As most are likely aware, many well-known banks such as Chase, Bank of America and Citi offer online banking along with traditional banking. That being said, what would be the point of considering any of these aforementioned online accounts?
The answer is simple; the benefits. Although the specific number varies depending which bank you choose to open an account with, the Annual Percentage Yield according to this chart on rates.SavingsAccounts.com can be up to just over six times the national average (0.17 surprised). That is a statistic that certainly has a major influence when considering opening an online bank account. What about when it comes minimum deposits and fees? When looking at the aforementioned chart, you will actually notice that a select few of the bank accounts offering a high yield APY do not require paying a monthly fee of any kind.
Taking a closer look at a few different online banking account options, there are definitely some worthy of consideration. One particular subject that needs extra emphasis on each online account ATM fees, as they would consistently differ depending on the bank of the ATM itself.
The first of these was Synchrony Bank, an online savings account offering an APY of 1.15 percent. Other key features that make this card even more desirable include the fact that there is no minimum balance or monthly service fee, which is undisputedly a plus. When it comes to ATM fees, Synchrony supplies you with a card for which they do not charge transaction fees. Unfortunately, however, not every ATM accepts a Synchrony card. As for those that do, they will charge you a fee for using a different bank’s card in their ATM, which Synchrony actually reimburses you for up to $5 per statement.
The second account that was looked at was the Ally bank savings, which offers a pretty similar deal as Synchrony with few slight differences. For starters, with Ally, you earn an APY of 1.05 percent, which is slightly lower than that offered with Synchrony, but still much higher than the national average of 0.17 percent according to the aforementioned chart on savingsaccount.com. Like Synchrony, Ally also has no monthly maintenance fee or minimum balance requirement, but it does have a six transaction per cycle limit for which they charge $10 per any transaction if you go over. As for using ATMs with this account, there’s no charge from Ally itself when using other bank’s ATM, and it reimburses you up to $10 for fees charged by those other banks.
The last account that was looked through was perhaps the most interesting. Referring to Aspiration’s Summit Checking Account. Unlike the other accounts mentioned so far, Aspiration is not a bank; it is actually an investment firm. This account does have an APY of 1.00 percent, but you must have $2,500 or more in your account. Anything lower than that only earns 0.25 percent which is still above average. Like the others, there are no fees or required minimum balance, but you do need to make an initial deposit of at least $10. Now, you are probably wondering about those ATM fees, right? With Aspiration, you will be reimbursed for all ATM fees, not just a certain amount per cycle.
This sounds be great so far, but there are a couple important things to be aware of with this account. The first is their overdraft fees, which start at $25 after the account has been in a negative balance for five days then continue for 30 days every day the account remains in negative balance. If you sign up for this account, it would best to put in the extra effort to absolutely make sure you never overdraft. The second is there is currently a waiting list to sign up for an account, which is likely due to Aspiration not being an actual bank.
All in all, when it comes to opening an online savings or checking account, even with the typically above-average APY it is still important to take a closer look at the account to be aware of any benefits or fees may or may not have. If you are still on fence about this idea, read through this article on Business Insider that talks about why it is believed that online banks are superior to traditional ones. Also, do not be afraid to check out Radius Bank’s website, which is a great site for evaluating and comparing different accounts and options.
