Online Banking: Choosing an Online Bank That's Right for You
Source: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Topics: Saving and Investing, Managing Home and Personal Finances, Managing Your Money
Before you even think about opening an account, you need to determine what your user profile is and what types of accounts and services you need to be able to take control of your personal finances. Different features of online banks appeal to different user profiles. For example, experienced Internet users may be more concerned about online costs and resources than savers, who rarely visit the Web site. Confidence and the highest interest rate possible are issues of concern to savers. The ease of navigation may be more important to an online all-in-one-stop shopper than it is to a borrower. A borrower may be more concerned than the saver about low interest rates and customer service.
Identifying your user profile
Every person has an individual profile that can help determine what type
of online banking and bank is best. Your user profile can be classified as
follows:
- Experienced Internet user: You have more than two years of online experience and regularly surf the Internet and use email.
- All-in-one-stop shopper: You have more than five years of experience on the Internet, regularly pay bills online, track your investments online, and don't want to travel from one Web site to another to complete your financial housekeeping.
- Saver: You're interested in protecting your savings and looking for the online bank offering the highest interest rates and the lowest fees.
- Borrower: You seek low interest rates on your loan, the ability to track your loan payments online, and the ability to talk to someone if something goes wrong.
Comparing a bank's attributes to your user profile can help determine exactly which bank best fits your user profile. These attributes can affect your decision making:
- Overall cost: How much does the bank charge for usual services? Does it have additional handling fees or a required minimum balance? What are the interest rates?
- Customer service: Can you make a service request or inquiry or get advice online? Can you personalize your data or reuse your data for future transactions? Does the online bank have a customer loyalty program?
- Online resources: Does your online bank offer a menu of services and financial products? Can you complete transactions (applying for your mortgage online is one example) for each service or product online?
- Confidence: How reliable is your online bank's Web site? Will your bank protect your privacy? Does your online bank provide security guarantees?
- Ease of navigation: How simple is opening an account? Do customers have an easy pathway to the Web site? Can you access your data easily?
Seeing how the banks stack up
As a means of assessing how the several leading online banks compare with each other, we've prepared the following reviews:
|
Bank of America |
Chase |
Citibank |
HSBC |
| Provides a fairly easy-to-navigate Web site. Bank of America offers a wide variety of financial products. For example, there are 5 different types of checking accounts, and over 400 different credit cards. Products include checking accounts, savings accounts, CDs, money market accounts, mortgages, home equity loans, investment products, and student banking options, in addition to the "keep the change" savings program. Online bill pay, ATMs, and maintence of student checking accounts are free. The monthly maintenance fee for the MyAccess checking accounts is $5.95 (free if direct deposit. | Supplies a good web site for existing customers. All you have to do is enter your personal information and Chase account numbers. New customers sign up for the type of account they want (for example, there are six types of checking accounts). Then click on the Open an Account link. After you cecome a Chase account-holder you can easily enroll in other banking services, Chase offers online bil pay, the ability to view check images online, personalized account alerts, overnight check service, transfer between Chase accounts, same-day transfers to any U.S. bank account, the ability to reorder checks and deposit slips online, and to view and print transactions from the past 90 days. There is no monthly fee for certain Chase checking accounts. Chase Basic Checking, Chase Balance Checking, Chase Checking with Interest, and Chase Budge Checking have a $4 monthly fee. Online bill pay is free. The Chase Free Checking requires a $25 deposit to open the account but the minimum required balance is $0. The Chase Free Checking account has a $6 montly maintenance fee if you do not use direct deposit. Chase has more than 780,000 ATMs around the world. | At this time, has one of the most functional yet simple Web sites around. Citibank offers online checking and savings accounts, online bill pay, email and wireless alerts, online bank statements and check images and online account transfer. Citibank's online bill pay services are more sophisticated than your normal bank. With Citibank yu can pay a person or company that doesn't normally receive electronic payments. Citibank wil cut a physical check and mail the check for you. Online banking and bill paying are free. There is a $3/month maintenance fee for EZ checking (there is no fee for this service with direct deposit). Citibank offers rewards-based checking. All you need to do is get 16,000 ThankYou Points, redeemable for $150 in Gift Cards: Just open a Citibank account, enroll in the ThankYou Network, can do qualifying activities. With an enrolled Citibank checking account you have more ways to get monthly reward points for your checking relationship. Citibank will even triple your points for the first year for your debt card purchases and for everyday banking activities linked to your checking. | Supplies a Web site that has relatively few links. This makes it seem less overwhelming than other banking sites. However, you need to be an HSBC customer to appreciate all the site has to offer. HSBC provides a view ofyour account balances, transactions and purchases online, online bill pay, and views of e-statements. You can view of your HSBC and non-HSBC accounts with its EasyView service and make transfers betwen HSBC accounts. HSBC does not charge for online banking bill pay services. Free checking accounts and student checking accounts do not have montly maintenance fees (and no minimum balance is required.) |
From Managing Your Money All-In-One for Dummies Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana. All Rights Reserved. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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