Suze Orman recently launched a prepaid debit card called the Approved Card. Now, I’m not a big fan of prepaid cards in general and prefer debit cards instead, but this coming from Suze Orman, deserved another look. I like Suze Orman. She does what a very few can do – break down complex financial topics [...]
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Ally and Ing Direct are two of the most popular online banks in the US with no physical branches. Ing Direct is owned by the Dutch financial group, Internationale Nederlanden Groep and Ally is the financial arm of General Motors, formerly known as GMAC. (ING group has agreed to divest US operations of Ing Direct [...]
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I had written about my frustration earlier on how complex it was to send money to my wife since we keep our finances separate and in different banks. Of course, PayPal would be the first avenue that would come to one’s mind. But my wife’s PayPal account isn’t linked to her bank account but to [...]
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ATM fees are reaching an all time high. The average, last year, rose by 5% to $2.33 and you could potentially pay as high as $11! ATM fees could be two-fold. Your bank might charge a fee for using an out-of-network ATM and the ATM owner could charge you an additional fee for the convenience. [...]
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Times have changed! I remember 10 years back, when I joined a Credit Union that happened to be outside my state, the only way I could deposit a check was to find another credit union’s ATM and make a deposit. Soon they introduced prepaid deposit envelopes. Now a deposit would mean a trip to the [...]
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Don’t get me wrong, I like both Ally and IngDirect. I’m a member of both and would gladly recommend these banks over brick and mortar banks. Both have top notch customer service with minimal hidden fees. But when it comes to interest rates, is there anything better out there? Ultimately, you want the maximum return [...]
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