internet banking

I have both local brick & mortar checking/saving accounts and internet C/S/CD banking through Ally and Vanguard. The Vanguard account is called Cash Plus and is FDIC-insured. I keep the minimum in my B&M accounts to qualify for fee-less accounts and keep it for its ability to deposit checks and get cash from their ATMs.

I can do online transfers between B&M, Ally, and Vanguard Chas Plus. They are quick and always occur on time. Just a FYI: Yes, I use long, complicated passwords and use 2FA for all the above. I also don't do any financial stuff with my cellphone.

I never needed a cashier's check for a vehicle purchase. I always think it's odd that the car dealer accepts personal checks, but find it nice.

When I retired in 2004 my employer made the only easy way to get out my retirement funds to be accept their offer and create an IRA with Fidelity. I wasn't very happy about that at the time as it seems I had been just made a captive audience.

Within weeks I was becoming a fan of Fidelity Investments, and within months I had moved my own accounts and my mother's accounts to them and never regretted it.

Competent, capable, reasonable rates and fees... Just works. That is my personal experience, anyway.

Different banks have different ach limits and time frames. The fastest I've seen is literally same day (wire speed). Make the request in the am, funds are available that afternoon.

Bank in WI called incredible bank offers such speed. However, their limits suck for new customers ($10K). I'm grandfathered into high limits as i've been with them for over a decade now.

The next fastest would be ally. For established accounts, they offer next day transfers with limits of 150K out and 500K in. An established account is one that's been with them for a number of months (not sure), and has had previous transfers of over $1000 (or $1500?).

Of course, if you need your funds fast, a wire is the fastest way.
It's still a process with an online bank but doable.

I keep most of the funds elsewhere. Local bank has <$5K most of the time. It offers next day transfers of upto $30K in and $10K out (strange limits). This was after I requested an increase. Apparently they increased the IN amount but not out.

I have had nothing but good experiences with ALLY. I also have Fidelity and Wells Fargo (which is a local branch, but I seldom visit it, doing most on-line.) Except for random security issues, which are a pain in the neck, things always go pretty smoothly.
Sounds like you chose an on-line bank that just didn't function well. You can always change.

I think this is the exception, as on my other forum where folks tend to be older, even retired, one person said they just put another $160k in his internet bank without hesitation.

Maybe I'm being a crybaby lol but it was very worrisome. 3 phone calls per day, for 3 days in a row, and it felt like they're just making things up as they go along.

One rep said expedited, you called Monday, so you'll get it today (yesterday/Wednesday). OK, great, but you just said it hasn't been sent yet, no tracking, how would that happen? I told him I ship at work, and I could overnight something to you, but there is no way for me to send you something and have you get it today. He told me don't worry you'll get it there's no way for us to provide tracking that's the shipping department lol

And the sheer irony? Seeing the money withdrawn the next day after my call, actually was the only assurance that something happened. I.e. validation that they were working on a check. It did come today next day air and although it didn't say sorry, it said, "We wanted you to receive this check as quickly as possible, so we've expedited the mailing at no charge to you."

I googled and had no idea how serious a bank check (cashiers) is. I've only used it to buy 4 cars, and 1 house downpay. If lost a person needs an indemnity bond? What happens if one goes to get the car, and it's damaged?

I had a hare-brained idea, and my wife said absolutely not. I said what if I have Fidelity wire the money into the local bank. It will be there Thursday morning. We get a cashiers check locally, pick up our car Friday. Then, I figure out how to get the money back with the internet bank. She said no, it will be a mess. I agreed, if I'm already worried this much over $60k, imagine $120k.

Again, it did come today UPS next day air, but no one could tell me that it would come for sure, offer tracking, etc.

After all is said and done, life is a learning experience, and I'm still young at heart where I have to touch the stove and get burned, to have things sink in...and really, once we get things off our chests, it's all good! I shared everything I know about the GM custom ordering process and a woman thanked me incessantly, and I felt glad. Because I asked a lot of questions and got crickets in response, so I'm more than glad to share...

Must be nice to have such problems. I've lived most of my life paycheck to paycheck.

I saw the title and this subject is not what I thought about. I thought about me paying all my bills online and my wife who still sends paper checks. I've never had a problem and she always does with things getting there late thanks to our wonderful USPS.

I was also forced to use Fidelity by my employer with my retirement funds. Stayed with them for a while and had no issues but I eventually switched to Morgan Stanley.

I deal mainly with PNC Bank using their brick & mortar and online services. Wire transfers can take up to 3 business days but I can usually get money the same day if necessary using one their branch locations.

I know I can get a better deal online elsewhere, but I prefer to deal "locally" if possible.

I've also used Ally and Wells Fargo online with no problems, but the $$ amounts were fairly low.

I know there are issues with online banking and maybe I've just been lucky, but I have had no problems so far.

For high yield savings accounts

I have Chase linked to an Ally account, yes it may take 2-3 days to get the money into Chase where I can go locally and get a check if needed but in 2025 it shouldn't take 2-3 days anymore, it took 3 days 20 years ago and not much as changed. Maybe in 2050 it won't take 2-3 days anymore, but I won't be around to see it.

I'm utilizing Schwab and a couple of local credit unions. The latter still offer money market savings and checking accounts, but I only discovered within the past year that there are now High Yield savings accounts among the types available and paying far better interest than money market accounts. It currently puts High Yield as a great option to park larger sums ahead of when needed for a specific purchase OR to park amounts you wish to keep liquid.

