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| Date Posted: Oct/09/2001 5:47 PM Posted By: isaacg Rank: Charter Member Okay, so we’ve already established the fact that savings/money market accounts are better places to store your savings than interest checking accounts. Now the question is, where should I get my checking account? Interest isn’t a big thing considering the above, so I’m looking for: Quality Service & Support Low/No Fees Low/No Minimum Balance Easy Access to my money ATM Card and Nationwide network Looking for good AND bad experiences! Current promising options: Bank Caroline pcbanker.com / AmericanBank Stonebridgebank.com UmbrellaBank (they turned me down and won’t tell me why, but it looks like a great place) Message edited by: isaacg on 10/09/2001 17:48:21 |
| Date Posted: Oct/09/2001 9:13 PM Posted By: Cyberbishop Rank: Charter Member Well, overall, I’m satisfied with AmericanBank’s e-Checking. However, they’ll start charging fees for paper statements starting January 1, 2002. Not a big concern, of course, as it’s pretty much common practice among internet banks nowadays. The ATM-rebate only applies to balances>$1000, though. Personally, I prefer having a (no-interest) checking account at a local (B&M) bank. That way, I don’t have to worry about lost mail deposits. With the help of INGDirect, I can establish a three-point link with my savings account (either using INGDirect’s savings or some other net bank’s savings/ MMA). |
| Date Posted: Oct/10/2001 8:11 AM Posted By: ericpu Rank: Senior Member Why not try Charter One Bank? Energized Checking Share With A Friend Tier APY* Interest Rate** $0-$9,999.99 4.05% 3.98% $10,000+ 4.05% 3.98% Minimum Daily Balance (required to waive fees) $2,500 Minimum Initial Deposit of $50 The best thing is that you can pay your initial deposit by credit card ( purchase, not cash advance) up to $1000. I used them 4 months ago, really good. more information http://www.charterone.com/pf/checking_energized.asp |
| Date Posted: Oct/10/2001 9:41 AM Posted By: isaacg Rank: Charter Member Cyber, I’ve been thinking along those lines myself. Get a local checking account and just keep as little as possible in it, and keep the rest in ING Savings. My local bank doesn’t have very good checking accounts, but the convenience might be worth it. I’ll have to pay for my ATM card yearly and setup, checks, setup fee for the account, etc. Charter One sounds good, but the minimum balance is kinda high for me. |
| Date Posted: Oct/10/2001 8:04 PM Posted By: kxl19 Rank: Senior Member I’m a big fan of PCBanker. When I was at school, I could use the KeyBank ATMs to place deposits into my PCBanker account. But I’ve moved to Minneapolis, and nobody’s ATMs will take deposits outside of their own network. SO, what I’ve done is to open a small savings account here, and to keep a small amount of money to use at the ATM and make deposits that way. Then, I use Yahoo FundTransfer to move my money back into the pcbanker acct so that I can earn the optimal amount of interest on my money. But yes, starting next year, they will charge for paper statements. |
| Date Posted: Oct/13/2001 2:00 PM Posted By: BillyBandit Rank: Member Anyone have an account at wingspanbank.com? I’ve enjoyed their service and the ATM Fee Rebates and Free Bill Pay, and Free online ACH transfers.. However, they are being incorporated into BankOne.com, and most of those benefits will disappear. Any ideas on where to move my checking account today? I’ll look into the suggestions already mentioned in this thread.. Thanks! |
| Date Posted: Oct/14/2001 2:22 AM Posted By: AndyN Rank: Senior Member Are there any deals that, when you open a new savings account, you’ll get bonus money? |
| Date Posted: Oct/14/2001 12:49 PM Posted By: RagingBull Rank: Ancient Member Firstib is the best!1 |
| Date Posted: Oct/16/2001 9:43 AM Posted By: holo Rank: Member INGdirect has a 4% APR online savings account. And you can link 3 external checking accounts to this savings account and transfer money for free. This is the best savings account I found, and actually, it is more like a checking account. Message edited by: holo on 10/16/2001 16:29:38 |
| Date Posted: Oct/17/2001 7:25 PM Posted By: Changs Rank: New Member Don’t forget that EverBank gives you $50 for opening a checking account. I have been with them for quite a while now, and I was very satisfied. |
| Date Posted: Oct/17/2001 7:26 PM Posted By: Cyberbishop Rank: Charter Member Have you received your $50 yet? Did you have to call them for the $50? I’ve had my account for 3 months, and still no bonus |
| Date Posted: Oct/17/2001 7:31 PM Posted By: Changs Rank: New Member Cyberbishop, I have had my checking account with them for 6 months already. I saw the $50 deposit in my account around the 4th month. I didn’t need to call them. In fact, I only called them once, cause I had to stop a check that got lost. Message edited by: Changs on 10/17/2001 19:33:31 |
| Date Posted: Oct/18/2001 2:30 PM Posted By: jonroy Rank: Member Umbrella bank has a good checking account, too: UmbrellaBank |
| Date Posted: Oct/27/2001 5:40 PM Posted By: JY1024 Rank: Yatta If you happen to live in Boston, I would go with FLEET! I know people bash Fleet, but they really do have great CS, and their online banking is very convenient and easy to use. There’s always a Fleet ATM around EVERYWHERE you go! (There are actually more Fleet ATM’s than Starbucks! ) |
