FNBO Direct has the Best Online Savings Account

Written by Nickel - 7 Comments

According to a recent article in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, the online arm of the First National Bank of Omaha, known as FNBO Direct, offers the best high yield online savings account. Here’s their synopsis:

Earn 3.50% on your FDIC-insured savings at FNBO Direct. You pay just $1 to open an account with no maintenance fees and no minimum-balance requirements. You can link the account to as many as three others, including FNBO’s bill-payment account. Use electronic transfers to move your funds and your ATM card to withdraw cash.

A couple of notes on this… First off, you don’t technically pay a dollar to open your account. Rather, you have to deposit a minimum of one dollar, though there’s no minimum once the account has been established. Second, that interest rate is a bit out of date. While they’re always near the top of the heap, you should click through to see what they’re currently offering.

Anyway, as you might recall, we opened an FNBO Direct account a few months ago, and we’ve been very happy with it. The signup process is a snap, the online interface is very clean and streamlined, and you even get an ATM card for accessing your cash in a pinch. What’s not to love?

Published on November 17th, 2008 - 7 Comments
Filed under: Banking
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

Comments (scroll down to add your own):

I’m a big fan of them, sing their praises whenever I can. My only complaint is their awful, ugly website.
Comment by Miss m — Nov 17th 2008 @ 7:20 pm
I HATE FNBO Direct and am switching back to ING Direct as soon as possible. The sign-up process is too slow; they don’t communicate when payments/transfers will take effect; and the ATM cards charge HUGE fees. The extra half percentage in earned interest is not worth the hassle!
Comment by Pauline — Nov 17th 2008 @ 11:49 pm
ING Direct is sitting at 2.75% right now, so maybe FNBO problems are worth the hassle?

They can be slow to get your money out (2 business days), but they are very clear on when things will happen.
Comment by Danielle — Nov 18th 2008 @ 5:15 pm
Why not try UFBDirect? Pays 4% plus rebates ATM fees.
Comment by Mac — Dec 10th 2008 @ 12:51 am
how is ING Direct and UFBdirect? I just signed up to FNBOdirect and do you really earn interest off of these sites every month?
Comment by Tim — Dec 15th 2008 @ 10:00 am
Tim: ING Direct is a great bank, but their interest rate consistently lags behind that of other online banks. I don’t have any experience with UFB. And yes, you will earn interest every month, just like a “regular” brick and mortar bank.

Comment by nickel — Dec 15th 2008 @ 10:06 am
I have just visited the FNBO site and the direct on-line interest rate is currently 2.40 % APY. Also, I have invested in a number of direct on-line accounts in the last few years and few are offering attractive interest rates.

Date: 02/25/2009
Comment by BillC — Feb 25th 2009 @ 10:25 am