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Rossen Reports: Are online-only banks legit? Get the facts here

Rossen Reports: Are online-only banks legit? Get the facts here
Hi. Yeah, you probably heard me say this before. Your money should always be making you money. That's why our viewer Cindy wrote in asking me, could you please explain how online banks can issue larger interest on my savings as opposed to brick and mortar banks also? Are these banks safe? I'm concerned because I can't actually walk into the bank and speak to anyone. How do you avoid fraud? Let's start with the first part of that question. Online banks have less infrastructure and overhead costs to maintain since they're online only, they don't have multiple branch locations they have to pay for so they can use those savings to pay you higher interest rates as for safety, as long as your online bank or whatever bank you're using online or brick and mortar is insured by the federal deposit insurance corporation. That's FDIC. You probably heard of it. You're protected just like *** traditional brick and mortar to know for sure if the online bank you're thinking of joining is FDIC insured. You can actually just go to fdic.gov. You wanna scroll down over here to resources and scroll down to data tools, then click, you're still with me, find suit under search type, click bank name, then you just type in the name of the bank you're researching and it'll tell you if it's covered, ultimately deciding between an online bank and *** brick and mortar is up to your personal preferences. If in person service is important to you, obviously, you wanna stay with *** brick and mortar. If you're fine doing things online, you're like I do it anyway, Online maybe go with an online bank and make some more money. There's also no reason you can't do *** combo of the two. Like having *** high yield savings account with an online bank. But using *** brick and mortar for your traditional checking transactions, do some comparison shopping. Find the best deal for you, Cindy. We hope that helps. If you at home. Have *** question for me. Email me any time we like to help. We'll reach right back out to you if we can at Rawson responds at hearst.com. We read everything back to you.
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Rossen Reports: Are online-only banks legit? Get the facts here
You wanted to know — what’s the best place to put your money? An online bank, or a traditional brick-and-mortar bank? Chief National Consumer Correspondent Jeff Rossen compares your options in this week’s Rossen Responds. Our viewer Cindy emailed in asking, “Could you please explain how online banks can issue larger interest on my savings as opposed to brick-and-mortar banks? Also, are these banks safe? I’m concerned because I can’t actually walk into the bank and speak with anyone. How do you avoid fraud?” Online banks have less infrastructure and overhead costs to maintain. Since they’re online only, they don’t have multiple branch locations they have to pay for, so they can use those savings to pay you higher interest rates. If the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures your online bank, you’re protected just like a traditional brick-and-mortar bank. To know if the online bank you're considering joining is FDIC-insured, you can search it using the FDIC’s BankFind Suite tool here.Ultimately, deciding between an online bank and a brick-and-mortar is up to your personal preferences. If in-person service is important to you, you might want to stay with a brick and mortar. If you’re fine doing things online, an online bank might be better for you. There's also no reason why you couldn't do a combination of the two, like having a high-yield savings account with an online bank, but using a brick-and-mortar for your traditional checking transactions. Do some comparison shopping and find the best deal for you.Have a question for Jeff Rossen? He’s answering your consumer questions every Friday in the new segment "Rossen Responds." Email your questions to him at RossenResponds@hearst.com.

You wanted to know — what’s the best place to put your money? An online bank, or a traditional brick-and-mortar bank? Chief National Consumer Correspondent Jeff Rossen compares your options in this week’s Rossen Responds.

Our viewer Cindy emailed in asking, “Could you please explain how online banks can issue larger interest on my savings as opposed to brick-and-mortar banks? Also, are these banks safe? I’m concerned because I can’t actually walk into the bank and speak with anyone. How do you avoid fraud?”

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Online banks have less infrastructure and overhead costs to maintain. Since they’re online only, they don’t have multiple branch locations they have to pay for, so they can use those savings to pay you higher interest rates.

If the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures your online bank, you’re protected just like a traditional brick-and-mortar bank. To know if the online bank you're considering joining is FDIC-insured, you can search it using the FDIC’s BankFind Suite tool here.

Ultimately, deciding between an online bank and a brick-and-mortar is up to your personal preferences. If in-person service is important to you, you might want to stay with a brick and mortar. If you’re fine doing things online, an online bank might be better for you. There's also no reason why you couldn't do a combination of the two, like having a high-yield savings account with an online bank, but using a brick-and-mortar for your traditional checking transactions. Do some comparison shopping and find the best deal for you.

Have a question for Jeff Rossen? He’s answering your consumer questions every Friday in the new segment "Rossen Responds." Email your questions to him at RossenResponds@hearst.com.