There are a number of benefits to using Century Bank Direct for your banking needs (they offer online checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and cd’s) but there is one fairly large disadvantage: Century Bank Direct does not currently support bank to bank transfers.  What does that mean for you?  Simply that you can’t access your cash by having it transferred to your bricks and mortar bank account, and you can’t make a deposit from another bank account through a bank transfer.

That being said, Century Bank Direct is working with their online banking provider to set up bank to bank transfers very soon, to make it easier to deposit and withdraw money from your accounts. If you currently have a bank elsewhere that allows you to complete online bill pay, you can set Century Bank Direct as the payee and deposit money that way; or if you have a bank that allows account-to-account transfers, you can use it to initiate a transfer to withdraw money from one of your Century Bank Direct accounts, as well.

Online Checking Accounts: Currently earning 3.35% APY up to the first $50,000 in your account, Century Bank Direct is offering a competitive interest rate.  You’ll receive 50 free checks upon opening your online checking account, and you can request a Visa debit card.  If you use your debit card at another bank that charges a fee for doing so, Century Bank Direct will refund the ATM surcharges up to 5 times per month.

Online Savings Accounts: Currently earning 3.41% APY up to the first $50,000 saved in your account.  Century Bank Direct allows you to make withdrawals from your savings account by calling or emailing customer service - they will mail you a check.  If you have another bank that offers account-to-account transfers, you can initiate the withdrawal through that bank and receive money that way.  Three withdrawals per month are allowed; any withdrawals beyond that will be subject to a fee of $5.95.

Online Money Market Accounts: Currently earning 3.57% APY.  You receive 50 free checks when you open your account, and can make 3 withdrawals per month for free.  Withdrawals beyond that will be subject to a $5.95 withdrawal fee.

15 Month Online CD: Currently earning 4.16% APY.  Monthly interest earned from your CD will be deposited into one of your other bank accounts, unless you choose to leave the interest in your CD to increase your APY.

Sovereign Bank is increasing its rates for the CD specials. The competitive rates now stand at 4.00% APY for a 9 month CD term and for their 12 month special the rate stands at 4.25% APY. To open a CD at Sovereign Bank, you will need a minimum deposit of $500. The maximum deposit you can start with is $499,999. According to company representatives, Sovereign Bank does not do a hard credit check for the application process but do use the Lexus-Nexus and the ChexSystem for credit inquiries.

Sovereign Bank allows the CD accounts to be opened up from any state and applications can be taken from their website or over the phone through a customer service representative. According to Sovereign, applicants applying online will still need to follow up by phone with a representative to complete the process.

For convenience, you will be able to add funds to your CD account through automatic bank transfers connected to your primary bank account. In order to schedule the ACH transfers, you will need to supply your bank account information, including routing number and check information. Choosing this funding route will lock in the CD rate during the completion of your application process. If you choose to fund your CD by check, your rate will not be locked until Sovereign receives and processes the check.

If you are looking for a CD special, Sovereign Bank does not offer the best of rates but they are competitive. In addition to the CD special, Sovereign is also offering specials for money market accounts at the rate of 3.75% APY for a minimum balance of $75,000.

Sovereign Bank, which is FDIC insured, is headquartered in Wyomissing, PA and has branches in the Northeast, including the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The bank has over 750 branches and more than 2,300 ATMS.

You can get a ton of interest by getting a high-interest CD, but you can also save on the interest you pay on your debt by getting a 0 balance transfer credit card. Make sure that you shop wisely to get the best deal on your next credit card.

ING Direct is another long lived online savings bank. Adding to their ways to help you save and grow your money, they recently acquired ShareBuilders to help everyday people invest their money. Since I am only reviewing their savings accounts currently, I will skip this and tell you a little bit about ING Direct.

ING has been around for a while and has been in the US for over 100 years. It offers banking to over 60 million clients and 50 countries. ING Direct is based out of Wilmington, Delaware and they also have ING Direct Cafes around the U.S. currently. These cafes are currently in St. Cloud, Chicago, New York, LA, Wilmington, and Philadelphia.

