Online Banking

August 25, 2004 5:33 PM

I need a new bank account (in the US), and I'm thinking of just going with an online bank with no bricks-and-mortar locations. Looking around the web, it seems a lot of them require high minimum balances for checking accounts. Do you have an online bank account? Do you love it? Do you hate it? What are the perks and drawbacks? Does anyone know of an online credit union?
posted by willpie to work & money (12 comments total)

I am very happy with my NetBank account. Or rather, accounts. I've my personal account, but I've also a joint checking account with my fiance and two money market accounts. We've check cards and utilize online billpay -- which is a free service so long as you are actively using it. They have a checking account called NetValue which has no minimum balance requirements. Overall, I've had no problems with them. My online account summary is very informative and always up-to-date. When I've had to contact customer service (either by phone or through an internal email system called bankmail), the response time and quality of action have been just what I needed.

If there are any caveats at all, I'd say that NetBank is best for those with a steady and dependable source of income. Direct deposit is best friends with an online account. However, if you're living check to check, it might be a bit touch and go.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:44 PM on August 25, 2004

BOA
is my bank. It is not an online only bank as it does have a lot of branches in my area and no transaction fees on BOA atms. As best as I can tell it offers everything that NetBank offers (at least in the checking department.) I can't speak for anything other than the checking, but BOA offers me the best of both worlds; online statements, free bill pay, online cancelled check viewing, check cards, etc.
posted by busboy789 at 6:12 PM on August 25, 2004

Just curious: what's the benefit of an online-only account versus a regular bank account? My bank gives me online banking, etc., already -- what's better about online banking?
posted by josh at 6:39 PM on August 25, 2004

I have two online credit unions, both of which are also actual banks. One [STCU] I used more when I was in the Seattle area, and one [VSECU] is in Vermont. I basically use the one from Washington all the time, even though the Vermont bank has branches and ATMs near me.

The main reason comes down to bill paying: STCU has free bill paying online via a stupidly simple interface. Their customer support is amazing, they even have live chat support during business hours. I deposit my paychekcs via direct deposit and basically send my other checks through the mail to deposit them which works fine for me. VSECU's clunky interface just isn't any good. At their branches they have these video tellers where you talk to a person who is basically behind a wall but you have to interact with her through a phone/vacuum tube/tv screen set-up which is horrible. Since STCU and VSECU are both no-fee credit unions and are on some credit union network, I can withdraw my money from STCU via the VSECU ATMs, or [almost?] any other credit union ATM in the US for that matter.

I'm not sure of the minimum balances, but I recall them being reasonable. There was a small start up cost of $10-20 which is fairly standard for a credit union. If you're looking for a credit union in your area, you can use sites like Credit Unions Online or you might want to try the New Jersey Credit Union League.
posted by jessamyn at 6:49 PM on August 25, 2004

Josh: interest. ING, for instance, has 2.2% interest on savings account, which is way more than regular US banks offer these days.
posted by bcwinters at 7:51 PM on August 25, 2004

I agree with busboy, BOA is a good choice, many account options (in many instances checking is free...), tons of branches, excellent online banking features. Worth a look...
posted by mhaw at 8:55 PM on August 25, 2004

I bank with CitizensBank.ca and love it. Although their mortgage service arm has just completely lost my business due to being too farking stupid to get ahold of me after I asked for a call-back.

My VISA and debit cards are no-fee and every purchase made with them kicks money to charities that are voted-on by members once a year. They pay good enough interest, their website is well-designed and functional, and they haven't lost my money. And their loan rates beat the banks'.

So I'm happy enough. I can't see going back to a bank any time soon: there's just no need for it.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:58 PM on August 25, 2004

Might as well mention, though, that "President's Choice" (which is backed by CIBC) pays better interest, plus has cheaper loans, plus has killer discounts on gas, plus does grocery points. Dunno if they have a 'net banking service.

