Comments on: Online Banking Comes of Age?

By: David

David — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:23:45 +0000

One thing online banks can’t offer that is usually a good thing to have: a safe deposit box.

By: RateLadder

RateLadder — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:10:09 +0000

I have been using etrade since ‘99… Never looked back. The only way to go.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:57:29 +0000

“In fact, you can do it while sitting on your couch in your underwear eating Cheetos.”

No you can’t. Two reasons. One, if you aren’t wearing any pants, your laptop will get too hot on your bare legs.

And secondly, orange Cheetos dust will get all over your fingers and it’ll muck up the trackpad on the laptop.

Otherwise, I agree with everything you said.

By: nickel

nickel — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:30:03 +0000

John: I chronicled the problems with Emigrant in the article that I linked above as well as elsewhere on this site.

By: MITBeta

MITBeta — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:06:12 +0000

I didn’t see the $4.95 fee, but that won’t bother me too much.

I realized a month or so ago why I had such a hard time finding a bank when I was younger: I had no money. Now I don’t even bat an eyelash at the stipulation that I must keep $1500 in the account to avoid a fee. It seems like bank fees are like a regressive tax: only people with very little money really need ever pay them…

By: John

John — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 19:38:30 +0000

MITBeta:

If you are talking NetBank, I am leaving them before the merger with Everbank because EverBank charges a $4.95 per month fee for online bill pay if you do not maintain a $1500 balance.

No thank you. I’m actually going back to a bricks-and-mortar bank that has no fee checking and free online bill pay. And lots of local ATMs. I keep my savings online at Emigrant (don’t know what nickel is referring to, but I “trust” them as much as any bank).

John

By: MITBeta

MITBeta — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:55:40 +0000

I’ve been using online-only banks for 10 years now and have gone through a bunch of them. Clearly the big reason to use them is the better rates, but I’m continually surprised by how poorly they leverage the very technology that makes them so unique. One bank I was with ages ago notified me by mail that I had overdrawn my account (due to insufficient funds on online bill pay) multiple times in the same day, incurring a $25 charge each time. It took a week for the mail to arrive. Would it have killed an online bank to send an email? My current bank has an alerts feature, but I still find that it takes anywhere between 12 and 24 hours to get notified that something happens. How come I can get the Red Sox score sent to me on my cell phone in real time, but an online bank can’t send alerts to events as they happen?

@Easy E: I’m glad to hear a good endorsement of Everbank — my bank was just purchased by them, which is interesting because I was thinking of switching to Everbank anyway. I’m waiting — patiently — for the transaction to be complete and to be rid of my old online bank…

By: Easy E

Easy E — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:32:30 +0000

I’ve used Everbank.com for about a year and a half now. I love it. I will never go back to traditional banking. My interest rate is good and I never have to pay ATM fees.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:53:10 +0000

I love online-banking. The only time I really go to a branch is if I need to cash a check or hit up an ATM from that bank…

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:07:35 +0000

I’ve never been to my credit union–I’ve been a member since somewhere in my teens when my dad opened a savings account for me, and ever since I started working nine years ago, it’s been my regular checking account, too. Even for my car loan, I was able to call in and get approved, and fax the appropriate papers. Come to think of it, I only have a general idea of where it is.

I’ve since moved the main bulk of my savings to online accounts for the higher interest rate.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:37:39 +0000

I have both an electric orange account, and an hsbc savings account. You cannot beat the convenience like you said of these online accounts. Maybe the rest of the population will finally realize how to make money work for them.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:34:12 +0000

Honestly, aside from originally opening my first account many many years ago, I’ve never set foot in the bank. Once, I think, to deposit a check when they were out of deposit envelopes at the drive-up ATM. Even the brick and mortars do just about everything online or by phone now. They just, oddly, don’t offer the perks that online banks do.

I’m keeping my eye on HSBC and ING (who I have an account with). Right now my cash is in FNBO, but the special 6% rate is about expire in September. Hopefully they’ll drop it to something competitive, 5+%. They were 5.25% prior to the campaign.

I love INGs login system.