I often praise the benefits of online banking accounts. A reader recently brought up the fact that they enjoy the service they receive from their local bank. As a result of this exceptional service, they’re not willing to switch to online banking, just yet. I personally made the switch to online banking, while still keeping my current brick-and-mortar account. But that’s a different debate.
Is free online banking the way to go? In my opinion it is. I pay enough fees in my life just to live a normal life. The last thing I need is to pay a fee to hold my hard earned money somewhere.
Why would you pay banking fees when you don’t have to?
I hate how big banks have nickel-and-dimed us over the years. The worst part is that we let them get away with it! A $7 maintenance fee here, another $9 customer service fee there, and next thing you know you’re losing hundreds of dollars a year for no reason. This is money that you could’ve put towards your student debt or an extra night out on the town.
When should you pay for your banking services?
When you want to spend zero time managing your money. I spend maybe a few minutes a week dealing with my online bank accounts. For some this much maintenance is too much. If you really don’t want to deal with managing your money, then that’s cool. It’s always your own decision at the end of the day.
or
When you have lots of money. Let’s be honest. When you have a boatload of money you want it managed properly. You’re better off spending your time and energy on what makes you that money, instead of worrying on saving money on banking fees.
If you don’t fall into of those categories then free banking is likely the ideal option for you. At the end of the day, all of us should strive to optimize and set-up our banking system so that it benefits us, instead of costing us money. It’s 2010. If your bank is still charging you random customer service and maintenance fees, you need to get out of there asap and join an online bank that’ll take care of you.
What do you guys think? Would you be willing to pay for banking services?
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I have never paid a bank fee* and never plan to…even when we have a few million at retirement.
If you don’t want to spend time on your money, just have it directly deposited in your brick and mortar FREE bank account (I hate Chase, but we don’t pay any fees…I thought most banks had free accounts if you keep a certain minimum…ours is $300) and then have the money you don’t need to survive automatically transferred into an online account like ING that makes more in interest than the regular bank. Voila…no hassle, everything automatic, and no fees.
If you’re so loaded that you don’t care about bank fees, then you don’t need to pay bank fees. That much money will be held happily by banks for free. I personally would still spread it out between investments and high-interest online accounts, but whatever floats your boat…
*I’m referring to bank fees from normal banks…not investment fees. We pay $7 a trade with our Scottrade account and less than 1% to our target date mutual funds. I’ve never paid a fee just for letting a bank hold my cash…
I probably should have made it more clear that I wasn’t talking about investment fees. There’s not much we can do about those, except for not invest lol.
You’ve never ever paid a bank fee before? That’s pretty amazing!
Nope. I opened a credit union savings account when I was 6 years old since my mom actually got me a Texas ID just for that purpose. I got an attached checking account when I was 16. At 18, I got my first credit card (never paid any fees at all to them either).
At 22, I opened my first actual bank account and another checking account with my husband at WAMU…they only required a $300 minimum in savings for free everything (except checks with carbon copies…which I’m addicted to). Last year, WAMu became Chase (which I hate), but we were allowed to stay the same. As long as we use Chase ATM’s and keep $300 minimum in the savings account (which is kept with $500 just in case), no fees.
My husband paid a few ATM withdrawal fees while we were dating, but I convinced him to keep a couple of hundred in his parent’s safe near campus instead so he could get money fast between visits to his actual ATM.
Chase has ATM’s everywhere and so does ING, so we definitely don’t pay anything now.
What can I say, I hate fees for nothing. I’ll happily buy junk food and hire a housekeeper, but I refuse to pay for nothing…especially since they make money by investing my money! They should pay me more.