If you haven't looked at the DS home page lately, (or even if you did) you might have missed the results from Bankrate's  annual checking study.

It's probably no news to most of you that online banking is cheaper and pays better interest than bricks and mortar banks. I think paper checks are being phased out in favor of all electronic transactions and I balk a little at that. Also, it's kind of nice to actually see a teller now and then. I've resisted online checking but have a savings account with one, does anyone here have a checking account with some place like ING? How does it work out for you?

I'm sure the study has a lot more in it, but that's what I gleaned from the first look. I'm going back to read some more.

I have a checking account at a brick and mortar bank that offers free internet access. I do most of my banking and bill paying online as  I don't like to go in and do things face to face. My husband is more like you, he prefers to go in and handle things in person. So a brick and mortar that offers the internet advantages works well for us.

 I do like getting interest though and we are trying to settle on whether we want to continue banking where we are in town or at the credit union.

 Our checking and savings are at a brick and mortar credit union, which offers internet services, which I do use most of the time.  It is also reassuring to know that I can go talk face to face with a person if/when the need arises.

We pay all but 3 items online at our brick and mortar website.  We write only 3 checks per month: God, rent, lump sum cash withdrawal.  We have a savings at the brick and mortar but our best savings return is with our ING Direct savings account. ING pays a very good rate of interest on the savings AND their Electric Orange Checking. 

One word of caution: ING requires you to be approved for a LOAN...wait...it's called something like Overdraft Protection...if you overdraw, rather than transfer from savings they tap into your line of credit with them.  A slippery slope, imho.  We ONLY have a savings account with them.  Otherwise, I would highly recommend ING. 

Contact ME for a referral--you will get a $25 bonus by using a referral from me.   

rolo:

.it's called something like Overdraft Protection...if you overdraw, rather than transfer from savings they tap into your line of credit with them.

My bank started doing this several years ago. It wasn't asked if I was interested in it, one day I realised there was this new figure and then I get this letter about a gift of security they are giving their good and loyal customers.

I feel funny about the internet banks. My money seems more "grounded" knowing that I have a building to go to and people to talk to if there is a problem.  If there ever should be a bank crash again, where would you go to get your money? Internet money seems to be hypothetical money.  Just my 2 cents. E 

If you mean a crash where the money isn't worth the paper it's printed on, what are the chances of you getting your money from your local bank? They won't have the funds to give you and it wouldn't be worth what you had before either.

If you mean a system crash like computers and net then I know my bank won't be operational. They rely on their system for information on accounts and amounts. The banks here wouldn't and couldn't open after Katrina until they had electricity and internet access.

Brandy, I agree with you totally about the availability of funds.  I think that it wouldn't matter where the money was, but it does seem like more peace of mind when you have an institute to go to instead of one in cyberspace. On the other hand from my working experience when at times I had to go to the credit union and withdraw a large amount of cash for change for the annual sale, they really squawked the first time I did it without calling ahead because they didn't have enough cash on hand.  A $1000.00 and they didn't have enough cash on hand?  I thought that was odd.  So I learned after that to call ahead and tell them how much change I needed. It made the whole transaction go smoother.  I couldn't have done that with a cyberspace bank. You made some good points.  E  

 If you are looking at a big withdrawal of cash then I would think a brick and mortar bank is a better choice.

I have my checking account in the brick & mortar institution so that I can walk in and make sure the deposit is there before making my mortgage payment but most of my other transactions are done online (transferring between accounts and paying bills) . I use the internet banks exclusively for savings because of the 3-day delay in transaction processing. That delay is actually what got me to save enough for my house downpayment. The money is close enough for emergency needs but far enough away for the impulse (to buy something I want) to subside.