List of Free Online Checking Accounts

Online checking accounts offer a convenient and often rewarding way to bank. For those that pay interest, online banks can generally beat traditional financial institutions with higher rates because of lower costs. Online banks don’t need to maintain an expensive network of branches, and they can pass that savings on to consumers in the form of higher interest rates or other rewards.

To give you an idea of what’s available, I’ve put together this list of free and low cost online checking accounts. I’ll be adding to the list as interesting offers become available. What I like about these options, however, are the diversity in what is offered. As you’ll see below, for example, PerkStreet doesn’t pay any interest, but offers a cash back debit card and $50 sign-up bonus. In contrast, Everbank pays one of the highest yields available for a checking account. Its rate is so high, it competes with rates for savings accounts and CDs.

So here’s the list, and if you know of other good checking account options, be sure to leave a comment.

Online Checking Accounts

PerkStreet Financial: This online checking account gets high marks for innovation. PerkStreet offers a no fee checking account, including free checks. It takes only $25 to open an account, and after that, there are no minimum balance requirements. So long as you use your account, there are no monthly maintenance fees. PerkStreet offers a large network of surcharge-free ATMs, free online banking and bill pay, and customer service 24/7.

One of the most unique features PerkStreet offers is a debit card with up to 5% cash back. Cash back rewards are typically reserved for credit cards. The PerkStreet FinancialSM Visa® Debit Card is the only one we are aware of that offers cash back. Here are the details of the cash back offer:

• You’ll get up to 5% cash back when you make non-PIN purchases in popular categories. Each month we’ll announce these categories at http://blog.perkstreet.com and via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
• 2% cash back on all other non-PIN purchases on days when your Current Account Balance is $5,000 or more.
• 1% cash back on all other non PIN purchases on days when your Current Account Balance is less than $5,000.

You can find more details about this offer in our PerkStreet Review.

For more information and to open an account online, visit PerkStreet Financial.

Everbank: If you are looking for a checking account that pays interest, Everbank is the answer. For the first three months, Everbank pays a bonus rate of 2.25%. For the first full year, including the bonus rate, the APY ranges from 0.95% to is 1.46% for checking accounts depending on your balance. These rates is higher than many savings or money market accounts. You can also check out our Everbank Review.

Everbank’s interest rate also has another nice feature–the Yield Pledge guarantee. Everbank pledges that its checking account will yield within the top 5% of competitive accounts.

ING Direct: Well known for its Orange accounts, ING Direct offers an online interest bearing checking account. While its yields aren’t as high as Everbank (ING currently pays 0.25% APY for accounts under $50,000), it comes with an ATM MasterCard debit card, free ATM use and free bill pay. Having used an Orange savings account for years, I can personally attest to how easy it is to navigate around the ING Direct website.

Note that all of the online checking accounts listed above are FDIC insured.