From the article: 3 Reasons Not to Use Online Bank Accounts
Read and share horror stories about online bank accounts. While online banks make life easy and offer competitive rates, they come with unique problems. Find out what to watch out for, and help others avoid disasters with online banks. Tell Your Story
What they do not tell you!
- Schools Credit Union closed my account after I have been a member for years! I had direct deposit payroll checks, home improvement checks, loan checks, state and federal income tax checks deposited throughout the years.. Rarely had overdrafts on my account. Then one day out of the blue, they closed my checking and bill pay account. I had online bill pay records that have all of the bills I paid online. Now, I have no record history available of any of the bills I have paid over the years, because in addition I had no paper bills sent to me. They offer free bill pay and other free services if you do all of your banking online. To top it off, I would have to pay $20.00 dollars a page if I want them to send me the history of all the bills I have paid, with the accounts numbers and addresses too. They said my account was closed because it was negative balance for over 30 days. I have payroll check, direct deposit every two weeks. They charged me $25.00 overdraft fees per overdraft!
- —Guest Yvette
account management
- I manage my accounts with quicken home and business software, since 2002. My balances are always accurate to the penny. I have no use for paper statements and cancel them where possible. Bank of America won't let me opt out of paper, so I shred them upon arrival. All I do in ensure that my register for a particular matches the financial institution's register as a check, and thats it. This helps me spot errors and unexpected transactions. Ive spotted one from BOA over the years, and several (about 2 or 3 per year) of some 'web service' trying to charge my account for some 'subscription' I didn't order, and snuff them out. I use this software for my LLC's accounts as well. I manage the software's database by checking it into a version control database on a separate server with mirrored drives and an automated backup, and image that database to DVDs for firesafe storage biannually. It couldn't be easier.
- —Guest mark
ING, ALLY, Capital One all better
- This article appears outdated and ill-informed. I have several online-only accounts. Capital One is now a brick-and-mortar in my area, but I've never walked into one. For ING, Ally & CapOne, my experiences have all been positive. My experiences with HSBC, which was Marine Midland before that, have been bad. Pathetic interest rates, problems, computer errors resulting in bank fees which we unjustified and never returned, poor customer service. I've closed all my HSBC accounts now. I have one brick&mortar account and that is now TD Bank. I deposit checks there, then transfer to higher earning accounts. I have checks and Debit cards for about half of my online accounts. I keep enough liquidity in those accounts (earnign better than brick and mortar offer). The rest I keep in even higher earning savings (some offering debit card access) and CDs. Yes, if I need access to $20K+ suddenly I will transfer it to my TD acct and get that Cashiers in a few days.
- —Guest R. Frazier
Bank of America - cheaters till the end
- BOA has a habit of posting larger withdrawls before smaller ones, and ordering those with deposits so that you overdraft. But they won't admit it. i make copies everyday of my account, and notice the dates change of the transactions depending upon my withdrawls and deposit amounts. crafty and unethical.
- —Guest miki
Try Etrade
- These 3 reason are meaningless when you have an account with etrade.
- —Guest NeNe
Chase Mobile is a Fraud!
- I am sure everyone has seen the commercial where the lady is shopping with her kids come out the store and checks her balance to see how much she has left to spend. When I saw that i was like WOW! come to find out the balances are incorrect and are from 3 days ago! OMG! When I called to explain and try to get 3 insufficent funds removed they said that I still need to keep track. OKay...but what the hell is that application for. It is false advertising. It is just another way to have customers let their guard down and charge fees. Because in this day and age if I can online banking and chase mobile, I should no longer have to write down everything. That is the purpose of the tool. Why in the world would I want to knw what my balance is 3 days ago. Every time I went to make a purchase, I sent a text to chase mobile to get my balance...of course I understand uncleared checks may not show up but my debit transactions should automatically come off. They did not refund me!
- —Guest Ashley
Agreed about Chase
- Was interesting reading the Chase stories and seeing others realizing what I learned over 20 years ago. No matter how many times they merge or change their name, I'll never do business with them again. If they're the last bank left on earth, I'll start using my mattress.
- —Guest ChaseHater
You've got to be disciplined
- I deal with a national bank so that I have access wherever I go. I also use their online capbilities to transfer funds, do bill pay, check balances, etc. Works great. But for savings - not so much. that's where I go with an FDIC insured high rate online savings account. It does take 1-2 business days to get cash transferred to my checking account when I need it, but no problems in over a year. A regular savings account should only be for backup funds that you need in a hurry because the interest rate is basically zero. CDs lock you in for too long so the online high rate account is ideal.
