FNBO Direct Review: An Online Bank Offers Interest Savings and Check Account

FNBO Direct is the online division of First National Bank of Oklahoma. The bank currently offers 3.50% APY for its online savings account with no minimum.

With five online bank accounts (not including the Bank of America checking account) already, am I supposed to simplify our finance instead of making it more complex?

Well, simplification is THE plan, but the reality is I just couldn’t resist the 6.00% APY promotion offered by FNBO Direct. The result was that I opened another savings account with FNBO last night. Part of the reason that I went in the opposite direction of our plan was I am kind of disappointed by the recent decline of T-bill rates.

I borrowed $32,000 from Bank of America last month and had planed to use the money to buy T-bills. However, at current rate of 5.11% APY, T-bill isn’t the best choice for the money, which I will have to return in November. I am not a rate chaser, but I do want to get the most of my money. Though the 6.00% APY from FNBO will only last till middle of September, the 5.25% rate afterwards isn’t that bad either. Therefore, I decided to lock in this temporary rate and see where the rate of T-bill goes in September.

The account opening process is quite simple, taking less than 10 minutes to complete in five steps and everything was done online (if only I could answer correctly one of the security questions that FNBO asked me when it tried to connect to my BoA account and verify my ownership ). Now I am just waiting for the trial deposit to hit my BoA account and go back to complete the process.

To apply for an account, you will need the following items:

1. Your Social Security or Tax ID Number.
2. Your Driver’s License or ID card issued by a state DMV.
3. Information about any loans or mortgages that you may have to help us confirm your identity.
4. For instant funding, you will need your current bank account and routing numbers.
5. If applying for a joint account, you will need the Secondary Applicant’s name, Social Security or Tax ID Number, and Date of Birth.

In addition to savings account, FNBO Direct also offers FNBO Direct BillPay Account, which is more like an interest checking account (except no check-writing ability). The product currently is only available to existing Savings account members and it pays 3.50% APY. Other features of the account include:

• No minimum balance required and no fee;
• FDIC insurance;
• Interest compounded and credited monthly;
• BillPay payment limits between $5 and $10,000.

BTW, here are the latest rates from some other online savings accounts (as of August 5, 2008):

• Ever Bank: 4.76% APY
• Washingtong Mutual: 3.75% APY
• HSBC Direct: 3.50% APY
• WTDirect: 3.31% APY
• E-Trade Financial: 3.30% APY
• IGoBanking: 3.28% APY
• Capital One: 3.50% APY

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