| Even though interest rates are at historically low levels there are still a lot of good reasons to open a savings account. Some people will use an account as a safe place to keep their money until the markets cool down a little, others just want to build up a nest egg. Whatever your reason for opening a savings account take the time to find the best online savings account for you.
Not all online accounts are created equal. As with most things in life, some are better than others. You will not only want to look at the interest rate a bank is offering but other factors as well.
Here is a list of some things to consider when choosing and online bank:
1) Stability of the bank. Even with FDIC insurance you still want to make sure the bank you choose is secure and not teetering on the edge of disaster.
If it's one of the banks the government has recently bailed out you should probably steer clear, if for no other reason than they ran their bank so poorly they had to be bailed out in the first place!
2) Customer service. This is particularly important with an online bank since you can't always run down to the local branch and ask to speak to someone. At the minimum you want a customer service department with long hours that is easily accessible. The best combination would be phone accessibility along with email support, sometimes you just can't wait for them to respond to your email.
3) How easy is the website to navigate? What good is an online bank if their website is so poorly designed that it is very difficult to make any transactions? You also want to make sure their website isn't constantly down for maintenance. Again, you need to be able to make transactions when it's convenient for you, not them.
4) Do they have offline locations? That is a nice plus if there are branches near where you live. As effective and time saving as online automation can be sometimes you need to be able to talk to someone in person. Any online bank that also offers offline locations near where you live should be put at the top of your list.
Take some time to find the best online savings account at the best online bank. Do some comparison shopping. This is your money, isn't it worth investing a little time to make sure whoever you trust it with will take good care of it? |