The financial world: online banking reviews, part 2

Online banking can simplify all our life due to a plenty of reasons - convenience, high speed and affordable cost. If you are looking for a suitable online banking service or just want to know more about its functions, check our reviews. We have browsed the websites of the major American banks to help you find the best of the best.

Bank of America 

Bank of America is one of the largest financial institutions in the world. It serves individuals and businesses with a wide range of banking, asset management, investing, and other products and services. 
Bank of America is on top of online banking game. Their award-winning website has more than 19 million active users. You can take advantage of endless resources and great account options, including:  

•    View all your Bank of America accounts in one place, along with online accounts you hold at other financial institutions.
•    Check your account balances and track your posted transactions.
•    View online statements (up to 18 month).
•    Receive free e-mail or SMS alerts notifying about important activities and changes to your account. 
•    Transfer funds between accounts at Bank of America.
•    Make transfers from your Bank of America account to another financial institution. It costs $3.00 for 3-business-day turnaround, or $10.00 for next-day turnaround. 
•    Pay your bills online. You can send payments to almost anyone in the U.S. 
•    Use free financial management tool My Portfolio™ designed to track spending, create budgets, categorize your transactions and much more. 
•    Order check or statement copies. 
•    Request that a check payment be stopped. 
•    Download your account transactions to Quicken® or Microsoft Money® financial management software for a total financial management picture.
•    Enjoy zero liability for any unauthorized transactions originating from your online account, including bill payments. 
•    Boost your online security with SiteKey™.

The website is designed in the bank’s traditional colors – blue and red. It is pretty simple to navigate even though you are offered a lot of account and card options. The online banking sign-up form is located in the upper left corner of home page. There are much useful information about all services, including demos, FAQ, user reviews, and guides. 
Bank of America offers a very interesting program called "Keep the Change". Every purchase you make with your Visa Check Card will be rounded up to the nearest dollar. The difference between the amount of actual purchase and that round amount is deposited in your savings account. At the end of the year you can accumulate up to several hundred dollars! 

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is a diversified financial services company with $1.4 trillion in assets. They provide banking, mortgage, insurance, investments and consumer finance through almost 11,000 stores and the Internet, across North America and internationally.

Wells Fargo website manages to convey warmth and an attention to customer service. It offers a wide array of online services, including: 

•    Pay all your bills in one place. You can make a payment to any company or individual in the U.S you'd normally pay by check. There is no monthly fee when you have an eligible checking account or keep a combined minimum balance of $5,000 in qualifying accounts. Otherwise, the service charge is $6.95 a month. New customers can try Bill Pay service for free for the first 2 months. 
•    Transfer funds between your Wells Fargo accounts.
•    Verify withdrawals, deposits, payments, and transactions.
•    Reorder checks, request overdraft protection and balance transfers.
•    View and print scanned images of the front and back of checks you have written. This option is free.
•    Receive free alerts about your account transactions, sent to your e-mail or wireless device.
•    View, print, and download account statements (up to 7 years) anywhere and anytime you access the Internet.
•    View account balances.
•    Use free online money management tools to set monthly budget goals and track every purchase and payment you made. 
•    My Savings Plan option helps you save for your goals and automatically monitor your progress. 
•    Invest independently online with the robust tools and resources available through WellsTrade.
•    Sign up to access your Wells Fargo accounts from personal finance programs such as Quicken and Microsoft Money.

You can view your accounts, transfer funds, and pay bills.
The website interface is very professional, convenient and easy-to-navigate. After all, they are a big name in banking industry. You need to have a Wells Fargo banking account, investment account; loan or line of credit to get online access to your accounts. This service is free. Just fill out a short enrollment form to get a username and password to access your personal and business accounts online. 

E-Trade Bank

E-Trade bank, a popular online brokerage service, is aimed to challenge the old ways of doing business. They succeed in delivering a diversified and integrated portfolio of innovative, customer-focused brokerage and banking products and services online. 

E-Trade offers an attractive array of banking services:

•    Free online bill pay to any person or business in the US
•    Schedule payments.
•    View transaction reports.
•    Online check and deposit images.
•    Automatic balance and payment alerts.
•    Fund transfers to and from your E-Trade account.
•    Zero unauthorized liability with E-Trade Complete Protection Guarantee.

However, our first impression when hitting the E-trade homepage was, "Where do we start?" The website is broken down into several sections, but the main focus is on brokerage, investments and trading. Online banking is not completely apparent at first and you can get an initial feeling of being overwhelmed. Luckily, there is a demo how their online banking works.