On May 21, 2007, EverBank issued a press release indicating that they were acquiring NetBank.  I missed the release and it was not until I was notified in an email message from NetBank late last month that I found out that they had indeed been acquired.

I have been a customer of NetBank for a number of years, drawn by the attractive rate on their Money Market account (4.5%, now 3.05% for under $10,000.00) and the convenience of their Bill Pay system.  Later I was a user and fan of their QuickPost system for making overnight deposits to my account. They have since  discontinued QuickPost..

Their acquisition by EverBank prompted me to do some searching for an alternative.  I investigated ING Direct, but they have only a high interest savings account which you can link to a local checking account.  Delays in transfers made that alternative unacceptable. Washington Mutual has an online account that pays 3.89% (5.05% APY), but requires a $10000 minimum to get that rate.

I then found HSBC Direct, paying 5.05% on savings with no minimum, and linked to an online payment account paying 2.5%.  The online bill paying account does not allow for writing paper checks, but does allow the linking of other local bank accounts for transfers either into or out of HSBC at no cost.

If you have grown to love NetBanks latest implementation of BillPay, you will be a little disappointed with the offering of HSBC.  It seems more primitive and not quite as intuitive.  One feature of NetBank allowing for entry of due date is gone, so you must again manually enter a payment date which allows for the transit time required for payment..  A small deficiency, and one that I would have to accept in the transfer of NetBank to EverBank.

If you are a NetBank or HSBC user, I welcome your comments.