Mar 9th, 2008
Ask the Readers: How Many of You Use Internet Banks?
Netbank got shut down and taken over by ING Direct not long ago. I was a Netbank customer and liked their checking account. ING Direct is not horrible (although their Web site drives me nuts) but they don’t think much of paper checks, which I still use all the time. They recently stopped processing checks from Netbank. I had one check outstanding that I gave at a friend’s wedding, so I told the bride to expedite the deposit. When I told her what happened, she and another coworker had never even conceived of using an Internet bank.
“Ever thought about using Central Pacific Bank or First Hawaiian?”
I do use one local bank, largely because my mother is a retiree. But considering that same bank pays 0.25% interest and even after the recent interest rate drops, online banks still pay over 3.5% in most cases, I just don’t want to put the majority of my money in accounts that pay less than 1/10th the interest. I am not thrilled about the fact that ING Direct isn’t really hot on paper checks (although they do allow you to have them issued by them and sent without charge via U.S. mail–I had to have one issued to myself via mail that took most of a week to show up to balance out some expenses), but I can mostly live with that. In addition to ING, I also have money market accounts with Virtual Bank, iGoBanking, and Capital One Direct; my investment accounts are with Vanguard, Firstrade, Treasury Direct, and Sharebuilder (which was recently taken over by ING Direct as well); while not all of these are actually Internet only, there certainly are no local offices for any of them, and this does not count the credit cards I have which are almost all without local branches and get paid by mail or online.
How many of the rest of you use Internet banks? Does the idea still seem novel to you or your friends and family?
I’ve been using Internet only banks for over 7 years. So far, I’ve never had a problem. I do keep a local bank to make deposits and get cash in an emergency.
I was a Netbank customer, and that means I’m now an ING Direct customer, but I’ve yet to do any business with them. I need to look into that, I suppose. They have like $15 of mine.
I have an account with ING. It’s got much better interest than my old bank account, and it’s handier, which is why I switched.
I have been using Intenet banking for 8 years. I have always found it to be more convenient than banking at a branch and I would certainly not wish to go back to that method of banking.
I have a few accounts with ING Direct plus a brokerage account with Sharebuilder. I still have my main brick and mortar bank but that is main for just check writing purposes. Some of my friends are finally coming around to the the idea of Internet Banks.
I have been using ING for about 5 years now. I got my boyfriend to use it too and we have never looked back since then.
Most of our friends are afraid of online banking or think it is too much trouble…but we love ING and Sharebuilder and all the rest of them.