My wife, too, is old school, sticking to paper based transactions most of the time, but doesn't object to ACH/EFT deposits, leaving me to handle the online portions.

I have a Fidelity account with high money market interest rate where I keep most of money.
My Capital One checking account serves as my daily usages including zelle services.
In between, I have Capital One 360 saving account which has a bit lower than Fidelity money market fund. I keep the money I will use in weeks as I can transfer it to Checking account in seconds while enjoying good interest rate.

I ended up cashing in my Fidelity mutual funds when it hit 2 all time highs in a row, on June 30. To buy the car.

Yes, I would be better off having those mutual funds today, but they went to SPRXX (Fidelity Money Market), which yields higher than my internet savings.

There are some who say, why not finance 100% of a car, and, keep the money in stocks. That money will earn more than 4%. You can even draw your car payments from it.

This advice is generally ok from 1994-2025, a very long time. But, there are stints where it dips 20%+, so I prefer not to use leverage and to keep the funds for what they are intended. Imagine how the above would have felt April 8, 2025. Things were down 23% compared to yesterday.

Again, Fidelity wired to the internet bank, and it was there the next morning, so hats off to them.

My father always paid cash for his cars, and advised me to do the same. "Only buy what you have the cash to pay for". He jokingly threatened to disown me if I did different, but I never have.

Throughout the 50s he drove an old beat-up modest car, which we always called "the clunker" and only bought new cars for my mother to drive and family use. Finally in 1960 he splurged on the first new car for himself--a 40 hp VW bug.

Will let you borrow against the value of your portfolio. The interest rate is usually lower than prime and the loan can be paid back anytime without penalty.

My holdings remain untouched and the yield was substantially higher than the interest paid. Sure, there are dips in the market, but there is time to recover over the life of the loan.

I've done this four times in the last 25 years and always came out ahead instead of borrowing elsewhere.

Could not lose, 1994-2025. When the market hits an all time high, the above holds true.

But, I prefer not to play around with leverage.

Since Apr 8, the S&P is up 30%. That's not typical that in 4 1/2 mos it goes up 30%. 2 1/2 weeks prior to Apr 8, it fell 14%, again, not typical. It is now down five days in a row. What's next? For me, it doesn't matter in any way shape or form with the car purchase. It does matter for my retirement. The older I get, the more I accept you can't always win and one has to do things that make sense, to oneself.

Again, using leverage with the stock market has worked from 1994-2025. That's a long time. There's no guarantee it will keep working. I'm clearly of the generation who doesn't know what it means for the stock market to go down, year after year after year.

What I mean is taking what you said, we could have borrowed 100% of the car, as opposed to 30%. By not selling funds, it should easily earn more than 4.49%. But there are gonna be days like Apr 8. Rather than use savings to buy the car, I sold a Fidelity mutual fund. My logic was savings is not for luxury items that depreciate. Are stocks? Well, winnings are buying that depreciating luxury item...

My friend's parents had a VW Vanagon diesel in 1982. 48 HP!

My dad was the same, his generation worked on cars, not because they loved cars, but because they had to, in order to make ends meet. An old boss asked me, why would I change my own oil, all the time spent doing it, then driving around to dispose of it, when the garage charges $24 (this was 2016).

My generation works on cars as a hobby.

My dad always said, one day I'm going to get a Cadillac. Well, it never happened. I thought the same, and it's never gonna happen either. Like father, like son, but it's all good (caddys are six figures likely 115 and that's just not sensible for us). It's not like we can't deal with a bowtie on the grille lol

My preference not to use leverage is founded on my belief that it helps you lots when you don't need it (when the market is persistently going up) and hurts you when you actually more need the money (when the market is going down).

I've been in the market about sixty years, and on average have fared very well, but that does not mean I have not had many down years. I've never sold short, and not even had margin trades enabled on my account.

Selling short is not advisable, and I tried it once and was new and afraid of losing 100%+ of my investment.

One thing that some may not realize, when one purchases a stock, the most they can lose, is all of their investment.

On a short sale, there is no upper bound to what one can lose. Say we shorted google in 2004, what would we do? I would say 21 years later, it would have ruined our lives and if we don't cover, it will continue to ruin our lives. But, we would have lost way more than our initial investment.

My whole thing this time was, one does not spend savings, on a luxury vehicle, which is a depreciating asset. One can, spend stock market winnings, on a luxury vehicle, if they so choose to. Was it the right move? Well on June 30 when I sold almost all of the Fidelity funds, again, 2 days in a row, all time highs. Well, of course, as luck would have it, even better in early August. But, I felt I can't roll the dice until August, when I knew I'd need the money. And missed money isn't the same as lost money.

At the end of the day, life is broad and we're gonna win some, and lose some. I've lost my entire investment maybe 3X. Another person says, 3X? That's it? You obviously are not actively involved with the stock market.

If I could do it all over, probably, it's what John Bogle said.

"Three out of four money managers can't beat the market, why pay them to try."

There are a few standouts. I owned vmWare, and they got taken over by Broadcomm. The payout was very complicated, cash, and Broadcomm stock. Which has gone way up. So that's likely my best of all time.

I have dogs like Cisco Systems, owned it since 1998. Qualcomm. Of course, no googles, no microsofts, etc. etc. That's life!