the Price of Online Banking

I have several online bank accounts, and I don't pay for any of them. I have two checking accounts and a savings account at my local bank, and I can access them online. From any computer with Internet access, I can view my balances, lookup the bank's routing number & contact info, transfer funds between accounts, print copies of cleared checks, etc. They offer online bill-pay, but I'd have to sign up for that and I'm not sure if there's a fee, so I haven't. It doesn't matter though, I can still electronically pay my bills from this account by going to the vendor's website (like a credit card payment) and initiating a debit. I like paying my bills this way, because when I receive the invoice, I can go online and schedule the payment to be drafted on the due date. This way, my payments are never late, but I don't have to remember to mail them or hope the check doesn't clear before payday.

I enjoy the convienence of online banking. I still go to the bank to deposit checks or if I want to open a new account. Although I have also opened accounts online through vendors who don't have local branches and I just electronically transfer funds from my local account when I want to make a deposit. I don't think banks should charge for online banking. The fact that customers can handle many transactions themselves by doing it online lowers the bank's overhead expenses because they don't have to pay a teller to handle every transaction. Now, I'm not saying banks should do away with tellers, but because of online banking, they may be able to get by with 2 instead of 3, or in some very busy metro areas, they may even be able to have 4 instead of 6 or 7.

If your bank charges for online access - change banks! There are too many that offer this service for free. If consumers are willing to pay for it, more banks will start charging fees. But if banks see consumers leaving them to go to banks that offer free online services, then they'll see themselves as non-competetive if they don't offer the same. So let's keep this service at no-charge: if your bank charges for online service, then change banks!