3 Reasons Why You Should Have An Online Bank Account
If you're reading this and you are using your normal bank account mostly through the internet, it is important to know that they're not the same thing. You may be already be an internet savvy customer who does all the bill paying online and be able to avoid queues and traffic jams in the process, but do you know you stand to gain a lot more money in the form of returns by having an online bank account?
An online bank account is a new concept and its benefits are not immediately known to the general public. Unlike a normal bank, internet banks only exist online and there are no physical outlets offline. Wouldn't putting money with banks like this be very risky then? This is where it gets interesting. Most of these banks are FDIC insured, which simply means that you are guaranteed to receive your money no matter what happens.
You may also wonder how one can deposit and withdraw money using an online bank if there are no physical outlets. Well, the first thing that you need to understand is that an online bank account are to be used in conjunction with a normal bank account you already have. Using the funds transfer service, you may transfer money between these two accounts to reap the higher interest rates offered by online banks.
Get Rewarded As High As 8 Times The National Average Savings APR
Banks are becoming very competitive nowadays, and somewhere along the road, someone brilliant have come up with the idea of moving their entire operation online which means there will no longer be branches to be run, documents to be printed, employees to be hired and building rents to pay. Why does this matters to you? Since online banks have eliminated a big chunk of their expenses, they can now focus on the people who justified their very existence - YOU, the customer.
Banks rely on your savings to lend out to people who need it for a handsome fee. With their low overheads, they can now outdo conventional banks in luring your saving dollars for their own gain. As a result, you get to enjoy a much higher interest return, even as high as 8 times the national savings average. One such online banks is E*Trade with 3.3% APR compared to only around 0.1% offered by your local banks.
Enjoy Hassle Free Online Banking Perks
Many people are already familiar with internet banking through their normal banks and it will only be a matter of time before everyone will have an online bank account. Some online banks come with an ATM card but most do not, but they all offer real time internet statements for you to easily monitor your account besides making and tracking payments. No more filing your paper statements into chunky folders that needs good labeling and frequent dusting for ease of retrieving.
There is also no need to visit a bank outlet to open or close account as it can all be done online in minutes.
Get Paid To Open An Account And Tell Others About It
One online bank have up the ante in the bid to get more customers by paying them $25 to open an account. With a minimum amount of $250, you can open an ING Direct Orange savings account in a few minutes. That's a 10% one-time upfront payment that can go into generating more interest returns for you. When you tell your friends and family members about this high yield account, ING Direct will pay you another $10 for each person that sign up while they in turn get $25 each as a new account holder. There is no limit of how many person you can refer, so claim your stake today.
It doesn't matter which online banks you go for, although the current interest rate leader is E*Trade and the best referral scheme is ING Direct. What is important is how you can easily get your money to work harder for you without taking in additional risks.
Originally posted 2008-10-24 01:21:06.
Related Posts
- HSBC Online Savings Account Review
- ING Direct Bank – an overview
- How You Can Help Your Parents Make More From Their Money
- Choosing an Online Bank for your Business
- Finance Your Mortgage Using An Online Bank
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
