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Comment by ihodes | Hacker News Reader

That's why I'll be using it first, and lots of my fellow college students who have a lot less to use and a lot more to gain from using a bank like BankSimple.

Time is in short supply, and fees eat away at my little pool of cash.

I'm willing to take the risk, and willing to put my money in the hands of people who are young, smart and innovative, instead of bureaucratic, slow and set in their ways.

Not only that, but if you'd checked, your cash will be FDIC insured through their partners. I certainly don't have a quarter of a million sitting around.

Finally, the way things are going now, the government is the only reason those "grave old men in suits" still have your money at all.

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ING Direct (ingdirect.com) is an amazing online-only bank that has virtually no fees. They've got amazing customer service. And they have the best bank web user interface I've ever dealt with. BankSimple will need to differentiate themselves from ING Direct somehow.

edit: Why the downvotes? I use ING Direct as my main bank. I love it. BankSimple will need to differentiate themselves from ING Direct to win me over.

edit #2: I have nothing against BankSimple. I hope they succeed. The market could use another friendly, efficient, tech-savvy bank. Perhaps they will drive innovation in the banking industry.

This was a great article, thanks for sharing it. I'm a huge fan of twitter myself, so I can only imagine how awesome this bank will be. I wish him luck in his future endeavors.

When I first signed up, their savings accounts were yielding 3% interest, which seemed great considering no minimum balance and no withdrawal fees. With the dip in the economy, they're just barely hovering over 1% now. Even still, if you compare that with the two other banks I've dealt with (5/3 and Chase), they don't really have anything that comes close unless you have massive balances or you want to tie up your money.

I'd love to hear if there are other easily accessible savings accounts out there that can tie into your checking account, with no minimum balances or withdrawal fees, that offer comparable interest rates.

My finances aren't stable enough right now to look into anything like CDs, Bonds, etc - it needs to be an interest bearing savings or checking account.

HSBC Direct is an online-only bank that offers slightly better rates than ING Direct. In fact, their rates are possibly the best (and ING the 2nd best).

The downside to HSBC, is that their web interface and operations of business are antiquated. While I have an online checking and savings account with them, I really only use the savings account. I just can't bring myself to deal with them because the user experience of ING Direct is so much better. For example, if you want to transfer money from checking to savings (or vice-versa), with ING it's instantaneous; but with HSBC you have to wait a business day! Ridiculous, I say.

HSBC is great if you're traveling/living in east Asia. I traveled through nine countries in Southeast Asia last year and never paid an ATM fee. Their ATMs are all over, and they're also partnered with many other Asian banks.

If you live in the USA (like me) I'd say keep your 6-to-12-month cash reserve in HSBC. And do your day-to-day banking and short-term savings with ING Direct.

ING Direct has screwed me out of money, hence my downvote.

Can you please elaborate?

your cash will be FDIC insured through their partners

This is not something I'm willing to take their word for without seeing a copy of a legal opinion from someone independent. I don't want to find out after they go under that they've simply been depositing their reserves in an FDIC-insured account with another bank, and that as long as that partner bank stays afloat the FDIC won't pay out.

Is it clear that they are actually going to be a real bank? That bit about FDIC insured through their partners implies that they are more of a marketing driven company that off-loads the actual banking business to real banks providing white-labeled services.

Er, you pay fees as a student?

My bank (RBC) is run by old men in suits, plus I pay no mandatory fees. Optional fees are another thing. If I want the convenience of using an ATM not run by the bank, I pay a surcharge. But, it's a big bank, with ATMs everywhere I go. The surcharge is never paid. :)

Being FDIC insured is pretty standard nowadays.

Also, you only get charged fees if you use a "service" of the bank, such as overdraft protection.

If their revenue model of "interest margin" uhm.. interests you, I would suggest joining a local, state-chartered credit union. It is how they have been doing it for years!

[EDIT] and if you are young, time is not in short supply and is actually on your side

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