Does anyone use online banks?

[Newguy99099]

I was looking at places such as Ally Bank, which offers which offers nice interests rates on CDs, Savings and Checking accounts. I have a bit of worry to turn my money over to a place that I cant "walk into" but I am sure I am just being silly. Does anyone have any experience with this bank or any other online financial institution which offers great interests rates? Am i being stupid by not putting my money in here to earn higher rates of return?

any information on this topic would be helpful. Thank you
Mark

[kork13]

I have only ever banked through online banks. In fact, I could count on a single hand the number of times in my life that I've physically walked into a bank. I primarily use USAA, but also use Ally & Pentagon FCU, and have used ING Direct and a couple others in the past. I've never had a problem with having access to my money, moving it around as required, or addressing issues if/when they come up. I've always been happy with the online savings account interest rates (at least, relative to average market rates), and also with the very competitive rates on loans such as car loans, personal loans, and mortgages (all of which I have used at various times, and all through online banks).

Personally, I have no interest in having a brick-and-mortar bank. Online banking meets all of my needs, and then some.

[disneysteve]

Ally, ING/Capital One, Discover, and numerous others are perfectly safe and generally provide very good service. Many of us use them regularly.

[Newguy99099]

Great information.
Thank you so much y'all

[snafu]

We all use different services, products and need to be aware of charges/fees from financial institutions. We began using electronic banking when it 1st came out because of the security guarantees and the smooth transition. How many times in the past 4 or 6 months have you found it necessary to physically go to a brick & mortar financial institution? What services does your current bank provide that is not available at the e-bank you are considering? What fees are you paying? Are you comfortable with automatic payroll deposit? Do you pay bills on-line from your computer or smart phone? Do your creditors accept on-line payments/transfers? [My dear friend is still paying bills by cheque and mailing these at the Post Office, there is no convincing her electronic banking is safe and in her control. She only reluctantly accepted automatic payroll deposit and only when the employer discontinued issuing cheques].

If you are accumulating money for a particular project/purchase, check the rates offered by a Money Market account. Understand it takes as much as two business days to get money from a Money Market account.

[JustBill]

If CDs are what interest you, check out 5 year CDs at penfed.org currently at 3.04% annual percentage yield.

[corn18]

I have been remote banking since 1984. Since there wasn't an internet back then, I can't call it online banking. I was with Navy Federal Credit Union and often away from any of their branches, so I had to do everything by mail. I stayed exclusively with them until 2009 when I switched to USAA. I switched because NFCU would not refund the ATM fees like USAA does.

Because they are online only, they make it very easy to be online only. I needed a cashier's check to buy a horse. They sent me one overnight at no charge. They always pay any FedEx costs for paperwork that has to be signed by hand.

The only issue I have had with online banking is what to do with cash. Was never an issue until my daughter got a waitressing job and brings home a lot of cash tips. I solved that by using her cash as an ATM.

Tom

[thesimplemoneyblog]

Online banks often have much better interest rates on their savings/money market/CD products (since they have so much less overhead). Just got to make sure it is a reputable company that is likely to maintain their competitive edge instead of just a one-time enticing offer, otherwise, you will find yourself switching banks again in not too long.

Ally, ING/Capital One 360, and others mentioned above are good options. The only limitation is if you need to deposit cash, but even that can often be accomplished at an ATM.

[kork13]

Ally, ING/Capital One 360, and others mentioned above are good options. The only limitation is if you need to deposit cash, but even that can often be accomplished at an ATM.

The way that I've worked around this problem is by getting any cash I need to deposit made into a money order. You can do this at any regular bank or at the post office, and typically they only charge $0.50-$1 as a processing fee. You can then deposit the money order just like any other check...personally, I'm a HUGE fan of mobile deposits--2 quick photos with a smartphone, and suddenly the money is in your account.

Obviously the minor fee is a bother, but I typically only do it on those rare occasions I have $200+ in cash that I will never use (I rarely use cash, I prefer my rewards credit cards). In such cases, the fee amounts to less than .5%, and occurs only 2-3 times a year, so I consider it negligible.

[feh]

I use a local credit union for checking. I use Ally for savings/EF.

[btctony]

How many times in the past 4 or 6 months have you found it necessary to physically go to a brick & mortar financial institution?

Once to have them send off about fifty dollars in change to be counted and credited to my account That was the first time in almost two years that I actually walked into a physical branch.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I was looking at places such as Ally Bank, which offers which offers nice interests rates on CDs, Savings and Checking accounts. I have a bit of worry to turn my money over to a place that I cant "walk into" but I am sure I am just being silly. Does anyone have any experience with this bank or any other online financial institution which offers great interests rates? Am i being stupid by not putting my money in here to earn higher rates of return?

any information on this topic would be helpful. Thank you
Mark

I use CapitolOne, and before since 2006 when it was an ING orange account. My experience with them has been positive.

[Permanent Temp]

I've used ING for a decade now. Of course its now Capital One 360. It's been great and I really like that I can save in bucket accounts toward different goals so that I don't have to keep track of it all in one giant account.

Also the lag in time to takes to get the money out has been helpful in preventing me from draining the accounts. Although I am now more disciplined than I used to be.

Even though interest has dropped considerably in that time due to the economic situation I have no complaints with the service thus far.

[ANewHorizon]

I think it is important to keep a local bank that you can visit in person, and my online bank lets me transfer money to and from this physical bank in a couple business days.
Honestly though, physical banks hold your money in electronic form anyway, so I really see no difference in them from online only banks.
In fact, if you went into your physical bank and wanted to withdraw money in the 5 figures, most of them would tell you they need more notice to handle such a withdrawal. Banks carry a very VERY small amount of physical cash in their vaults. By government regulations they only have to carry a certain percentage of physical cash, so in my opinion they aren't any better than an online bank.
We use Capital One 360 (used to be ING Direct) and love them. I am not happy that Capital One bought them out, but the bank itself works beautifully and I've never had a problem with them.

[YolandoAmaya]

I think it is more important to select a bank which can fulfill your needs and requirements. IF you want to select online banking then it will be great option, I am in thefaver of online banking.