I just can't bring myself to bank with a big-box discount grocery store. Especially one that is so very much in love with yellow.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:00 PM on August 25, 2004

CIBC and Citizensbank.ca are in Canada, no?
posted by fionab at 9:08 PM on August 25, 2004

Another vote for ING. Great interest relative to the competition, very user-friendly (even their terms of service are written in plain English instead of obfuscated legalese), no problems. The only downside is that it takes 3 business days to transfer to/from outside accounts and since ING doesn't offer checking you do need an outside account.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 10:46 PM on August 25, 2004

myself and several friends have been boned by bofa (bank of america) in a singular manner on more than one occasion.

if you're someone who has trouble with cashflow/accounting (ie, occasional overdrafts), forget about bofa -- just the other day I was assessed nearly $46 in overdraft fees after I was assured by a teller that the deposit i made would prevent any overdraft (it didn't, and the money I put in was just enough so when the overdraft happened, I went negative again, and they nailed me with ANOTHER overdraft fee. After spending half an hour on the phone with a BOFA rep who refused to admit that bofa was even slightly responsible, $12 -- the first overdraft charge -- was credited to my account [something which, apparently, she had the power to do the entire time, because she didn't even have to pause to get authorization, but instead of just admitting that there had been some misinformation she waited until I told them I'd move my money somewhere else -- not that they'd care, seeing as how i'm small change, although they make craploads off of me in bank fees]).

As for BOFA's online system, i find it reasonably useful with one exception -- they make it next to impossible to easily pay my bofa-branded credit card: get this -- in order to pay it, I have to set it up as a "Payee" (hello, BofA, i'm fucking PAYING YOU, ok? You don't know who YOU are? Oh, your credit card is based in Arizona? Well, why don't you call yourself GODDAMNED BANK OF ARIZONA THEN?) include information from my statement (dude, I overdraft constantly -- you think I keep the crap you mail me around?) and even after then, I can't set it up to pay same day (if after some stupidly arbitrary time, like 1:00p PST -- again, if I can't track my spending, you want me to make payments on my credit card 5 days before it's due?). Compare this with making a payment on my discover card, which is nearly painless. I long ago attached it to my bank account, and now I can log in (without specifying my state, thank you) hit ONE button, and pick either 1) Pay entire balance, 2) Pay statement balance, or 3) enter payment amount. it defaults to statement balance, so I can just click the Next button, and boom, I'm done -- none of this "pay to this guy, authorize today to go by this other day, blah blah blah" crap.

Anyhow, none of this really applies if you're reasonably mature about keeping a budget/checkbook and if you aren't constantly withdrawing money from a non-bofa ATM (which will cost you, at minimum, 2.00, as that's the bofa charge for non-bofa atms -- slap the 1.50 or whatever the atm you're withdrawing from wants and you're looking at 3.50 to take out a $20 to cover cigarettes and beer because you're too fucking lazy to walk another 5 blocks to the bofa.).

i keep meaning to move to WaMu (washington mutual), but their atms anger me because they're TOO friendly. I just don't feel right unless i'm able to complain that my bank is screwing me.

(actually, I'm curious -- how do you online banking people withdraw cash? I know, I know -- you can use visa/check cards like, anywhere, but what happens when you have to say, pay your drug dealer? do you just suck up the atm fee or what? you realize that the money you save in not having a checking account with one of the big two is eaten up after making more than two withdrawals from atms that charge fees within one month, right?)
posted by fishfucker at 2:08 AM on August 26, 2004

fishfucker: I deal with the cash withdrawal problem by withdrawing cash from any appropriate ATM. When I use the ones that have the correct associate network, there's no fee at all.

It might interest non-Canadians to hear that Canucks are among the most debit-card-using folk in the world. These days it is rare to encounter a store that does not allow you to pay by debit (ATM) card; and many of these stores will also let you take cash out.

I have to admit that I pay with plastic more often than not these days. Never thought I'd see the day: I started out absolutely detesting the very idea.

CIBC and Citizensbank.ca are in Canada, no?

Yes.

I was responding to the Do you have... portion of the question.

FWIW, Canadian banks seem to own more US banks than the remaining US banks do. I'm not sure why that is. It's likely a combination of need for a bigger customer base, and the several banking scandals and collapses in the USA banking industry.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:30 AM on August 26, 2004