Something to think about before using small, local banks

[Bienes Raices]

Thanks to the advice on this forum, I was able to get a cash out refi from a small, local bank in my area when no one else would consider me, which was fantastic. Subsequently I opened a bank account (in my LLC's name), so as to do more business with them and hopefully get more loans in the future. However my experience since has not been great.

This may be old news to every but me, since I had only banked at huge places like Chase and BOfA before using this small bank, I didn't realize the drawbacks:

--long hold time (9 days) for large checks deposited
--wire transfer process is antiquated and not user friendly. Must pay a monthly fee for the ability to do online wire transfers (and there is also a "setup" waiting period of a couple of weeks until you have this capability), even if you will only be doing them occassionally. Otherwise you must fax in your wire transfer request.
--no weekend hours at bank, so no wire transfers during the weekend
--obviously, limited locations of branches

I don't know if every small bank is like this but it's something to investigate before you use one. If you're doing a large volume of offers it could be a problem to have your accounts at one of these places.