What Bank Brand Yields The Best Finds?

It is true. I opened up a few accounts with tiny amounts at different banks and credit unions so that I could try them out with coin hunting, and ended up closing 75% of those because I found that either the results were no different than the bank I do all of my normal banking needs with, or the employees were just as rude as anywhere else I don't visit for coin collecting needs. In either case, it wasn't worth it to keep those accounts.

I will say that I occasionally have a bit better luck at one or two banks over others, and I will focus my efforts and get coins from those banks. But it isn't a permanent thing, just a streak, and eventually I have to move to a different bank to try my luck.

My advice is if you are finding the coins you want in boxes from one bank, feel free to get more boxes and hope the streak continues.

If you find that you are not finding ANY coins in a box that interest you, than try a new bank... not for the sole sake of increasing the number of keepers you find, but more to keep the hobby fun.

And finally, unless you are 100% sure that you will be getting boxes of coins that are filled with coins that are keepers from ONE particular bank location, just don't go to the bank IF the staff are unfriendly and uncooperative. It is not worth it to argue with the staff to get boxes/accept boxes of searched coins, pay a price to order boxes, or have the manager of that location speak to other managers or regional managers about your hobby and turn other branches against you too. I like to think that for every rude teller I've run across and decided not to bother with again, that Karma then sets aside a few keeper coins in a roll that I will run across at a different bank as a reward.

Isn't the company that services the bank more important? For example, I have found the three banks I use all use Loomis. Since the boxes come from the same source,I have found there not to be any difference.

I have a few accounts at different banks in town. Some personal and 1 company account. I went to 2 different branches of the same personal bank to pick up boxes of Nickels yesterday and received the same type wrapped boxes. I think they are Garda. They also contained almost entirely 2012's. So today I went to the 3rd branch of the same bank and I received a box with String and Son's wrapped coins. I thought it was very odd for the same bank in the same town to have 2 different wrappers.

I tell that story to encourage you to visit as many different branches of the banks that you can. Even if you need to travel a few extra miles. The tellers are different at each bank. I routinely have difficulty at a branch of my company bank that is closest to my house. They even gave me a hard time about depositing bank wrapped coin. I received a $100 box of 2012 Nickels and decided to deposit it rather than open it up an take it to the coin counter. That particular branch almost didn't accept it. I had to remind them that it was the same as a $100 bill. The manager had to get involved.

I have had good luck and a couple of BofA banks. Try to find a branch that has merchant tellers. They will be accustomed to dealing with large amounts of change.

Good luck to you.

DenverNRG, Congrats on the great working relationship you have with your banks. I agree with taking in treats. I normally take M&M's.

Wow that's different!

SilverMatt, Any bank specific information that could be helpful, will only be helpful if the person lives in your area. And to be honest, even that information will be relatively useless. The advice I would provide today for someone in Oklahoma would be different than advice 6 months ago. And 6 months different than a year (and so on). Even the national banks do things differently depending on where you live.

Since you have several options, my advice would be to stop at banks with several branches first. Set down and talk to a New Accounts Representative and let them know you would like to set up a hobby account and let them know you plan to buy or dump a lot of coin. Be up front and be specific about the amount and frequency. Make sure they understand you are only interested in an account if they can meet your needs. This is something I've learned through experience. Every time I've done this, my relationships with the tellers have been better. They never deteriorate to the awkward 'oh, its the coin guy again' feeling. Also, the account rep. can act as an advocate if someone starts talking about a coin fee or banning you from coin.

My last piece of advice; if they want you to set up a business account for a small monthly fee, I'd advise you to do it. This small 'loyalty' fee is worth the price for me. Many people here would disagree saying 'why pay for something you can get for free'. But the biggest obstacle to overcome is hassle. The hassle of changing banks. The hassle of finding new banks. The hassle of dealing with tellers and teller managers that want to run you off. The hassle of feeling you are causing problems. A business account with a $12 or $15 monthly fee is a small price to pay if you can avoid hassle.

OO