Before continuing with the main post material; “Top Online Banks”, we feel obligated to share a real life story with you. This incident will help you make up your mind whether you want to make that “Switch” towards online banking or not.

Joe Lopez is an active Miami business owner, who dabbled in online banking last year. According to MSNBC news snippets, Lopez will never forget the day when he logged on to his personal online banking account only to find out that someone had “stolen” $90,000 from it.

In a nutshell, Lopez discovered after a while that someone had used his personal computer to plant a spyware/key logging software. The antivirus on this PC wasn’t able to sniff that suspicious program, which is why; the hacker went ahead with stealing all the necessary information.

Federal investigators say that the funds were transferred to some offshore banking account. Fortunately, after a few months struggle, Joe Lopez was able to recover his cash, but it wasn’t the lump sum amount as some of the portion had to be paid as legal expenses. We all know that legal expenses cost a lot, so Joe probably recovered 50% of his savings and a VALUABLE lesson about online banks.

He thought that it was safe and convenient to completely trust online banks, but he was wrong. Now when we proceed with the top online banks list, and details, in this article, we are in no way pushing you to open an account at any of the appended banks. Above all, the thing which really matters is your cash security, and if none of the online banks in 2011 are able to deliver it, it’s better for you to stick with the usual banking practices.

Top Online Banks – Which One’s Suitable For Me?

The biggest benefit of banking online through online banks can be summed up in one word: “Convenience”. Now that we no longer have to go through the hassle of paying monthly charges for our regular bank accounts, a requirement to meet a certain criterion, and so called service charges; online banking sounds so cool. Doesn’t it?

Credit unions and small scale banks use a lot of ways to entice customers. Online banking protocols are included in those intriguing offers, and they’re really not that hard to get into. On top of that it becomes easier to insert you debit card into any ATM because they’re all universally accepted. For instance, Payoneer offers MasterCard service that can help its owners to withdraw cash from anywhere in the world. It’s just that the ATM has to comply with MasterCard online banking standards.

Following is the list of different banks that we categorized in terms of:

  • Free Online Banking Options.
  • Payment of Bills
  • Low Fee, No Hidden Charges
  • Overall Low Rate Fee Environment
  • Interest Yield Rate

 

 

 

  1. Evantage Bank – Oklahoma:

 

  1. Most of the Oklahomans who’re into online banks, have already set up their accounts at Evantage Bank. This bank offers a 3.75% reward rate on annual basis, granted that your savings are over $10,000. The bank charges no monthly fee and all you have to do is pay them a dollar for signing up for an account.
    1.                                                                i.      Some time back it was mandatory for Evantage bank clients to use their online ATM card, 10 times a month for cash withdrawals or account statement withdrawals. It isn’t too much to ask for.
    2.                                                              ii.      Evantage Bank is categorized in the High Yield category by us. You can Google the bank name and visit the official website for further and up to date information.

 

  1. Westfield Bank – Ohio:

 

  1. If you’re living in Akron, Ohio, the Westfield Bank may sound like an appropriate choice to you, for online banking. This online bank, unlike Evantage, doesn’t require a sum of $10,000 to start off with the yield process. Westfield Bank offers a straight $3.5% yield rate on a minimal $100 deposit.
    1.                                                                i.      You have to use your Westfield Bank ATM debit card for as much as 12 times a month.
    2.                                                              ii.      You have to make one automatic payment or an automatic deposit every month.
    3.                                                             iii.      You have to get your monthly statement through electronic means.
    4.                                                            iv.      This bank doesn’t charge any ATM maintenance fee or hidden charges. In fact, you get $12 deposited bank in your account as part of their ATM courtesy services.
    5.                                                              v.      We categorized Westfield Bank is the High Yield category.

 

  1. Look Ma’ No Fee! – Ally Bank:

 

  1. If Westfield Bank seemed like a tough nut to crack, perhaps Ally Bank could help you in straightening out those kinks in your account. By the way, we added the “Look Ma’ No Fee” statement on our own; we thought that it made more sense because the bank doesn’t charge a lot as compared to other platforms.
    1.                                                                i.      Ally Bank encourages you to open a checking account for as little as $1.
    2.                                                              ii.      You don’t have to have a minimum or maximum balance requirement to use their perks.
    3.                                                             iii.      The ATM worldwide fee is automatically rebated to your account by this bank.
    4.                                                            iv.      The current yield level is 1.04%, which, in our opinion, couldn’t go any lower.

 

 

 

  1. ING Direct:

 

  1. In terms of incentives and minimum fee level, ING Direct is yet another bank of its own kind. As a new customer, the bank pays you $50 for using your debit card three times. Now considering the fact that you purchased low priced items through your ING Direct debit card, $50 doesn’t sound like a bad deposit.
    1.                                                                i.      ING Direct doesn’t accommodate international ATM withdrawals. You can only withdraw cash from 35,000 ATM points that are accredited by ING Direct Bank.
    2.                                                              ii.      The overdraft fee is a lot lower than other competitor banks.

 

Interested in knowing more about online banks? Try surfing the internet for that very purpose. In any case, know that it will do you good to go through your homework and make sure that the ‘top online bank’ you’re about to deal with, is really secure and trustable.