Both cards are issued by FIA Card Services, a subsidiary of Bank of America. The Schwab card pays 2% cash back to a Schwab brokerage account. The Fidelity Visa card pays 2% cash back only after you spend $15,000 in a year (1.5% cash back for the first $15,000). Fidelity also has a 2% cash back card — Fidelity Rewards American Express Card — which is also issued by FIA. More merchants accept Visa than American Express cards.

2% cash back is on everything. No tiers. No special categories. It can’t be any simpler. You also get ShopSafe, the one-time credit card number generator. ShopSafe is not available for the Fidelity American Express card.

FIA offers Bill Pay Choice. This card can be used to pay mortgage and bills from credit cards issued by other banks except Bank of America. You don’t earn cash back for Bill Pay Choice charges. You do get float and bill consolidation.

Automatic debit to a bank account for the full statement balance requires a phone call to customer service for a paper enrollment form. Once it’s set up, it works perfectly. No late fees, guaranteed.

Cash rebates are automatically deposited to a linked Schwab brokerage account every month. No manual request is required. There are no minimum balance or minimum activities requirements for the Schwab brokerage account. You can link a bank account to the Schwab brokerage account and transfer the rebate money to the linked bank account after the rebate is paid.

Schwab Invest First Visa credit card wins the TFB Award 2009 for Best General Purpose Credit Card. Fidelity Rewards American Express Card comes to a close second. Wider merchant acceptance, automatic rebate deposit, and one-time card numbers put the Schwab Visa card ahead.

There is speculation that Schwab may lower the cash back but they may grandfather existing cardholders. If that’s true and you’d like to get in before they change the program, act fast.

To apply for Schwab Visa, use online application or call 866-724-9223. Some applications require a phone interview. For Fidelity American Express, apply online or call 866-598-4971.

FIA, Schwab, or Fidelity don’t pay me in any way if you apply for a card.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• FatWallet thread on Schwab card
• FatWallet thread on Fidelity AmEx card

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Software picked, likely related articles at The Finance Buff:

• SPG AmEx Card Promotion: 30,000 Bonus Points Worth $600
• Pay Mortgage with Credit Card For Free
• Low-Minimum Index Funds and Commission-Free ETFs for Small Investors

To qualify for 100 free trades, you only need $25,000 in any combination of banking, brokerage, and credit balances with Wells Fargo (mortgage balance counts at 10%). The brokerage piece is the key. Bank of America also offers free trades but the qualifying balance has to be 100% on the banking side. You can’t use the brokerage balance to qualify.

100 free trades per account include open-end mutual funds in addition to stocks and ETFs. No other brokerage accounts let you buy Vanguard mutual funds for free. Small online broker Zecco offers free trades with $25k balance but the free trades don’t cover open-end mutual funds.

The catch with WellsTrade is that you have to open a Wells Fargo checking account. It’s a feature-rich checking account called PMA. The checking account is also free if you have $25,000 in the brokerage account. You don’t really have to use the checking account much, just enough to keep it open; Wells Fargo closes dormant accounts. If you do use it, it has quite a few freebies, although it doesn’t pay much interest.

The cash account in the brokerage account does not pay much interest either. It’s less of an issue now because even good money market funds don’t pay much. However, you can use an external checking account for settlement. All the buys and sells will automatically generate ACH debits or credits to an external checking account, like the Alliant Credit Union checking account, which earns good interest. To set up external settlement, fill out the Electronic Funds Transfer Authorization and fax it in.

Inside the brokerage account, the tax lots are tracked well. It offers specific lot identification, which helps minimize taxes. End of year statements and supplementary tax information are detailed and clear. Customer service reps are competent and helpful.

WellsTrade does not offer online trading for bonds. It wins the TFB Award 2009 for Best Brokerage Account for Stocks, Mutual Funds and ETFs.

To open an account, apply online, or call 866-243-0931.

Wells Fargo does not pay me in any way if you open an account.

Elsewhere on the Internet: FatWallet thread.

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Software picked, likely related articles at The Finance Buff:

• When Are Free Stock Trades Not Free?
• Index Funds Or ETFs? How About Both?
• Best Checking Account That Is Not A Checking Account

Alliant Credit Union is the 7th largest U.S. credit union based on asset size, with more than 250,000 members. It was originally United Airlines Employees’ Credit Union. Now anybody can join if they live or work near some northwest suburbs of Chicago or become a member of a PTA for a one-time fee as low as $3.

Credit unions are not for profit. They benefit the members in the form of higher interest rates on deposits and lower interest rates on loans. They don’t buy full-page ads in Wall Street Journal. They don’t sponsor NPR podcasts. They don’t pay bloggers referral money for new customers. That’s why you don’t hear as much about them.

I’m attracted to Alliant Credit Union because its accounts offer what I’m looking for. I considered a rewards checking account but I don’t want to bother tracking how many times I’ve used a debit card in a month. Alliant Credit Union’s accounts are hassle-free. Their checking account pays 1.75% if you opt-out of paper statement and have one electronic deposit (ACH or ATM) a month. Their savings account pays 2%. There’s no tier or cap on the amount that can earn at these rates. Nor is there a debit card usage requirement. I like them for their simplicity. They also offer a few freebies: free incoming wires, free credit score (updated quarterly), and free remote deposit capture.

