The Big Bank Switch series is an inside look at Matt’s journey through switching his personal primary banking. By using a similar process you may save time and concern over doing the same.

I am in the first week of my Big Bank Switch and already I am thinking how easy it would be to just leave everything the way it is set up now through Bank of America. But, the fear of being a hypocrite¹ and the fact I started this series keeps me going. Actually, its not that bad because I have decided to do it the way I think most people should approach a change of banks…slow. Like most people, I have so much of my financial life intertwined with my checking account. Both me and my wife have our pay direct deposited, we pay bills from the checking and we have some auto payments. All of which make it harder to leave.

Account Opening and Funding

The account with NASA Federal Credit Union is now open and funded with $100^2. I achieved my goal of opening the account only online. I didn’t have to visit a branch. They allowed me to do an electronic check from the Bank of America to the NASA Federal account. Unfortunately, we already had our first issue. Our ATM cards did not show up within a few days. It seems they were lost in the mail. NASA promptly canceled them and resent new ones. Had we opened the account at a branch we likely would not have had this issue but since we are in no rush its not a big deal. I had hoped to have my wife change her primary direct deposit³ by now but I don’t want to do it until we have the ATM cards.

Next Steps

Once we receive the ATM cards my wife is going to request the form from her Human Resources department to adjust here direct deposit. Most companies either have a form or online page you can fill out to do the change. It typically takes one pay cycle for it to go through.