Virgin Island On Line Banking

I use First Bank, They charge $6.50 per month.

When i lived in puerto rico i used Banco Popular let me tell you only see in real time any withdrawal that you use your atm or visa checkcard. Checks that have been withdrawn in your account the same day will not appear until the next WORKING day Forget Saturday, Sundays. For example i use to pay my workers with checks and they will run the same day to change them i will see the money withdrawn from my account in the available balance but i will not see the check until next working day. I used here Firstbank is pretty good is pretty much about the same as Banco Popular but Banco Popular has a great customer service at all hours including weekends. Due to a Federal regulation Check 21 all checks must clear in 24 Hrs in the US and territories but if the check i written to a business or is over 10,000 dollars Bank could take 3 days to clear and if the check has the same conditions but out of the USVI they could take up to 7 days. It is extremely important that you have a great relationship with your local bankers so your home branch has the power every morning to pay checks against uncleared funds until 11:00 am so your local manager has the power if you have a business to pay against any uncleared checks.

It is also very important that if your local banker has the trust to do that and the check you deposit bounces and causes a deficit in you account you are responsible to immediately cover that check in no more than 24 hrs. If you don;t do so your bank could go against any other account like savings or money market that you have in their bank. So what i used to do when i received checks from customers that where a little shaky i will go to the bank and you have the right to exchange the check to a certified funds check they will charge you between 10-12 but it will guarantee that the check will not bounce and will make the bank responsible for the check. Now a days when you open a business account or even personal and you are writing allot of checks banks either required you to have a credit line between 5-10,000 minimum or to have a savings account. Now a days bank managers are not taking any chances if anything happens to your checking account automatically they will activate credit line or they will debit from your savings. IN the case that you are a longtime customer and you don't have any other account with that bank your local manager with probably either try to get you a quick credit line or in the worst case scenario if you take several to resolved days they will cancel your account for ever and damage your credit.

First Bank has the best online service, not exactly sure what you were asking with your second question. I usvi check going to a usvi business will be cash right away a stateside check going to an usvi business will take 7 to 10 business days.

Several of your complants will happen with First Bank as well. Banking is slower here, often my Thursday or Friday transactions don't show up until Mon thru Wed. Credit cards are usually much slower. If you are running a business you must use some type of accounting software like Quickbooks to keep an acurate lock on everything and just check the bank daily or hourly (depending on how complusive you are) to make sure everything is going through correctly.

Items 2,7, and 10 on your list are endemic to the banking industry - not USVI specifically. I just moved here (and the family is still in WA for a couple of months) and just opened a First Bank account last week. I still use Bank of America for my online banking (no particular reason to change) as I have for years and I know from my BOA and prior online banking experiences that items 2,7, and 10 are just a part of the system. Part of it has to do with how settlement works and the byzantine need to still move paper checks around overnight (there's actually a shadow industry of used previously corp jets that run every night in the U.S. just moving our paper checks around for settlement / clearance.)

I still can't see all accounts even with BOA because banking systems are still so fragmented in the wake of massive consolidations a few years back. I actually have to have separate log in to see my California vs. Washington BOA accounts. It's the same thing with mobile phones as I have a old California cell phone number in addition to my wife's Washington number - no way to consolidate billing because the underlying systems came from separate carriers that merged as corporate entities but never figured out how to merge systems in an economic manner.

I decided to maintain my Wachovia personal banking account stateside just because of the internet banking issues here have not been worked out yet. Not sure it will ever be stateside quality either. In the last couple of months I have migrated 90% of my personal banking to HSBC.com for several reasons. Number one, they pay me to be a customer! Excellent savings percentages, excellent online bill pay interest percentages paid to me at no charge. I move money from savings to my bill pay account instantly before their daily cutoff time weekdays, and after the cutoff it is posted the next business day. They have no fee credit cards that pay a cash rebate. I mail my payroll check to them for deposit is the only pain, and it is taking only 3-4 days for the deposit to be posted. No standing in line for over an hour like I have witnessed at the local First Bank. If you like aggravation, choose a local bank for your banking needs. Also, HSBC's debit cards can be used at thousands of ATM worldwide with no ATM fees. If there is a fee charged by the bank you get money from, HSBC will credit up to three a month. First Bank charges a fee, so I use Scotia's ATM for cash.

Wow, totally lucid comments...still no one has mentioned, they all are terrible, yes you read this right! Which one is the best of the worst for the VI, well that's debatable, after waiting 45 Min's in line with 17 other people at Scotia, their obviously not the ones....did any one complain why they only had two tellers....no..........go ask your questions then settle for the best of the worst...the word efficient...does not exist.....

Peace and love and telling the truth is my passion

Thanks Betty. I guess I was trying to figure out how long it actually took to pay a mainland vendor after the check is cut by the VI bank. You answered it: 7 to 10 business. I'm really not sure how long it takes for a first class letter to the states. All I know is that packages going to VI take consistently longer than the post office guidelines.

I am relocating to St. Thomas soon. I have been trying to review the bank choices on St. Thomas. On paper, Scotia Bank looks good with their Really Free Checking Account. However, I don't see much mention of anyone considering Scotia as a good choice over First Bank or Banco Popular. Any good reasons why?

I use Scotia Bank. I don't do online banking, though.

In regards to more Bank Branches in the USVI and BVI firstbank is the largest follow by popular but if you travel back and foward in the States Banco Popular has a big presence in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, California and now texas in the major cities is up to you i am using now First Bank.