ING Direct has several different online savings accounts. Their Orange Savings Account with 2.75% APY (as of 10/09/2008), no minimum balances no specific balance to keep in your account, no fees or service charges. They have direct savings which allows you to automatically move a fixed amount of money regularly to your Orange Savings account.

Basically to open an account, you will need to be 18 years or older, proof of U.S. citizenship or permanent resident, social security number, and a U.S. address. The checking account you are linking to ING Direct needs to be a bank chartered in the United States.

You can link up to three checking accounts to your ING Direct account. Your Orange Savings Account can also be a living trust as well and there is additional information about this online.

Depositing money into your Orange Account is easy. You log into your account and can have the money transferred in two to three business days.

Direct Deposit is available and the forms are online for your employer. You can also set up a fixed amount of money to transfer on a regular basis to your Orange Savings Account.

Once your account is open, you will be asked to verify one or two small amounts deposited into your checking account - each is less than a dollar - within sixty days. You can still deposit money if you have not verified for sixty days at which time they will lock down your account. People, verify your account so you do not have hassles later!

You cannot withdraw money from your account for the first ten days and all subsequent accounts will be a five day hold. Interest starts accruing after two business days when you process your account. All transfers to checking account will take three business days. ING does not charge to do this; however, the bank with your existing checking account may. Withdrawals may not occur more than six times in a month - this is a Federal law - without a fee. If you continually withdraw more than six times in a month, they may close your account.

An interesting draw for me at least is that ING Direct offers a business savings account called Orange for Business. It is currently at 2.9% and is good for sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, corporations, not-for-profits and small organizations. There are no fees or service charges and will allow access to the business account for up to three people. To open this account, you will need a social security number (sole proprietors) or Employee Identification Number (EIN) for your business, personal social security number, and existing business checking account and routing number. There is a ten business day hold before initial deposits can be returned to the account linked business checking and after this hold has expired, all future deposits have a five day hold, similar to the personal Orange Savings Account.

They also give you a list and table of documentation they will need. You will have sixty days to provide ING with these.

Even though the rates are not the greatest currently, I was impressed with what ING does have including the business accounts, living trusts, and joint accounts. They seem to be a decent company and the complaints against the company have been limited to customer service complaints and common sense. I would beg everyone to read the fine print to know when you can withdraw money, how long it will take, how many times you can withdraw money before they close your account, all the legalese. Overall, though people have had issues, this is set up to be a saving account and if you want a checking account to pull money out of, they have those as well.

E-Trade Bank has been around for quite a while in the terms of being an online brokerage and savings firm. Helping them out is that cute baby ad that started last Superbowl. Etrade Bank received accolades from Money Magazine in August 2007 “Etrade Bank - A really complete menu of bank features-and at the best rates.”

Currently, their savings account offers 3.30% APY. There are no minimums and no account fees to keep the savings account. They also allow free online bill pay in your online bank and alerts to your phone. Etrade banking also offers one click transfers to and from your Etrade accounts. Like all online accounts - 24 hour access. You can move money to your investment account, if you invest with Etrade. You can move money between your online savings and checking account.

Etrade offers an Automatic Savings Plan for either a one-time deposit or recurring transfers. Be aware however, that this does not limit your loss in during a down economy…it’s just a way to invest. Transfers also need to be before 4 p.m. ET on a normal business day to be processed that day. Which is the way my brick-and-mortar bank works as well.

To sign up, you will need a minimum of one dollar, 18 years or older, driver’s license, and a U.S. resident with a valid social security number to apply online. Etrade can be funded by mailing a check, wiring funds, direct deposit, ACH transfer, or a transfer from another Etrade account.

Be aware of closing your account too early. You need to keep your money in the online savings account for the first 120 days of opening. For new customers, funds from electronic direct deposits will be available on the day they receive the deposit. Cash, wire transfers, and the first $5,000 of the day’s total deposits will be available on the first business day after you deposit it. Excess over $5,000 will be avaiable on the fifth business day. After your thirty day probation period is over, it will be next day posting. You will be charged $25 for each stop payment and insufficient funds transaction. Cheaper than my bank!

