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

[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.