Internet Banking Makes Dollars, Not Cents

For some reason, the internet is full of websites that talk about how to make money online. “Google this, SEO that. Optimize this, tweak that.” The most popular sites seem to offer some form of a short top ten list. Some people brag about their multiple successes in forums, while others are still struggling to get Google to index their site.

Each person is at a different point along the road of making money online.  One thing missing from all the posts about how to make money online is what to do with the money once it has been made. Depending upon the affiliate program, receiving payment through an electronic funds transfer (EFT)  appears to be both the easiest and the best solution. Both Google and Amazon offer EFT payments to residents of the United States.

But where should your affiliate payment be sent? My recommendation is to begin using an internet banking account, if you are not already. By this, I do not mean that you should use the online version offered by the major banks. The reason is simple. The interest rate offered by online banks exceeds the interest rate from traditional banks, even from those traditional banks that allow you to view your account online. What I’m talking about here is those banks existing solely on the internet. If you’re interested in this, then please find an online bank that meets your needs on Bankrate.

My personal choice for internet banking is ING Direct. It does not cost a single penny to open up an account with ING, and ING uses your traditional bank account (Chase, Citi, Bank of America, etc.) to make deposits to your ING account. If you elect to receive payments through EFT, on the other hand, then your affiliate program provider can direct deposit into your ING account. On a monthly basis, both Google and Amazon send an EFT payment to my money market account at ING. In addition, I have setup ING to transfer $25.00 from my traditional checking account to my online banking account on a monthly basis. But why would I do such a thing? I would do such a thing because I believe there is nothing more powerful than compounding interest.

ING DIRECT is a member of ING, one of the largest financial services companies in the world. ING has over 112,000 employees operating in 50 countries with banking and insurance assets exceeding $600 billion.

Until you decide to invest your money in a mutual fund or in a retirement fund of some sort, I highly recommend that your money rest in a money market savings account offered by an online bank. You’ll earn higher interest than what could be had from a traditional bank. And to this end, internet banking makes dollars, not cents.