Compare Alliant Credit Union with popular online bank ING Direct and a popular credit union Pentagon Federal Credit Union:

Near where I live, Allpoint ATMs are mostly in gas stations, grocery stores, drug stores, and Target stores. CO-OP ATMs are mostly in 7-Eleven stores, other credit unions, and on corporate campuses. MoneyPass ATMs are mostly in U.S. Bank branches. That’s very good coverage for me.

Alliant Credit Union uses Andera for online account opening. After I enter the personal information, there’s an identity verification step through answering questions obtained from the credit reports. It asked me about a car loan I didn’t have. I answered “none of the above” and I passed. Alliant gave me $5 seed money for the savings account. I was able to fund another $995 by a credit card.

Trying to activate online banking turned out to be more trouble than I expected. In order to register for online banking, I needed my account number, which I received by mail two business days after I opened my account online. Then it asked for the debit card number. I had to wait another three business days. Then it asked for the debit card PIN. I had to wait three more business days.

Here I was, almost two weeks after I opened the account, finally with everything I needed, I entered everything online banking registration asked for. I created a password, agreed to the online banking terms and conditions, and picked answers to four security questions, before I got this lovely message:

So I called the 24-hour customer service center. The rep first said it was because I hadn’t activated my debit card yet. After she helped me activate the debit card, she gave me a temporary password. But there was no place to put in that temporary password. After a few more tries, my account is locked. Even the customer service rep couldn’t unlock it. She said she would have to escalate it and someone else would call me back the next day.

A rep did call me the next day and I was able to enroll with a temporary access code she gave me.

Aside from not having a smooth experience as a new member, what else do I NOT get from Alliant Credit Union? Small things.

• The first box of checks is free but I don’t have a choice in the design.
• The debit card still has the old Visa logo although Visa introduced the new logo almost three years ago.
• There’s no direct download from Microsoft Money or Quicken. I will have to use the web interface to download.
• I couldn’t provide free-text answers to the security questions. The answers had to be selected from a finite set in a dropdown.
• There’s no way to create a login name for online banking. I must use my savings account number as the login.
• Alliant-initiated ACH transfers are limited to $10,000 per day ($1,000/day during the first 30 days).

All these small things require investment. A state-of-the-art online banking system costs a lot of money. Banks I used in the past made the necessary investment. ING Direct is well known for its website’s ease of use. I don’t think Alliant Credit Union invested as much. They bought the online banking system from another credit union in California called Wescom. If you look at Wescom Credit Union’s eBranch and Alliant Credit Union’s SkyBranch, they are practically the same:

Would I like to have a better online banking system? Yes. Am I willing to pay for it with getting a lower yield on my money? No. That’s why I joined a credit union. I’m willing to tolerate the inconvenience. It’s a tradeoff. I get what I pay for and I’m happy.

I’m giving Alliant Credit Union the TFB Award 2009 for Best Hassle-Free Checking, Savings and CDs. Good rates and good ATM coverage are the main reasons for this win.

Alliant Credit Union does not pay me in any way if you join.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• FatWallet thread on Alliant Credit Union
• Bank Deals blog: review for Alliant Credit Union’s checking and savings accounts

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Software picked, likely related articles at The Finance Buff:

• Why a Credit Union Isn’t For Everyone
• WellsTrade: Free Trades With Easy Qualification
• Treasure Hunting in Secondary CDs

If it’s too expensive, don’t buy.

You must be saying “Duh!” but let me explain. No, I’m not referring to people buying homes they can’t afford, although that would apply too. I’m talking about the credit card interest rate hikes, late fees, bank overdraft fees, ATM surcharges and so on.

When we buy physical products, we consider all aspect of the product: brand, color, size, weight, what it does and doesn’t do, etc. Services are no exception.

The financial products come as a whole package. Interest rate, rewards, fees, availability of facilities, and quality of customer service are all part of the whole package. If I like what I’m getting, I use the product and I pay the price. If I don’t like it, I go somewhere else. It’s as simple as that. There’s no point of harping on what you don’t like. If it’s too expensive, don’t buy. Buy something you like. That’s my philosophy.

There are 8,000 banks in this country, plus another 8,000 credit unions. I’m sure there is a better bank or credit union if someone doesn’t like their current bank. If the bank dings you with excessive fees, don’t use them. There are so many other choices!

Sure there is a cost of switching. But that’s the point of making a choice. You weigh the financial and emotional cost of staying against the value of not having to set up everything again. If avoiding a switch is more valuable to you, then stay and be happy, because you’ve made the best choice for yourself. I just don’t understand why people would just complain and not do something about it when there are clearly better choices. Consumers are in the driver’s seat. Take the wheel. If it’s too expensive, don’t buy.

When I first started this blog three years ago, I issued a number of TFB Awards. I wanted to recognize the companies that provided good products to their customers. Since then, better products have emerged. Over the next few weeks I will re-visit these categories and issue the TFB Awards for 2009. Don’t worry, they won’t be veiled affiliate promotions. None of them pay me to say good things about them.

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Software picked, likely related articles at The Finance Buff:

• Why Banks Push Debit Cards
• Don’t Get Used to the Good Life
• Uninsured Motorist Coverage Is Not Expensive