Online Interest Checking Account From HSBC

An companion account for the HSBC Savings account has been released recently. HSBC Direct announced the Online Payment Account, which has the following major features:

$1 to open, no minimum balances
Yield of 2.50% APY
Three non-HSBC ATM fee rebates per calendar month
Link with unlimited external accounts
Online Billpay Service
Can send paper checks via BillPay, but no checkbooks
Instant transfers to/from HSBC Online Savings account available, but account not required

If you use the HSBC Online Savings already, this is a terrific deal. You get more features, and there are no minimums balances. One possible use would be when you needed cash, you could just go to an ATM, move money over from Savings -> OnlinePayment account, and then withdraw to take advantage of the ATM rebates. For people who rarely receive or write paper checks, this could fill a void and allow them to go completely electronic.

A hat tip to My money Blog for this info!