I can't believe I'm posting in here. lol

Ok. What's a good bank down there? We go with Suntrust but they don't have any there... The closest is in Wilmington.

How much are utilities typically? We pay $25 for water and $90 (in winter) for electrical up here.

I'm excited because I get to shop at the commy.

We bank with Navy Fed and Marine Fed but we will be closing our accounts with Marine Fed shortly b/'c they keep pissing me off. But I personally would go with a creidt union instead of a bank b/c their interest rates on savings/checking are higher and on loans and whatnot are lower.

As far as water, it depends if you live in the city or county. When we lived in the city in an apartment I want to say we paid $30-40 each month. Now that we are in the county we pay about $12-18 each month because we are on a septic system. Electric in an apartment was probably around $75-90, and in our house it's usually about $120, but in the winter it has gotten up to almost $200 when it's really cold and the auxiliary heat is on a lot.....at least that's the reason the electric company gave me.

Ok that's not too bad. About the same...

We have the same type of heat system. I "think" it's when you don't have a separate furnace? The A/C just works in reverse (or something. ) and that's what heats your house. Summer it's about $75 but winter is up in the $90's.

What's the big thing about Credit Unions? I've known "bank" my whole life. Why don't they call them a bank if it's the same concept? I never understood...I slept in that class in high school obviously...

Most of the places we're looking at is out towards you or Tate. Jon kinda likes the idea of Hubert...anywhere that's not hustle and bustle of Jacksonville.

AND BAH is going up in 2010.

Well, credit unions are "not for profit" (not to be confused with NON profit ), so what banks usually take away as profit is given back to the credit union members in the form of higher checking/savings interest rates and lower rates on loans and mortgages.

IMO it's just a better deal. We go with Navy Fed b/c #1 I worked there, #2 it's bigger, so if we ever moved we won't have to switch (Marine Fed is only in NC and VA right now), #3 they are much friendlier and more accommodating, #4 they have better interest rates on most products and generally offer more than Marine Fed does.

But Marine Fed does have a deployment savings account with a really good interest rate so we keep our savings in there when A is deployed.

Is Navy Fed a physical place? I only ask because like USAA...I can't just walk into the local USAA branch and cash a check.

We're getting a 2% quarterly interest rate on our savings. I'm going to keep savings open until I find something better but we need to change our 2 checking accounts.

It's horrible. We have money strewn everywhere. It's not a bad thing...it's organized chaos...but still.

Yes, Navy Fed is a physical place. I could NEVER bank with USAA. I just like knowing that if I have issues I can walk in and get them taken care of.

I don't know what the interest rate is on their savings right now. I want to say it's always been around 1.25-1.5%, but it's com[pounded monthly instead of quarterly. The interest on checking is (I think) about 0.5% monthly.

That's not bad AT ALL.

Ya...I have to have a physical place.

If I need to flip out...it's going to be done in person. I've had to do that at least once with every bank.

We have Navy Fed too, they have been great and Chris has had them since he was in boot camp. We have had car loans through them, our mortgage is through them and we have checking and savings, though I never use that savings account. We use ING for savings, which is online only, so I have no problem with no brick and mortar place. I rarely go to the bank.

Our utilities are about $50/month for water and between $75 in spring/fall when either the heat or A/C isn't on much and then can get up to $150 in the summer and about $100 in the winter.

For banks...we have Bank of America. We've had them since we got married in 2007, and we LOVE them!! =)