Quote Originally Posted by Richsilver
I have accounts at two US banks .....Check out ... ING. ...Additionally, ING pays a very favorable interest rate on their checking accounts with no minium balance.
ING is actually a Dutch financial conglomerate.

I just can't feel sorry for people complaining about high bank charges. In Japan it costs me a flat 630 yen to transfer money using any bank ATM - approximately $US5.25. Citibank charges me the same to cash a yen-denominated international bank draft, while the Tokyo branch of Bank of America charges a flat 2000 yen (approximately $US16.70) to cash one of their own international bank drafts. From the beginning of this year the Japanese Government has reduced the limit on the amount that we can transfer through ATMs (the standard way as banks don't give customers cheque-books here) from 2 million yen to 100,000 yen. Anything more and we have to front up at the counter with ID - and, of course, now pay the over-the-counter charges for moving money by dealing with people rather than ATMs. The official explanation is that this will cut down on money laundering by Yakuza and/or Japanese sending money overseas to fund Islamic terrorists! Monthly interest at Citibank on a balance of 1.5 million yen ($US12,500)? A measly 10 yen = 0.0836031 $US!