4. close out corporate bank account, open up checking at a credit union (32x32)

Last year, I believe, Wachovia Bank, was sold to Wells Fargo. I had banked with Wachovia for at least ten years, never really had any difficulties with them. They let me set up my online bill pay, all of my statements were emailed to me, not wasting lots and lots of paper. I have banked with Suntrust, PNC, First Virginia, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Capital One at some point in time since I was 12 years old. I am not the most responsible person when it comes to money and have had to close out accounts due to mismanagement with nearly all of them.

After the 2008 bailouts more people started talking about the way to show displeasure with the banking institutions was to put your money in credit unions. There was a Facebook event to boycott banks and it had the V for Vendetta mask and I found it very compelling that so many others were acting against for-profit banking institutions. My parents set up an account with Navy Federal Credit Union when I was born to save money for college (which I quickly drained as soon as I was in school). They both worked for the Navy at the time, which is how it was set up back then. Now you can pay a $20 fee and open up an account with them even if you have no affiliation to the Navy. Consumer Reports circulated an article recently on the subject of for-profit versus non-profit banking institutions. I found a few points cogent and interesting.

1. 650,000 new accounts were opened in credit unions shortly following the Bank of America $5/mo checking account fee proposal.
2. To maintain an annual checking account, it costs the big banks $350-$450; but $175-$240 for the smaller community banks and credit unions, due to the lack of economies of scale.
3. This is the tip of the iceberg regarding fees. Megabanks (Chase, Bank of America, Citibank) are so inefficient that they have to pass the lack of interest revenue onto their account holders.

And so, today, I transfered most of my money into NFCU and will start to do the pain-in-the-ass business of setting up my bills there, setting up the bookmark on my laptop, etc. I don't know how to do it exactly, but I know that I have the capability of doing banking from my phone too. It took me years to trust ATM deposit transactions so, we'll see how long it takes me to work it on my phone.

UPDATE:
October 27, 2012 I paid off the balance on my Wells Fargo account (because there was an automatic withdrawl from the U.S. Department of Education which I forgot about) and closed out that account permanently. I now only bank with Navy Federal Credit Union which has a mobile app for my phone and so far, so good, so easy!