We had a bad experience with Bank of America for our joint account, so my husband and I decided to switch banks. We first look at the banks where we hold our individual accounts. He uses Wachovia and I use a local credit union.
We first look at the rates. My credit union was paying around 1- 1.26% for savings and no interest for checking. Wachovia is a whopping 0.15 – 0.45% for savings and nothing for checking.
We both have free checking [provided we maintain the minimum balances]. The problem we felt was we wanted to at least get a savings account that would earn some money and neither really did that. So we looked at other banks and credit unions, when I stumbled upon an ad for HSBC and ING online accounts. I heard about both companies and heard good things about both.
After researching a bit, we decided to go with ING. We did a test run and only transferred a bit of money into the savings account. We were happy when we saw the interest we’re earning. (I know it’s not much: $1.30/month now versus $0.02/month previously, but it’s an improvement.)
We saw their Electric Orange checking account. It offered interest and free online bill pay. Honestly the ‘no paper’ feature seemed a bit inconvenient, but we went for it.
So far, so good. We just wanted to see how online banking works for other people (aka. people with modest incomes). Please feel free to leave a comment.
Your Thoughts
What bank do you use? How long have you’ve been with them? How’s their customer service?
I saw Get Rich Slowly discussed this topic and I thought to just share our story with online banking.
Related Posts -
Make Banks Treat You Like The Valued Customer You Are It's weird when you bump into an interesting story by doing something random. I was reading at Flexo's Consumerism Commentary site and saw a retro article about a $1 million dollar deposit. It mention Patrick Combs' story about a junk mail check for $95k that got deposited. I...... - Do You Take Advantage of Rebates? I'm a big fan of shopping around and with some recent purchases, I've been especially keen on taking advantage of any rebates I can qualify for. One special that stores seem to be running is rebates. Rebates can put money in your pocket if you play your cards right. My......
Here are Some Other Great Thoughts - Reader Success Story: Paying Credit Card Bills On A Weekly Schedule. Back in July I wrote a post titled "Paying Off Debt And Saving Money Can Be Done At The Same Time", which talked about how by making weekly or biweekly payments to your credit card can ease the burden of making those minimum payments you may have found yourself with.......
- 75 Ways to Save Money Every Month Regardless of how economists refer to this economy, recession or no recession, people are hurting, financially. Unemployment, flat wages and rising costs for food and gas have many hurting. Check out these great money saving tips to help your family survive these tough times. Here are a few money saving......

Subscribe




Post a Comment
[...] America raising their ATM fees. Being charged $2 is ridiculous, but $3 is outrageous. I’m now glad that we left Bank of America. I don’t take money out of other ATMs, but the principle of charging that much is [...]