Netbank: Used to Make Banking Easy
Written: Dec 06 '00 (Updated May 11 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Convenience, high interest rates
Cons: Time lag for deposits
The Bottom Line: Previously, I was a big NetBank booster. Today, I'd advise banking customers to look elsewhere until and unless they get their act together.
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| ginadc's Full Review: NetBank |
This is the June 2000 review--please see below for a significantly changed May 2002 update.
When I first signed up for an account with Netbank, it was strictly for the high-interest money market rates. At 6% interest on a money market--when my hometown "bricks and mortar" bank proudly offered me a rate of just above 2% for the same type of account--I figured it was worth taking a chance on a bank I couldn't actually see and whose operations were all online. After all, they were FDIC-insured, so I might experience hassles, but I couldn't actually *lose* my money.
Some have written here that the application process was arduous for them, but I didn't experience any trouble. I signed up, deposited my savings, and voila! Money market account. I also opened a small checking account just so that I'd have one, but didn't put much money in it and didn't plan on using it much.
And then...I went through the Disaster from Hell at my clicks-and-mortar bank. Over the years, they've "mislaid" checks of mine (always, interestingly enough, checks that are particularly large--never anything under about $200) for several days or up to a week or more, and I've had to go through all sorts of customer service hassles to hunt them down. This time, the check they lost was nearly five figures. No one seemed to know what had happened to it. Their customer service people, with the exception of one decent guy who finally got things straightened out (and documented that it was, in fact, the bank's fault) seemed utterly unconcerned, claimed that it was my fault and told me I'd have to wait ten days for an answer and to have access to my money.
Well, when Decent Guy(tm) got the check re-credited to my account, I scurried into my clicks-and-mortar branch and closed that account faster than interest rates rise when Alan Greenspan coughs. I wire-transferred everything to Netbank...and since then, I've been banking solely through Netbank without a hitch.
The pluses:
- Those dandy high interest rates. I get around 3% on checking and 6% on savings. My bank checking was about 1/2 of 1%, and as I mentioned, the money market interest they offered was almost as laughable.
- Smooth as silk online bill paying.
- Free checks, no fees.
- Free postage-paid deposit envelopes.
- Good customer service. I know there have been complaints here about Netbank's customer service, but I've never had any trouble with them at all. In fact, they've been light-years more helpful than the service reps at my former bank. Perhaps if I lived in a small town, as my parents do, where you know the people at your bank personally for years, I'd have higher expectations of customer service from my bank and would be less impressed with Netbank's; but compared to my prior Adventures in Banking, they're a breath of fresh air.
- The comparatively new BankMail system is convenient and yields a rapid response, but I can always get help by phone as well.
The minuses:
- You do have to wait a couple of extra days for mailed-in checks to clear. As a freelance writer, I'm waiting for checks to come from my clients and, since they're not always on time, it's not a thrill to have to wait those extra days to have access to my funds. Still, I have to say that my deposits always clear fairly quickly, without a glitch. (NOT ANY MORE! SEE UPDATE.)
- As others have noted, despite Netbank's claims, many ATMs that they list as providing free transactions to cardholders on the Honor/Star network in fact do not. I hate paying ATM fees. But I can usually get around this by making sure to get change back when I use my ATM card at a drugstore, supermarket or other large shopping institution that takes debit cards. Those places don't charge fees.
It's clear that some people have had negative experiences with Netbank, and I don't question what they've experienced. But on my end, Netbank has passed every test, and I'd endorse it wholeheartedly.
UPDATE May 2002
I don't spend as much time on Epinions as I used to, and so hadn't had a chance to check out JC Katz's experience. While I sympathize with his situation and others, I still haven't faced the disastrous problems he reports with Netbank. I have, however, encountered an increasing level of deposit difficulties with them, and am contemplating changing banks.
In the last year, the lag time between when a deposit is mailed and when a deposit shows up in my account has grown substantially. It almost always takes the full ten days Netbank tells you to allow for deposits to be received and processed; sometimes it takes more. I'm a freelance writer, and so frequently mail large checks from clients to Netbank...only to have to make multiple calls to find out what's happened to them and when they'll be deposited. Once or twice, this is understandable. Half a dozen to a dozen times, it becomes a serious problem.
In the immediate wake of 9/11, I used one of the few local ATMs linked to their network (all part of federal credit unions) to make my Netbank deposits, so these delayed mail deposits can't be explained by the anthrax scares of October and November. They claim "We can't deposit a check until we receive it." Of course--but it seems strange that suddenly the US Postal Service takes over ten days to deliver an envelope from DC to Georgia when every other piece of mail I send anywhere in the continental US arrives within five days. How is it that checks I mail to others to *pay* bills are taken out of my account within 4-5 days? Clearly, the mail is getting to my creditors quite promptly, so why is it not getting to Netbank?
Using the ATM, though inconvenient because of having to pass through multiple security screenings at a federal building, would seem to be an option--except it takes five full days for Netbank to put the deposit in your "available funds," even though it shows up in your account immediately. Better than ten days, I guess.
I was a big Netbank fan for a long time, but the bloom is definitely off the rose. The convenience of online bill-paying is available through dozens of other banks that allow me to make same-day deposits and have prompt access to my funds, and the slightly higher interest rates they have may be offset by the amount of my time they've wasted in calls to their customer service line attempting to find out where my deposits are. I'm lowering my rating from above average to below average.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ginadc
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Member: Gina Shaw
Location: Washington, DC
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 84 members
About Me:
Gina is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in travel and health writing.
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