>I will do as Ira suggested:...<

Glad to have been of assistance, LV.

((I))

Am I the one you refer to as P? Will you explain where I was "huffy"? I think you totally misread my very calm and almost apologetic post. What did you read into it?

I know some banks do indeed charge you for a cash advance on a credit card (the 3 pct of withdrawal or $15, for example) regardless of whether you have a credit balance or not. I asked them when someone proposed this idea on some thread somewhere. They said that fee was for the service, had nothing to do with your balance.

However, they did say they would not charge interest, though, if you had a credit balance, so you can avoid that. That is strictly related to whether you are "borrowing" money or not. Another way to avoid the interest charges which I did once when I had to take out money that way (can't recall why, it was pre-ATMs), is to send them a check to cover the amount ASAP even before you get a statement. YOu can do that, and I did the only time I've taken one out, so as to incur only a few days interest. I had to get a special address from them as to where to mail that check to make sure it got credited correctly. Now that won't work when on vacation very well, but that was just to illustrate the principle that the interest depends on whether you actually owe them money, the other charges are for doing the transaction.

Sorry, Patrick, I guess it was the caps that threw me off.

That said, I found a local bank on the net with a Silver Senior account, no fees at all and free checks, and a branch in my supermarket to boot. Only drawback is $1.50 ATM fee, but you can't have everything!

Of course, I wasn't content to leave it there and checked BofA, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Colonial Bank. None had fee-less accounts, so Nevada Savings it is!