Banks?

What banks do they have in Sandusky? And what banks have ATM's in the park/employee housing area,etc;?

Thanks to anybody who answers :)

National City used to be the official bank of Cedar Point, but they changed that in 2008, so now there are no bank affiliated ATMs on Cedar Point property, including employee housing. I still decided to open a National City account, though. Its a pretty strong bank throughout northern Ohio and Indiana, and I believe Cleveland is one of its major offices (if not its HQ). There are also a few credit unions if you prefer those over traditional banks. Each has its own little quirks, strengths, and weaknesses but I personally have found National City (now owned by PNC) to be a very nice bank.

Awsome.Thank you a TON!!

US Bank has a branch inside Meijer on US-250, and Fifth Third is within walking distance of the Sandusky Mall / Target parking lot if you are looking for banks that are easily accessible from the bus route.

I use a credit union myself, I don't think I would go back to a regular bank, the local one I use is very friendly, and you don't have to wait for payroll checks to clear the bank before all your funds are available.
You can usually set up an account at your local credit union of choice, and then use the shared network. http://www.sharedbranching.org/

Also when I had direct deposit at my previous employer, I received my direct deposit a day and a half before everybody else that didn't bank with a credit union.

It's been a while since I've been in Meijer but if I remember, US Bank pulled out of there sometime this winter.

I tried switching to National City about a year ago, and they screwed up the little things so badly (like sending my debit card to the wrong address 3 times and failing to set up my online banking access) that I told them to give me my money back and close the account. Although outside of my experience, I have heard mostly good things about them. I do like that they refund all your ATM fees. At least, I assume they are still doing that.

There is one money saving idea I would suggest if you have a bank that doesn't have a Sandusky location. Find out if they charge you for debit/cash back transactions at stores. If they don't, avoid ATM fees by simply using Meijer, Walmart, etc as your ATM whenever you're shopping there and running low on cash. Of course, this assumes that you use direct deposit for your paychecks.

I use Northland Credit Union,but I don't think they have a branch in Sandusky.I've never had direct deposit before,and don't have a debit card,or check book (as I just turned 18 a couple weeks ago).

Should I just open an account at a bank or credit union when I get there?Or just get a debit card and have my paychecks direct deposited at my credit union up here? I'm so confused by all this,lol

DEFINITELY get your checks direct deposited. Do it all beforehand so you can just set up the direct deposit when you get there (or online if they finally got that working again)

If you don't use direct deposit you'll have to pick up your paycheck every payday, which is a hassle, then if you don't have a bank in sandusky, you'll have to go to somewhere that'll cash checks for you. For some reason it seems like most employees do this and go to walmart on payday. The line can be 45 minutes just to cash a check.

cchamblee09 said:
I use Northland Credit Union,but I don't think they have a branch in Sandusky.I've never had direct deposit before,and don't have a debit card,or check book (as I just turned 18 a couple weeks ago).

Should I just open an account at a bank or credit union when I get there?Or just get a debit card and have my paychecks direct deposited at my credit union up here? I'm so confused by all this,lol

Check and see if your credit union is liked to other credit unions. My CU is Share/Co-Op there are 3 credit unions in Sandusky that i can use to do most account transaction. It is so much better to do that then to open an account just for summer. If you can use CU in sandusky set up your Northland Credit Union account with at least a debit card so you can do deposits at a sandusky CU.

^ Credit union is the way to go!

Ok,looks like I'll definatly be checking into getting direct deposit all set up before I leave,along with a debit card.Thanks so much to everyone! You guys are all super helpful!

I highly suggest Fifth Third. Very nice and reliable. I've had very bad experiences with US Bank, and they should not be reccommended at all.

A lot of employees have had bad experiences with US Bank. They are like car salesmen when you go in there. Fifth Third is good but so is National City. They have the most banks in Sandusky and are very large in the Midwest too. Plus they have 'Points'!

99er said:
...Plus they have 'Points'!

What do you mean by 'Points' ??

You get Points every time you use your check card. These points accumulate and you can redeem them for items like Target gift cards, magazine subscriptions, and larger items like TVs and Ipods. If you use your check card a lot, it does not take long to get a lot of points. Im up over 100,000 right now.

I have National City and have had it for going on 13 years now. I haven't had any problems with them and i think they are overall the best bank in the area. They don't charge you for debit/credit charges and they have a really good direct deposit program. If you have any problems with them they are usually very good about taking care of it. I know Ralph Wiggum said that they screwed up with his, but i'm guessing that was because of where he set up his account. Each office is different. I set mine up in my home town and have never had any problems. I would go to a smaller office to set up an account, because they are usually more on top of things. The larger offices have more stuff to deal with and can mix things up easier. But overall i would definitely set up an account there. Hope this helped!

Thanks to everyone,you all have been very helpful in this matter,lol

Well I'm glad to hear someone had luck with National City points. They tried signing me up in December through my work here, and we were supposed to get a $150 gift card. After screwing around for almost a month, I finally told them just to cancel my account (I still had no ATM card, no check card, no checks, no way to get my money other than going into the branches (which is irritating).

I cancelled 12/31, and I'm still getting statements saying my stuff is open. I've written them certified letters and they still don't close my account. Super frustrating for sure.

Sounds a lot like what I experienced, only there was no $150 gift card involved when I signed up.