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Capital One 360 Review

April 20, 2013 By Shane Ede 3 Comments

For many years, I was a user of ING Direct and their online banking products.  When word went out a while back that the US branch of their online bank was being sold I began to worry that a good thing was about to be ruined.  When we learned that the company that was buying them was Capital One, it didn’t exactly help me not worry.  I’ve had a credit card from Capital One for longer than I’ve had an account at ING Direct, and while I’ve never had a terrible experience with them, I’ve never really felt that I was anything more than just another cardholder; easily replaced and nothing worth going out of their way for.  If that level of service came to the online bank side after the purchase of ING Direct, I might have had to find something else.

The prospect of having to move my accounts at what was ING Direct to somewhere else upset me a bit.  I’ve tried several of the online bank options, and so far, haven’t found one that was as easy to use as the accounts were with ING Direct.  Now that ING Direct US is no more, and it’s been sold to Capital One, and re-branded to Capital One 360, what has my experience been?

Click here to start saving with Capital One 360Surprisingly, I have no complaints.  I truly expected that they’d start squeezing in some new fees, or making it harder to get things done, but the experience so far has been very similar to what it was with ING Direct.  There’s the obvious rebranding that came with a change of logo and color scheme, but for all intents and purposes, they’ve done a very good job of keeping the function and service levels where they were when it was ING Direct.

I suppose there may be some things behind the scenes that I don’t see that are different.  And they may just be biding their time before they start implementing some new fees and roadblocks, but if so, they are taking their sweet time doing it.  In the mean time, many of the features that I really loved about ING Direct are still resident in the Capital One 360 system.  It’s still super easy to create a new account, making it simple to have an account for each purpose and being able to segment your money by purpose.  Every other place I’ve tried this at, make it much more difficult to create a new account and that process becomes a roadblock to use.

The interface of Capital One 360 is very easy to use, with all of the major functions and features that most bank customers use right at your fingertips (or mouse pointer I suppose).  The rates that they pay on their savings and CD accounts still aren’t the best around, but they remain competitive with most other online banks, and they are double and triple what my local banks and even Credit Unions are paying.

The connection between Capital One 360 and Capital One Sharebuilder remains, making it easy to transfer money to investment accounts and IRAs at Capital One Sharebuilder.  Does that make a huge difference?  Not really, but it is convenient.

Overall, I think Capital One has done a really good job of bringing the Capital One 360 accounts into the fold and not rocking the boat.  I hope that they remain dedicated to keeping the excellent service and system in place.  Even with a new name, Capital One 360 is still my favorite online bank.

Filed Under: General Finance, Helpful Websites, Saving, ShareMe Tagged With: capital one 360, checking, ing direct, online bank, Online Checking, online savings, savings

5 Ways To Not Pay For Your Checking Account

May 13, 2011 By Mike CCF 7 Comments

The banking and credit card reform laws were supposed to help us – and they did in many aspects – but one of the unintended consequences is that banks are making up for the lost revenue sources by creating new ones… fees, fees, and more fees!

I just closed my brokerage account from BoA/Merrill Lynch because they started charging a $50 “maintenance fee” twice per year – when I opened it years ago, I remember it was advertised as something that would always be free… not anymore! I also closed one of my credit cards from American Express that started charging an annual fee. However worse yet is being charged for a checking account, since that is something so essential to our lives and historically (at least in recent history) we’ve all become accustomed to not paying for it.

Fortunately though, we don’t have to be stuck paying these fees. When it comes to checking accounts, there are a few different ways to weasel out of them which I will discuss below:

#1 – The direct deposit trick
The exact rules vary by bank but with many, if you have direct deposit setup, your checking account fee will be waived. But what happens if your employer doesn’t offer direct deposit or you are self-employed?

Well I found a trick that has been working great for me so far. I have a brokerage account (different from the one I closed) and it allows me to setup automatic withdrawals or deposits. I have arranged for it to direct deposit $1 every month into my BofA checking, thus meeting the direct deposit requirement to get free checking. I’m going on year 3 or 4 of using this technique and so far it’s worked beautifully! However please note that some banks require a minimum amount for direct deposits to qualify.

#2 – The waiver for multiple linked accounts
With some banks, if you have multiple account types – i.e. checking, savings, and/or brokerage – you will automatically be exempt from checking account fees.

For example with Charles Schwab bank, in order to get free checking you have to have it linked to a Schwab brokerage account. Don’t have a need or desire for a broker account? No worries, because the rules don’t actually require that you use it or have money in it. So basically, you could just open up a broker account and never use it.

#3 – The minimum account balance waiver
The most common and well-known technique to get free checking is to maintain a minimum account balance. If you can afford to do it (usually $1,500 to $5,000 depending on the bank) then the fee for your checking account is waived. However if money is tight right now and this isn’t an option, then I would recommend one of the other four strategies.

#4 – Use the bank’s debit or credit card
Some banks offer to waive the checking account fees if a certain number transactions are made each month using an affiliated debit or credit card.

For example, you would normally be paying eight bucks a month for the basic account from Citi. However if you use the account’s debit card for at least five transactions per billing cycle, then the fee will be waived. Of course the drawback to this is that you may be missing out on travel rewards or cash back rewards you get with your credit card, but Citi doesn’t have a dollar requirement on the debit card purchases, so if you prefer just use it for five small purchases (and your preferred card for everything else).

#5 – Switch to a credit union or smaller bank
Last but not least, if you don’t want to play these games with your big bank, then you should think about switching over to either a community credit union or a regional bank. Because they’re the underdogs in the banking world, they are usually much more likely to offer free checking accounts (and without any hoops to jump through). I know switching banks can be headache because you might have your online payments all setup with your existing account, but just remember, making the switch may save you around $100 to $150 per year in fees!

Filed Under: Credit Score, economy, General Finance, Saving Tagged With: account fees, bank fees, checking, checking fees, Saving

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