On online banks...

[nowalmart]

So last month the FDIC shut down the bank that I was using.

ING Direct purchased the US assets of Netbank, so temporarily my banking is going through them. This is an obvious opportunity to shop around for a new bank. Since I move around so much I see little reason to tie myself to a brick-and-morter bank. My banking has been entirely online for the last five years, so I am quite comfortable with that.

Right now I have narrowed it down to two choices, ING Direct and E*Trade.

Both offer interest on their checking, no ATM fees, free bill pay, and so on.

Pros and Cons:
E*Trade will reimburse me for ATM fees.
E*Trade will charge me $15/month if I do not have at least one $200+ direct deposit.
E*Trade only gives me .50% annual interest rates unless I have at least $5,000 in my checking account


ING will give me $25 for opening up an account with them.
ING gives me 3.50% annual interest rate.
ING does not give me paper checks - I have to use their electronic check system.

While I almost always have direct deposit, there are definitely times when I have not. ATM fees are annoying, but I have gotten better about just getting cash back at grocery stores and so on. $25 also covers a year or two of ATM fees, and the much better interest goes a long way, as well. The question mainly comes down to if I can handle ING's mainly paperless system with checks.

Does anyone use ING for their checking account, and if you do, what do you think of it?

Comments

[everyoneiknow.livejournal.com]

i do not bank with either of them, but i am a fan of paperless systems. in the past few years ive basically used checks for two things:
1. paying government bills (property tax, etc) when i am too lazy to go to the local offices and use a credit card or pay cash
2. rent, only b/c i chose to rent from a local guy instead of a 'company' or 'complex,' since he didnt make me sign a lease - which of course i did not want and it ended up being good that i did not sign one

also i have rarely used cash since i stopped bartending. while i realize that this makes me very easily traceable, the convenience makes it worthwhile (at least for right now, while i dont mind being traced lol)

also my bank is pissing me off a lot lately - let me know what your research turns up, i might follow your lead!

[bigpeteb.livejournal.com]

I use Wachovia for my checking account and EmigrantDirect (an online savings-only bank) for my savings account. EmigrantDirect is in the top 10 for savings account interest rates, and makes it very easy to transfer money to/from another account. Meanwhile, Wachovia offers no minimum balance but no interest. This is a pretty good combination for me.

That said, I'm not the biggest fan of Wachovia, however for what little banking I do, it works.

Check out Clark Howard's website. It looks like a design disaster, but it has a lot of useful information on it. You might be able to find something else there.

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

Check out Clark Howard's website. It looks like a design disaster, but it has a lot of useful information on it.

I hate that guy...

[lemonaid2.livejournal.com]

I use a credit union and I love it! You'll probably have to shop around and see if you qualify for one but it's worth the work. They tend to have better rates and although they don't tend to have a lot of branches, you can bank at any credit union service center and there are quite a few of those throughout the country.