10 Happy Years with Capital One 360 Checking [My Review]
I love my Capital One 360 Checking account. Opening it was one of the best moves I’ve made in managing my money.
I opened this account simply as a method for getting quicker, easier access to the savings in my Capital One 360 Savings account. I had no idea that I would still be happy with this account 10 years later!
Capital One 360 Checking is one of the best online checking accounts available today, if not the best.
Why do I love it so much? Let’s start with the basic benefits:
Mobile Deposit
For the longest time, the biggest hurdle with online checking accounts was their inability to easily accept physical check deposits. No branches = no drive-thru deposits. With Capital One’s Mobile Deposit, you can simply take a photo of your signed checks and deposit the funds right into your Capital One 360 Checking account.
The app and deposit feature are free and can be used for personal, business, and government checks. There is a daily limit on how much you can deposit via Mobile Deposit, although the precise limit varies depending on the personal account. (Typically, you can expect a daily limit of about $5,000).
As long as you submit your deposit on or before the business day cutoff of 9:00 p.m. ET, your funds are generally available by the next business day.
The service is a (literal) snap with a camera. On those platforms, you can easily download the Capital One app. From there, simply endorse your check, take a quick photo of the front and back via the Mobile Deposit portion of the app, and click submit.
And just like that, your money will magically appear in your account.
Multiple Bill Pay Options
Yes, there are multiple free ways to “pay ya bills” with this account. The bill pay setup is really basic and the check features are straight-forward. Did I mention it’s all free? Some banks don’t offer all of this for free.
If you’re paying for these services you’re wasting money. See a full rundown of these methods below.
Easier Access to Your Savings
You will be able to move money from your Capital One 360 Savings Account to your 360 Checking account instantly. And, because you have a MasterCard® Debit Card associated with this account, you’ll be able to access money from your checking or savings account via ATM or at the register (i.e. cash back).
Be sure to check out my Capital One 360 Savings Account review as well.
Free ATMs
Need cash? Capital One 360 Checking gets you access to 39,000 Capital One and Allpoint ATMs for free.
They proudly proclaim that there are more Capital One fee-free ATMs than there are Starbucks across the country. Not bad!
My only quibble with the ATMs is the fact that there aren’t that many drive-up ATMs in the network. It’s mostly ATMs at convenience stores or other retail locations. Over the years we haven’t found this to be a huge hassle. We typically just take some cash out when we’re shopping with the card.
Earn Interest on Your Checking Balance
Like their savings account, Capital One 360’s Checking account is going to pay you more than your average bank just to keep your money there. You can currently earn 0.2% APY if you keep up to $50,000 in your account, 0.75% APY for account balances between $50,000 and $100,000, and 1.0% APY for account balances over $100,000.
FDIC Insured
Last but not least, the accounts are all insured by the FDIC up to $250,000. No worries. If you have a savings account, this includes that amount as well. So, you’re covered under the same umbrella. Have a joint account holder? The coverage is doubled.
How to Open a Capital One 360 Checking Account
Now that you’re ready to make the move, here are the steps to opening up your new Capital One 360 Checking Account:
- Visit CaptialOne360.com click on “Open an Account”.
- The site will ask if you already have any accounts with Capital One. If you do the sign-up process goes a bit quicker. If not, there are just a few extra questions.
- Complete the 360 Checking account opening process, including, linking it to your savings account, requesting your MasterCard® Debit Card, and depositing some money from your savings account. The process is fairly straightforward.
- Once you have your account open, you’ll want to establish either a direct deposit using a portion of your paycheck (talk to your HR dept.) or automatic transfer from your Capital One 360 savings account (very easy setup you can do online).
How to Pay Your Bills Using 360 Checking
Okay, now that you’ve got your account opened, made some transfers, and used the MasterCard® Debit Card to make some purchases or get money without fee from an ATM, you’re ready to take the account to the next level by paying your bills online.
There are several different methods you can use to pay your bills with 360 Checking. So there’s bound to be one that works for you:
1. Free Bill Pay: Bill pay is great for paying your monthly bills.
Simply add all of your bill companies to your list of payees and initiate payments to these payees for the amount and date you designate. If your monthly bill is a fixed amount (mortgage, student loan debt, etc…) then you can select the payments to recur automatically each month.
Before I started using cash back credit cards for everything, I used this method on about six or seven of our accounts. Each recurring payment comes with an email notification so that you can ensure you have enough funds prior to the payment going out.
2. Auto Withdrawal: For the remainder of my bill companies (two or three) I use auto-withdrawal.
This is simply providing the bill company your banking information (routing and account number) so that they can pull what you owe them from your bank account.
Traditionally, you would locate this information on one of your checks. Since you don’t automatically get checks with this account, to find your routing and account number simply visit the “account maintenance” link from the 360 Checking details page. On the account maintenance page, look for the “voided check” link. There you’ll find your routing and account numbers, which can be provided to your bill company to set up auto-withdrawal.
3. Paper Checks: With the 360 Checking account you can have a paper check mailed to any address. You can even have the check mailed to yourself to be signed over to someone else. I only use this method if I owe a friend or family member some money.
If you like to roll old school, Capital One 360 also offers paper checkbooks to account holders. Your first book of checks is free, and it only costs $5 per batch of checks after that.
4. Zelle for P2P Payments: Capital One 360 Checking is a member of the Zelle peer-to-peer payment program, which means you can send money in minutes to any other Zelle member.
Zelle is available for a number of banks, including Chase, Bank of America, Ally, PNC, Navy Federal Credit Union, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo, among others. Even if your recipient is not enrolled with Zelle, the money you send will still arrive in his account within 1-3 business days after he enrolls.
Zelle is free and part of the mobile app for the Capital One 360 checking account. Only your phone number is used to send money via Zelle, which means your account is completely secure, even if you’re sending money to your shifty brother-in-law.
The Bottom Line
All in all, Capital One 360 Checking is a solid account for anyone looking for an online bank to help them pay bills, send money to friends, deposit physical checks, access their cash quickly and easily, and avoid any kind of fee, all while earning a bit of interest. Open a Capital One 360 account!
I am a fairly new Capital One 360 Account member, and I have 1 concern related to an account feature, loading physical cash to my Cap1 360 account. Do you have any suggestions for loading physical cash into my Cap1 360 account?
The check deposit app no longer works for me–ever. I’m switching to another bank I’ve been so frustrated!
The five-business-day hold is too much for me. ING, which Capital One took over, never held checks for that long. My employer still issues paper checks and I can’t see any reason for Capital One to use my money for a week before they let me have it. I’m taking my next paycheck to a brick and mortar bank and switching everything over.
If I have cash, Can I deposit into the account at the branch?
@Mike D You’re probably right, Mike. My history with this account gives me my bias. Here’s my review of Ally Savings: http://ptmoney.com/ally-bank-review-high-interest-online-savings-account-and-more/
Curtman40 Both Capital One and ING Direct have been around for more than 5 years so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
I still think it is too early to participate in something like this truth be told they only been a “true bank ” now for maybe a little more than a year, so they still have alot of creditability to build up I will give them 5 years to see where they are before I partcipate in something like that.
I still think Ally bank is the better deal with Free ATM’s at any atm in the nation and no charge for checks of any type. And Ally has all the other features you mentioned as well.