online checking accts.

[mn54]

Anyone have any experience with an online checking acct? They advertise 4 to 5%. Have you had any trouble connecting your brick and mortar bank acct to the online acct? The wall street journal had an article suggesting this as one of the things to do for 2008.

 

[Fireup2020]

I have never seen a branch office of USAA, and am very satisfied with the services there. (I believe branches exist somewhere in TX) No brick & mortar bank for me. This is why I am amazed at the number of bank branch offices cropping up in so many towns in NJ.

 

[REWahoo]

I have never seen a branch office of USAA, and am very satisfied with the services there. (I believe branches exist somewhere in TX).

USAA Federal Savings Bank has only one location, the bank's HQ on I-10 in northwest San Antonio. No branches in Texas or anywhere else...

 

[Twinkle Toes]

Been using USAA for years..figured if they could provide service to the military, they could keep up with me and my travels (we're not military). I don't exactly think of USAA as an onlline bank. I've been there...seen them...guess that's why.

 

[retire@40]

I do most of my banking online. As long as the bank is FDIC insured, you should be OK.

 

[ziggy29]

Been using USAA for years..figured if they could provide service to the military, they could keep up with me and my travels (we're not military). I don't exactly think of USAA as an onlline bank. I've been there...seen them...guess that's why.

They aren't strictly "online," but unless you're local to the San Antonio area, they might as well be. They certainly provide a lot of services that one would want from an online bank, such as the ability to scan checks into your computer so you can deposit them online, as well as free pre-addressed, postage-paid deposit envelopes whenever you need them. I live about 90 miles from San Antonio so usually the deposits post within two business days of mailing them.

Last time I checked (end of November), their Asset Management Account had an FDIC-insured money market option which was actually yielding more than the uninsured USAA Money Market mutual fund. I wonder if that's still true after tonight's interest posting...

 

[mickeyd]

Another USAA Federal Saving Bank customer here. After about 20 years I will probably be staying with them.

I do have one problem with them though. I have complained, but gotten no action. Several years ago they used to pay around 5% interest if your checking account balance averaged $1000 monthly. As ST rates declined, so did the amount that they paid on interest. It got below 1% a few years ago and now sits at .10% even though ST rates have been in the 4-5% range for a while. Kinda disappointed that they have not responded to an increase as USAA (the company) usually is a leader in this kind of thing.

 

[LOL!]

We have used 3 online checking accounts so far in our lifetime: TDWaterhouse Bank, WellsFargo, and USAA checking.

If TDW had not been sold to TDAmeritrade we would still be using that bank. Absolutely superb service and free everything.

Even though there is a WF office about a 5 minute bike ride from my home, I consider it an online bank. There is no reason to go into the building as far as I can tell. Superb service (a notch below TDW) and free everything.

In third place comes my USAA checking. I have been a USAA member my entire life of 50 years (if you count my parents being members) and have used their services only when better than something else. They have an outstanding reputation, but their online banking is a notch below WellsFargo. I only have an account with USAA because they are paying me about $1000 a year to do so.

I had a Bank of America account for about 3 weeks. I think my problem with them is that I actually went into the bank once to deposit a check. They didn't do that correctly (they subtracted the check amount rather than adding it to my balance), so I had to ditch them because of all the problems associated with that.

Anyways, is there ever a good reason to even have a brick & mortar bank nowadays? Do you miss the free popcorn and cookies that you get when you walk in?

 

[mickeyd]

I only have an account with USAA because they are paying me about $1000 a year to do so.

Just curious, can you explain?

 

[LOL!]

They begged me in a mailing to get a credit card from them. If I took a cash advance on the credit card and deposited it in my USAA checking account, then it would be 0% interest and no-fee. So I opened up a USAA checking account, got the no-fee, 0% cash advance, deposited it into my USAA checking account. Then wrote a check to clean out the checking account and put the money in a high-yield money market fund elsewhere. Thank you USAA!

 

[Goonie]

Anyways, is there ever a good reason to even have a brick & mortar bank nowadays? Do you miss the free popcorn and cookies that you get when you walk in?

I go to my brick & mortar once a month to get a cup of coffee......oh yeah, and to get a few bucks to put in my wallet for the month. It's right by the grocery store that I go to all of the time, so it's not out of my way at all. B'sides....they gots them some perty girls to look at, too!

 

[mn54]

They aren't strictly "online," but unless you're local to the San Antonio area, they might as well be. They certainly provide a lot of services that one would want from an online bank, such as the ability to scan checks into your computer so you can deposit them online

I've never heard of scanning a check on your computer for deposit. Is this something new? How does it work, can you do this for any check? Any online bank?

 

[brewer12345]

I use Schwab for online checking, bill pay, etc. If I didn't want somewhere local to deposit currency, get stuff notarized, etc. I wouldn't bother at all with a local brick ad mortar account. No troubles hooking it up to my brick and mortar account. Also used ING for savings/CDs, no troubles there either. And I bet Pen Fed is pretty decent, although they don't seem to pay much interest on checking account deposits.

 

[SecondCor521]

I've never heard of scanning a check on your computer for deposit. Is this something new? How does it work, can you do this for any check? Any online bank?

USAA will do it with any check. See here for details.

I have USAA plus a local brick-and-mortar (US Bank) that I use to deposit checks and get cash from the ATM. In theory I could do that with USAA, but I haven't bothered getting set up with the deposit at home feature and feel a little uncomfortable mailing endorsed five-digit checks half way across the country.

2Cor521

 

[Fireup2020]

Have been using the Deposit @ Home feature since it came out last year (I think?)...love it! No problems with the banking end of it! BF's scanner fritzing out once upon a time does not count as a real problem Have deposited personal checks, tax refund checks, insurance dividend checks...they all go through just fine! My local ATM fees are credited to my account monthly, so I do not have additional banking fees. Used to use USAA for auto/renter insurance until switched to NJM (very few places beat USAA pricing - when comparing like policies)

Another kudos to this particular bank: I purchased laundry stuff and movie passes online today. Both transactions are listed ALREADY (no waiting overnight or days for stuff to show up!)