This is the most annoying part of having an online bank account

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If you are considering an online bank account, be prepared for this to be a problem.

Key Point

• An online bank account has many advantages, including low fees.
• However, depositing cash into your online account can be very cumbersome.

I love my online bank and have multiple checking and savings accounts at my company. I chose the bank because it offered free checks, high mobile deposit limits, and accounts with no monthly maintenance fees or minimum balance requirements.

But as great as my own bank is, there is one aspect of using an online-only financial institution that I really hate.

I don’t like this aspect of online banking one bit

The most annoying problem with my online bank account is that it is very difficult to deposit cash.

My bank accepts mobile deposits and mail deposits, but I can’t deposit cash directly into my account. This can be a big problem if you receive a large amount of cash that you don’t want to keep sitting at home.

Fortunately, most payments are now made by check or credit card, so this is rarely the case. But a few times a year, you might get a birthday present or a friend repay you something in cash instead of using her Zelle or Venmo. Bank.

I don’t like using cash. Because if you spend cash, you miss out on credit card benefits. Also, you can’t easily track your spending if the amount isn’t on your credit card statement. In other words, we have to find a way to solve the problem of banks not accepting cash deposits. Otherwise, you’ll either have to use cash (I’d rather use a card instead) or keep the money at home or in your wallet.

How to actually deposit cash into your online bank account

There are some workarounds for depositing cash into your online account, but none of them are really good.

One option is to deposit the cash into another account and then write a check or use some electronic method to transfer the money to your online account. This only works if you have another account, which I don’t. If you have someone you trust, you can hand them cash and have them write you a check for the amount, but you must be confident that they will deposit the money and clear the check. . Otherwise, you may lose cash.

You can also buy money orders and use mobile deposit or email with money orders, but this means you are spending money to deposit money.

I’ve done both of these two methods in the past, but using one or the other can be inconvenient and costly or risky. This is not as big an issue as opting out of online banking. Because for me the pros outweigh the cons. If you need to deposit cash frequently and are considering opening a bank account at an online-only financial institution, the hassle might be enough to put you on hold.