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Recommend me a good online checking account

FristleFristle Registered User regular
edited August 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
I'm shopping for a new online checking account, just in case the recent buyout of my old bank (NetBank bought out by EverBank) turns out badly. Also my wife hates NetBank and I'm tired of being nagged about it. Basically she has just had one long string of bad experiences since she joined them, even though they've been good to me.

What I'm looking for:
  • VISA Debit card access
  • Free online bill payment system
  • Free online e-bill aggregation system (integrated with bill payment)
  • Good customer service
  • Quick availability on deposited funds
  • I don't want to bank with an unethical institution
  • Good geek sensibilities & usability on their website: Quicken/MS Money compatibility, webforms that don't look like ass, alerts sent to email or SMS
  • No stupid fees, especially no ATM fees
  • Interest checking (2-3% would be nice) is a plus

Assume for the time being that I don't care about savings & investment accounts -- I'm just shopping for a good place to operate my checking account. I also don't care about branch locations, I want to do all my banking with a plastic card, an ATM network and a website.

At this point I don't believe I am eligible for a credit union through my place of employment, nor am I eligible for USAA unfortunately.

I am in the DC / NoVA area, for what it's worth.

FYI, previous PA forum posts about banks:
Anyone have an opinion on Electric Orange from ING Direct?

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    Iceman.USAFIceman.USAF Major East CoastRegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    If you have someone in your family in the military, I'd suggest USAA. Great people. You do unfortunately need to have some military association to join though (I believe).

    Iceman.USAF on
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    DoctorArchDoctorArch Curmudgeon Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    If you have someone in your family in the military, I'd suggest USAA. Great people. You do unfortunately need to have some military association to join though (I believe).

    Out here in the West, Washington Mutual seems to be a good all-around bank that has never screwed me over in the ten years I've banked with them.

    Otherwise, I'd stick with a credit union.

    DoctorArch on
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    EtelmikEtelmik Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Yeah, Wamu has a lot of those but without the interest. I'm happy with them.

    Etelmik on
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    tachyontachyon Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    If you have someone in your family in the military, I'd suggest USAA. Great people. You do unfortunately need to have some military association to join though (I believe).

    I second USAA (if you have a military connection)

    They recently added the capability to deposit your checks via the website (just need a scanner) and the money is instantly available. This answered the only problem I had with them. (you had to mail in the checks before)

    tachyon on
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    FristleFristle Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Replying to my own thread because I found an article with some great suggestions and others may find it helpful too:

    http://www.andrewswihart.net/blog/killer-checking-and-savings-deals

    Fristle on
    Fristle.jpg
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    KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    I been with Bank of America for a while now, and I never had any problems. I use their online banking for paying bills, transferring funds and just checking on things, and never had a problem with them.

    Kyougu on
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    SerphimeraSerphimera Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    I use USBank. They have all of the features you are looking for. Every time I've had a problem they fixed me right up with minimal difficulty.

    Serphimera on
    And then I voted.
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    RocketScienceRocketScience Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Kyougu wrote: »
    I been with Bank of America for a while now, and I never had any problems. I use their online banking for paying bills, transferring funds and just checking on things, and never had a problem with them.

    BoA has a monthly fee if you don't have direct deposit into the account set up. They also don't pay any interest on checking accounts as far as I know.

    I'd have a look at HSBC.

    RocketScience on
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    Rabid_LlamaRabid_Llama Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Kyougu wrote: »
    I been with Bank of America for a while now, and I never had any problems. I use their online banking for paying bills, transferring funds and just checking on things, and never had a problem with them.

    BoA has a monthly fee if you don't have direct deposit into the account set up. They also don't pay any interest on checking accounts as far as I know.

    I'd have a look at HSBC.

    I'd like to point out that if you have their student account there is no monthly fee. I am pretty happy with my BoA account.

    Rabid_Llama on
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    Shazkar ShadowstormShazkar Shadowstorm Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Hmm, I dunno if it meets all your demands, but you could check out ING Direct. Although I do know they use MasterCard instead of Visa.

    Shazkar Shadowstorm on
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