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[hooligal]

Stillhope, I like BOH for a few reasons. They are one of the top 5 rated banks for low-risk in the *Country*. I can't remember where the article is from, but they have it at the branch if you ask them. This was a big deal to me when banks started to fail last year. Apparently BOH has not invested in risky lending. They also recently added the ability for External Transfers, which means you can set up to handshake with your mainland Credit Union & transfer funds between the two. A very good thing if you need to move money! The only other option was wiring money to/from my mainland account. I had to go into the branch and spend money - I greatly prefer doing it for free from the computer!

I also have an HFS account (Kea'au), which has a gas discount enrollment in HFN (Hawaii Fueling Network). I think they offer Notary services for free too. I appreciated that their wire transfers were only $10 (versus $40 at BOH) before external transfer came along.

I think FHB or CUH have access to the HFN gas discount program. Might want to check if you plan to consume a lot of fuel (you have to fuel at Orchidland or HFN in Hilo).

So a quick recap of features I look for:
* online banking
* online external $$ transfers to my mainland CU
* low cost money wires
* gas program with HFN
* strength/risk of bank
* Notary services

hope that helps





* I'd rather fail at happiness than succeed at misery *