Internet banking savings accounts are being used more every year by people across the country and around the globe. They offer a better alternative to traditional savings accounts. People who use internet banking savings have good reasons to do so.
If you opt for a traditional savings account instead of an internet banking account, you will get a very low interest rate. In fact, you will not make enough on your money to cover the cost of inflation. Savings in traditional banks are generally around 1% annually.
This low interest rate barely makes it worth your effort to save. You will be better off to buy things at today’s prices. That way, when money is worth less, you will not have your money sitting in a traditional account where it will then buy less than it can now. Internet banking provides an alternative to this situation.
Many traditional banks have worked to establish incentives to encourage saving among their customers. They have set up programs where extra money can be put into savings automatically. They have also encouraged the use of automatic transfers to your savings weekly or monthly.
These measures do not work because the interest rates are so low that people see no future in saving. However, with internet banking, all that changes. Internet banking institutions tend to offer rates more along the lines of 4.5% to 5%.
This difference allows consumers to put money in internet banking savings accounts and know that it will retain its value over time, as long as the rates stay up. With the traditional savings, rates would have to soar to even come close to this level.
Another advantage of internet banking savings accounts is a good deal for the small investor. You may not have large amounts of money to save at one time. If not, you are like many financially strapped Americans.
In many traditional banks, this means that you will be given the lowest possible interest rates. If you go to a brokerage firm, you cannot open a money market account for less than $1000 as a minimum balance. Sometimes it is even more. This is not so for internet banking savings accounts.
If you have your savings through internet banking, you will be able to have high interest rates at any level of investments. You can start your internet banking savings account with as little as $100.
You might have to pay service fees until you reach a certain threshold, usually a few hundred dollars. After that, you will be making money at better rates than you ever could at a traditional bank.
One downside of internet banking is that some of the major banks will not deal with customers who demand a lot of time. They will discourage these customers from using their services because they are too hard to handle. This is not true of all internet banking, but if you need a lot of help, you should be aware of it.
Overall, though, savings done through internet banking institutions still work out better for most people than traditional savings accounts. There is just no reason to deny yourself the best interest rates your money can earn.