! Because BoA is a distance from my TV home, I opened an account with Citizens in case I needed extra cash on hand.

I think most banks charge fees if you use another bank's ATM card. In fact, I heard a news story this week that most banks were going to be rasing their fees.

Most credit unions belong to a group where they can use each other ATM machines. If you also use a credit union, you might want to check to see if their group has a location near TV.

BOA home and TV

We belong to a credit union in Michigan but there is a service center called campus USA on 441 in the villages. I also use on line bill pay at the credit union and use the debit card. We also opened up a small checking account locally at community bank and trust of Florida which we use when people that do business here won't take out of state checks (like contractors).
We like that bank they are a small town bank which we like .you don't have to call an 800 number and have to press so many numbers to get the right person to talk too. You get someone right a way. They have two offices in the villages one on 466 and the other on 441.

Do you now understand why there are so many banks. Everybody likes their bank.

In the mid 80's we were with BofA for about 10 years. We had an auto transfer from checking to a savings account. After a few years we decided to cancel the auto transfer. The next month the auto transfer was still in force; went to the branch and complained. The next month ditto. We then closed the savings account. The next month there was an auto transfer to the closed savings account. Closed the checking account. The next month there was a transfer from the closed checking account to the closed savings account. That went on for about 6 months and then we got a letter from a collection agency for the NSF checking account!

And that's why we don't use BofA.

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Manabout, you most certainly can use your Schwab debit card at Citizens (I have) and Schwab will refund you the atm fees on your bank statement.

I like the fact that there is a Schwab investment branch at Lake Sumter. You can deposit money into your investment account and then go online and transfer it to your checking account.