Etrade will offer you an ATM card and you can withdraw funds from anywhere and Etrade will not charge you. However, the owner/operator of that particular ATM may. You are limited to six withdrawals or transfers per calendar month. You can also deposit to Etrade ATMs.

Now, let’s look at some of the complaints regarding Etrade. Almost all in this case were from people who were trading not saving their money. If any of you read or listen to Dave Ramsey, you know what he would say…”stupid tax”. Too many people are investing without researching. Margin calls, not knowing that trades do not always happen on the day you request them and do take a few days to clear, and just not being aware of what they can and cannot do. This is a topic for a different day.

After reading over everything, looking at their website and online banking demo, their rates, and their business practices, I think this is a fairly good company to use as your bank.

Beverly National Bank Online is the e-banking for Beverly National Bank located out of Beverly, Massachusetts. To say this bank has been around for awhile is an understatement. It first open its brick-and-mortar door in 1802. Beverly National Bank online currently offers 3.10% APY.

This is not a bad yield to get; however, it states point blank that you need $5000 to open an account. Too many people are currently scrapping together to get money together to make the mortgage and groceries so this is a little high for the average joe. It also states that if you let it fall below $5000 anytime during the month, you will get a $15 fee charged. Ouch!

On the plus side, they do use VeriSign to secure the accounts. It also uses Secure Sockets Layer technology (SSL) .

To open an account, they will need your name, address, social security number, date of birth They will also mail statements monthly or you can grab it from your Free Internet Banking production on line twith them.

Like many savings account both on and offline, you are limited to six withdrawals each calednar month thosugh you can make as many deposits as you want. Deposits are pretty simply made by mail or ACH direct deposit. They currently cannot transfer bank to bank as of October 6, 2008. Access is very hard to get as you can only transfer funds between the online account and other accounts at Beverly National Bank.

Deposits are made only by mailing in a check or direct deposits via ACH. Doesn’t help if you need money in a hurry for an emergency, especially one that is so tied down.

After looking this over, the e-Success online account with Beverly National Bank is not the best bank out there for someone who lives outside of the area. Though the money is secure, it is difficult to get the money back out unless you live in the North Boston area and can get to the bank. Given that this review is for the people out there looking to begin savings, $5000 is a hefty amount to put down. In addition to the other limitations, I would suggest going to another online bank.

Providentdirect was created for people who use the internet to do their banking as part of an online division of Provident Bank located in Maryland and Virginia. Currently, what they require to open an online account is that you are eighteen years old, can provide your home address, social security number, driver’s license number with issue date and expiration date. There have been some complaints that customers have a hard time getting their issue date for online. Since the Provident Bank is headquartered in Maryland, this may be something that is on Maryland licenses and not universally used around the states. Call customer service to explain. Lastly you need to either electronically transfer funds from one of your other checking or savings account or send a check. Like many of the banks I review, this one is insured by the FDIC. Your ATM card will arrive within seven to ten business days after opening the account.

Providentdirect takes direct deposits, automated transfers which you will be able to being within a week of your account being open. You can get both paper and online statements (let’s be green here and get the statements online and print them out or better yet, save them to your computer).

Providentdirect does have a maximum initial deposit of $200,000 and the maximum allowed once the account is open is $500,000.

Like similar online savings account, you will need to validate several small deposits in your funding account if you are using automatic transfers.

Providentdirect has a $100 minimum to open for $3.75% on all balances. Please be aware however, like all accounts, the interest does change. They also charge for excess transactions for $5 per excess transaction. You have six months before you can withdraw from this online savings account or you will incur a fee of $25.00.

Overall, Providentdirect offers 3.75% APY (as of August 22, 2008), a minimum of $100 to open, ATM card, comparable fees to other online accounts and allows up to $500,000 in this online savings. However, since FDIC only covers $100,000 per account, your best bet would be to put that money in separate accounts.

I think this is a reasonable account for someone transferring funds around looking for better rates. The minimum being $100 to open may not be feasible for someone starting an account and Providentdirect does not provide for minor or business accounts. Outside of that, it seems to be a decent account to have and they appear to have taken care of many of the website issues that had incurred earlier this year.