| Date Posted: Oct/29/2001 9:04 AM Posted By: mcdh Rank: New Member I’m using American Bank/pcbanker.com. Absolutely satisfied with them, except that they dropped APY from 4.5% a year ago to only 3.25% now. I’m not happy with this. |
| Date Posted: Nov/02/2001 2:32 PM Posted By: zski Rank: Member As anyone who’s seen my posts on the Motley Fool could tell you, I’m a big fan of USAA – especially appropriate if you’re looking for service and perks rather than a high rate of interest. I use it in conjunction with a USAA Bonus Savings account for overdraft protection purposes and an ING Orange Savings account for interest purposes. USAA offers: Reputation for stellar service No fees on checking No minimum balance requirement ATM rebates of $1.50 up to 10 per month 0.5% cash rebate on MasterCard debit card purchases (requires overdraft protection) Free overdraft protection when the account is linked to any other USAA savings, checking, or credit card account; the protection is also free when activated Interest of 0.75% if the average balance is above $1K Toll-free phone access from anywhere in the world Free internet banking, although BillPay is $4.95/month Free on-demand ACH transfers between USAA and any bank account in the US Free postage-paid business reply envelopes for check deposits The website at usaa.com can be intimidating if you aren’t in the military. Their language makes it clear that you can’t be a USAA member if you don’t have a military affiliation. This only means you can’t get USAA insurance. However, if you call 1-800-531-BANK and explain you are interested in their bank, they will give you an ID number, which will allow you to access their website and will gladly send you more info about the bank. -z |
| Date Posted: Nov/06/2001 1:09 PM Posted By: reggieroo Rank: New Member I had three accounts at SFNB before they got eaten by Centura. From that, I learned to have more than one online bank set up and running. I now use Umbrellabank.com and First Internet Bank of Indiana. Both have been great thus far – ZERO fees and decent interest rates. I can’t complain about customer service at either one. Umbrella uses the same software (SONE) that SFNB did, which I think is the best solution. Thus, I would recommend Umbrellabank.com (but with any of these banks, make sure you have a backup plan!!!) Does anyone know of another good online banking deal that runs under SONE software ??? |
| Date Posted: Nov/06/2001 2:37 PM Posted By: markber Rank: Senior Member reggieroo, You mentioned: “Umbrella uses the same software (SONE) that SFNB did, which I think is the best solution.” Can you please describe why the S1 software of Umbrella Bank is better than the software of First Internet Bank of Indiana? Thank you, Mark |
| Date Posted: Nov/06/2001 2:43 PM Posted By: markber Rank: Senior Member Does anyone know of another good online banking deal that runs under SONE software ??? —————————————– I heard that EverBank uses S1 software. But there used to be $1500 minimum balance requirement to avoid the monthly fee at EverBank. Here is an old sign-up bonus for EverBank. I am not sure if it still works, though. Please tell us if you do the deal and it works. http://www.onmoney.com/banking/default.html |
| Date Posted: Nov/06/2001 3:27 PM Posted By: reggieroo Rank: New Member Mark, To answer your question – > “Can you please describe why the S1 software of Umbrella Bank is better than the software of > First Internet Bank of Indiana?” Off the top of my head, I’ll throw a couple out there. Let me know if you want/need more SONE allows you to attach a Quicken Category and a MEMO field to each transaction SONE includes future scheduled payments in the “register” screen FIBI only has a “last 15 transactions” screen – no real register screen to speak of SONE “payee” screen is WAY easier to use… FIBI’s is a bit clunky FIBI doesn’t distinguish between “Register Balance” and “Available Balance” SONE allows you to enter paper handwritten checks into the register before they clear Don’t get me wrong – I am a happy customer of both banks…. I’m still looking for another bank that runs a SONE solution with a low minimum balance and no fees. Everbank looks good, but their minimum balance requirement doesn’t work for me. -reggieroo- |
| Date Posted: Nov/06/2001 3:45 PM Posted By: markber Rank: Senior Member reggieroo Thanks for the info! I wish the Umbrella Bank had ACH transfers and allowed more than 10 free bill payments. The interface, as you described, sounds pretty cool. Does S1 software allow changing the payee address? At FIBI, you have to delete a payee and set it up again if the address of the payee has changed. |
| Date Posted: Nov/06/2001 5:50 PM Posted By: pofig37 Rank: Senior Member > Try PCBanker.com EDIT: Scratch that, PCBanker uses something else. Here’s a list of banks on S1 webiste. Message edited by: pofig37 on 11/07/2001 09:39:59 |
| Date Posted: Nov/06/2001 7:09 PM Posted By: reggieroo Rank: New Member yup – S1 allows you to change addresses… that was part of why i felt fibi was clunky in the payee area |
| Date Posted: Nov/08/2001 4:04 PM Posted By: TheeeeChosenOne Rank: Senior Member I’ve been happy with Pcbanker.com great rates and guarantees. Umbrellabank is good as well (their ATM PIN #’s can’t be customized–what a PAIN!) Couple this with INGDirect.com and you have a winning combo. |
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