The Best Online Banks
The best online bank will not be the same for everyone. The best choice for you will vary depending on a number of factors. You'll have to decide what your priorities are.
Pure Play Vs. Traditional
Pure-play online banks tend to offer the best in high yield savings accounts, and free online checking accounts. However, they have the obvious disadvantage of not having local branches. More and more traditional banks are offering online bank accounts with good rates, although they tend to lag a bit behind the purely online banks. They claim to make up for this with more personal service and convenience. Whether the difference is worth it is up to you.
ATMs and fees
For online checking accounts, you'll also want to find out what their access to ATMs is like. Some online banks refund ATM fees charged by other banks, so you are free to use any bank's ATMs. Bigger banks don't usually offer this option, but they tend to have large networks of their own ATMs inmost cities. If you go with a traditional bank, you'll want to consider if their ATMs and branches are located conveniently for you.
Our Picks
On the menu to your left, you'll find our picks for the best online banks in general. Our picks include a mix of pure-play online banks and traditional banks that offer online accounts. We made our choices based on good rates and quality of service. While it's by no means an exhaustive list, we feel you can't go wrong with any of the banks covered here. So have a look at the pages for the individual banks, and see what they have to offer.