Any advantages of having a credit card with a financial institution different from your checking account? In other words, if you have your checking at Bank of America, which is the most advantageous, a credit card with Bank of America? or a credit card with another financial instution, like a credit card from Discover or HSBC or Wachovia, etc., etc..?

I would think the most advantageous would be the one with the best rates/point/rewards/conditions for you, not so much the issuing bank. Besides, most banks are just slapping their name on their branded cards, the real bank behind the CC is one of just a handful, HSBC, BofA, Citi, etc.

Good answer, thanks.

The best reason to not borrow from the same place where you have deposits is that you protect yourself from the "right to offset". Your credit card agreement will very likely say that if you are late or in default, they have the right to take money from other accounts you have at the bank. You might not want that to happen for any number of reasons.

This is exactly why I won't have a CC with any bank/CU that I have checking/savings accounts with.

Prudent, very good point.

However, even if the card holder agreement didn't specify if they could pull from another account if you were deliquent on your credit card account, I would still be suspicious of them doing it anyway.

I will ADD...it is advantagous to have a healthy CC portfolio across the top issuers choosing products based on perks rewarding to you and bank at a single bank that is convenient & cost effective to you.

For me that is CHASE being that I live in NYC, they are everywhere & I dont pay fees to have my accts there. All of my savings are held in online banks and the rest are in retirement accts. This has worked great for me in organizing, developing relationships, and rewards back!