Living In Westwood Part #2 - Which Bank to Choose

No! Having, saving, spending money is not a game anymore! If you have left the comfort of your fancy room in your parents' house to survive on your own, you will need to learn to manage your finances.
So lesson #1, open up a bank account as soon as you arrive:

If you don't want to rush in openning an account in a US bank, it's okay, but don't forget you'll be paying a lot of extra commision while withdrawing your money. Also, you might be charged more for your credit card payments due to unsteady exchange rates.  (To get a better idea on how to open a bank account you might want to read John Dicken's article on Santa Barbara Community-International Student Guide (http://bit.ly/MXMA08))

A little bit of personal story here: I went to Citibank on March 2010, to open a bank account. I brought my documents, some money to start the account and opened a saving+checking account. That was the easy and fast part. However, my hopes went down the drain, as I got declined for my credit card application. In my home country, noone gets rejected for a credit card application! So it was kind of a shock at first, however looking back at those days, I am very glad that they didn't let me have one. As I said, it's not a game anymore, and credit cards are much harder to handle. 

The reason I chose Citibank, is because I already have a Citibank account in my home country, and I don't pay commision when I withdraw money from Citibank or 7-Eleven ATM's. Here, the focus is on "7-Eleven" because they are present in almost EVERY corner in LA and it's a great privilage to withdraw money without paying commision. As you may already know 7-Eleven is an international convenience store and their famous logo is on the right as a reminder :)

Here is a usual complaint that we hear a lot from our tenants:
"I need to withdraw $800 for my rent. Since the ATM doesn't allow me to do it at once, I need to take it as 2 payments. This means I need to pay 2 times the commission ($2.50 each)."
Paying $5.00 extra might not sound too much of a deal, but believe me every single penny counts in this town.  

If you are not a Citibank fan, other popular options are Bank of America, Chase Bank, and Wells Fargo. However I don't have one-to-one experience with these banks.
Once you are done with saving your money in a safe bank, you can just relax in the streets of Westwood just like we did...

Please email your ideas/questions about Living in Westwood to deni@zumahousing.com

Thank you and see you next Monday!