I was forced into being a customer of M&T Bank when my local bank (Keystone Financial) was bought out by M&T in late 2000. I had been pleased with the service at Keystone, so I figured I would stick with M&T at least for a little while to see how they are. Plus, M&T offers online banking, something that Keystone had not yet offered, so I was excited about that possibility.

I have a basic no-fee, no-interest checking account with M&T. The account has no minimum balance, no monthly fee, no cap on the number of checks that may be written in a month, a very nicely organized monthly statement, and a free Visa check card/ATM Mac card.

The absence of fees is nice. The only fee I ever get hit with is using my ATM card at a non M&T financial institution... in that case I get hit with a $1.50 charge from M&T, in addition to whatever that other bank charges me.

The one problem is internet banking. When I first switched accounts, I tried to sign up for internet banking. Free online banking gives you basic account access, to check balances and do other basic things. For a small fee you can sign up for their bill payment service. At first I was not even able to sign on, as they did not recognize me as an account user, based on the personal information I provided. I did finally get online, after speaking with a customer service rep, but once online I was disappointed by the very clunky online interface, and hard to navigate website.

Not the best internet bank on there, but I do hope and think that they will improve over time.

Recommended: No