- —Guest Tom
Chase is the worst
- I just opened my account with Chase about a month ago, I am about to go on vacation and have been watching my account very closely as to how much I spend. I checked my available bal earlier and checked it again later on in the day.. them f'ers decided to put a memo debit on my account which was my whole balance. I called them and no one knew what a memo debit was! Now I know why when I walk in it's always empty! And its not cause it's a slow day either! Cause they suck! I am so looking forward to closing my account! I hope they go bankrupt!
- —Guest Jessica
bad credit practices
- i had a chase credit card for a year and a half, then without notice which when i called, they said that was their option, they changed my due date, i sent the payment in they added a late charge, then changed my interest rate from 6 % to 29%..i got a supervisor, they reviewed, refunded the late chg, put the due date back BUT stuck me with the 29%! that was written in stone..so they got ithe card back in pieces..
- —dianak1
CHASE Problems
- As said by others, Chase info. is NOT accurate online. I had to go through three days of hell to track down all the overdraft fees initially caused by a problem with the change from WAMU to Chase. Their fees caused fees within fees! Then they had to pile on the "we're so kind for forgiving you all these fees" that they created. I got so nervous I was checking the account multiple times a day. I could never know how much was ACTUALLY in the account. I could go on, but it was a nightmare. One thing I like about PayPal is that the money is usually either there or not. If it's not there, you can't spend it!
- —Guest Pine
Seconded on Chase
- I made many inquiries and paid many overdrafts before I finally got a full explanation as to what was going on. When there is an overdraft they rearrange all of your 'pending charges' from greatest to lowest and charge in that order to the tune of 35 dollars an overdraft. This of course is 'for your protection' so that your mortgage payments are less likely to slip. I don't have a mortgage, but when they tacked on 35 bucks for every fast food meal I charged to debit in the last 7 days because Paypal decided it would be neat to have an instant transfer feature that sent out full payments for bills without any confirmation message or screen that allows you to tell them how much you actually wanted to pay you better believe I had a rough time catching up with rent for a few months. They rely on shame to keep people from publicly calling them to the carpet for what essentially boils down to a predatory profit model. Paypal is worse. Do your research.
- —Guest Erik
Suggestions to prevent overdrafts
- Before starting any banking acct. one should read up how banks work. For instance they always post large charges against your checking and savings acct first. And never trust your on-line acct to be accurate, again because of the way the banks post to the accts to benefit them and try to cause us to pay fees. I ALWAYS keep paper records of what I spend from my checking and savings acct. and go by those numbers not what I can see on line. A trick I use to keep from causing an over draft is in my check and savings print register (the paper accounting record) I subtract a certain amt of money from the starting balance of each acct and keep a record of it and then act as thought my acct is less that amt and have never had an over draft as a result. Hope this helps.
- —Guest Marie
Chase - Incorrect Info Online (pt. 4)
- The bill collector called on Saturday and was hostile. On top of that, she didn't seem to understand how the bank system worked, which was ironic. She claimed I was making charges when my account was in the red. She didn't seem to understand there's a difference between when a charge is made (which Chase keeps no record of) and when it posts. On top of that, when I explained that the mobile banking info, as well at the ATM info, was incorrect, she informed me that the correct balance is actually printed on the receipt after making a purchase (which would indicate she's an idiot). Well, time for my lunch break. I'm going across the street to hand over a check my mom wrote to bail me out and to close my accounts. My dad is an accountant and can confirm my case is NOT the only case like this with Chase. Word of advice: avoid Chase like the plague.
- —Guest Cris
Chase - Incorrect Info Online (pt. 3)
- I transferred funds from my other account to compensate, and a bit extra so I could buy food and whatnot for the day. My account at the end of the day was 10 dollars. The next day I awoke to find my account was under 130 dollars, due to a 140 insufficient funds fee from their random posting the night before. On top of that, the purchases I made the day that I (supposedly) had money had not posted yet. When they did, I got two more fees of 70 dollars each. I was charged a total of 280 dollars, leaving me 270 in debt, which simple math indicates I did indeed have money in my account. I tried disputing it at the chase across the street from my job, but they refused to take away the fine saying that it was impossible (which isn't true, they've done it twice in the past month at other locations). The manager told me to write down my own funds and do the math myself. So I figured if their service doesn't work, it's time for me to switch banks rather than constantly wrestle with it.
- —Guest Cris
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