Best Internet Banks
These banks provide services online. The best internet banks don’t contend with the costs that come with operating branches, so their accounts generally have lower fees and higher yields than those from brick-and-mortar banks.
This is part of Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine's 2024 best bank for you rankings. See lower down on this page for more categories.
Ally Bank
Why it won: Accounts from Ally Bank have solid yields and no monthly maintenance or overdraft fees.
Standout accounts: Ally’s money market and savings accounts offer a competitive 4.2% yield.
Overview:
Ally Bank’s checking account, which it calls the Spending Account, lets customers earn interest on their cash while avoiding many fees commonly associated with checking accounts, including monthly maintenance fees and overdraft fees. How much interest your account earns depends on your balance. Balances of less than $15,000 yield 0.1%, while balances of $15,000 or more yield 0.25%. Plus, standard checks and incoming wire transfers are fee-free.
Both the Money Market Account (which comes with a debit card and checks) and Savings Account offer a competitive 4.2% yield on all balances. They have no monthly maintenance fees or minimum balance requirements, and they don’t charge fees for overdrafts or incoming wire transfers. An extra benefit that comes with the savings account is the savings buckets tool, which lets account holders organize their savings goals into customizable categories (say, one bucket for a rainy-day fund and another for a vacation). With a separate feature, you can have Ally monitor your checking account for transactions to round up to the nearest dollar; when you accrue at least $5 in round-ups, Ally transfers the money to your savings account.
Ally’s High Yield CDs have no minimum deposit requirement, and rates include 4.5% for a one-year CD, 4% for a three-year CD and 3.9% for a five-year CD.
Axos Bank
Why it won: Axos offers a wide range of specialized checking accounts with great benefits and no monthly fees, including accounts for teenagers and seniors, a cash-back account, and a high-yield option.
Standout accounts: Earn up to 1% back on debit card purchases with CashBack Checking. With Rewards Checking, account holders who meet certain criteria can earn up to 3.3% interest.
Overview:
Axos offers several checking accounts that charge no monthly fee, including the basic Essential Checking, which is completely fee-free. CashBack Checking provides 1% back (earnings are capped at $2,000 per month) on debit card purchases that you verify with your signature rather than entering your PIN, as long as you maintain a $1,500 minimum average daily balance. If your balance is less than $1,500, you earn just 0.5%.
With Rewards Checking, account holders can earn up to 3.3% on deposits, depending on which of five requirements they meet: Receiving monthly direct deposits of at least $1,500 (0.4%); using your Axos debit card 10 times per month or activating Axos’s online Personal Finance Manager tool (0.3%); maintaining an average daily balance of $2,500 per month in an Axos Invest Managed Portfolios Account (0.99%) as well as an Axos Invest Self Directed Trading Account (0.99%); and using your account to make your monthly Axos Bank consumer loan payment (0.6%).
All three of the above-mentioned accounts provide unlimited re-imbursement of out-of-network ATM fees.
Golden Checking — available to adults 55 and older — has no fees, provides free personal checks and offers a 0.1% yield on all balances. The free First Checking and First Savings accounts are designed to introduce teenagers to personal finance, allowing parents to manage their teen’s account from their phone.
Earn up to 0.61% with a High Yield Savings account and up to 0.25% with a High Yield Money Market account from Axos. Both accounts have no minimum balance requirements or monthly fees.
EverBank
Why it won: EverBank received high scores for its checking, money market and savings accounts, all of which offer decent yields.
Standout accounts: Performance Savings offers a competitive yield of 5.05%, with no minimum balance required. The Performance Money Market account yields 4.05%.
Overview:
In 2023, TIAA Bank transitioned to new ownership and rebranded as EverBank, the name the bank used before TIAA’s takeover in 2017. EverBank’s Performance Checking recently had a 0.4% yield, and it has no monthly fee or minimum balance requirement (but the opening deposit must be at least $100). The free Performance Money Market account offers a 4.05% rate. Both accounts reimburse up to $15 in out-of-network ATM fees each month — or, with a balance of at least $5,000, you get unlimited ATM fee rebates.
Other accounts include Everbank Checking, which has a low minimum opening requirement of just $25, plus zero monthly account fees. Performance Savings offers a competitive, 5.05% yield on all balances, and it charges no monthly service fees. You can open a Performance CD with a minimum deposit of $1,000, and rates include 3.9% for a five-year maturity, 4.1% for three years, 4.8% for one year and 5.05% for nine months.
Kiplinger's Best Banks
- Best National Banks
- Best Credit Unions
- Best Banks for High-Net-Worth Clients
- Best Banks for Retirees
- Best Banks for Travelers
Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.
