Now that Netbank has gotten into the mileage game by offering United and Delta miles, I decided to take a look at an online checking account.

I actually didn’t sign up with Netbank, though. Instead, I signed up with BankDirect.

Both give miles for checking accounts and other financial products. The (2) drawbacks to NetBank are:

• They don’t give very many miles (I was only going to earn 4500) and mileage is a one-shot deal — there’s no continued earning.
• They don’t reimburse ATM fees. So while they don’t CHARGE you to use an ATM, in most cases the machine you use will.

BankDirect solved both of those things. Now, BankDirect has two disadvantages:

• A $15/month fee on checking accounts with balances under $2500.
• A lower interest rate than NetBank.

So I studied hard and ran some numbers for myself. I’m going to earn about 11,000 American Airlines miles in the first year, and there’ll be a couple thousand more in each future year. The interest wasn’t significant, and the fee savings on ATM costs made BankDirect a better deal for me.

So I’ve decided to open an Internet checking account. Big step for me!

If you decide to go with BankDirect as well, drop me a line. If I refer you, we both get an extra 1,000 miles.