Since 1857, First National Bank Omaha has been growing steadily. Originally, FNBO Direct was a small institution, serving only Omaha, Nebraska, and the immediate area. Now, FNBO, a subsidiary of First National Nebraska, serves 6.6 million people all over the country. First National Nebraska is a multi-state holding company, and is the largest privately owned banking company in the U.S.
FNBO offers products that are in line with what you would expect from such an institution: checking accounts, savings accounts and CDs. FNBO also issues Visa branded rewards credit cards. FNBO offers consistently competitive yields on deposit accounts, and a fairly low variable interest rate on its credit card.
In addition to online billpay, FNBO also makes use of Popmoney, which allows you to send payment from your bank account directly to someone else with the help of a text message. You can also receive payment via Popmoney directly to your bank account. The FNBO web site features a number of helpful and educational tools, including a wide array of calculators. One of the most interesting is a calculator that will help you see how long it will take you to save up $1 million.
Related Posts
11/27 - FNBO Direct Savings Drops To 1.80% From 1.90%
9/10 - FNBO Direct Savings Drops To 2.00% From 2.10%.
7/17 - FNBO Direct Online Savings Rate Drops To 2.10%
6/1 - Online Savings Account Rate Drop To 2.20%
2/15 - FNBO Direct Increases Online Savings Account Rate
2/14 - Online Savings Account At 2.25% (Per Email)
12/14 - FNBO Direct Raises Online Savings Rate To 2.15%
10/19 - FNBO Direct Raises Online Savings Rate To 2.00%
8/5 - FNBO Direct Raises Savings Rate To 1.85%
6/11 - FNBO Direct Increases Online Savings Rate
6/9 - FNBO Direct Raises Savings Rate To 1.75%
2/26 - FNBO Direct Boosts Online Savings Rate
2/24 - FNBO Raises Online Savings Rate To 1.60%
12/15 - Rate Hike At FNBO
8/25 - FNBO Direct Increases Online Savings Account Rate
6/22 - FNBO Savings Up To 1.10% APY. Quick Look.
7/14/14 - FNBO Savings APY Drops (From 0.85%) To 0.75%
5/16/13 - FNBO Bug? FNBO Direct 404 - Page Not Found
5/3/13 - FNBO Savings Rate Decrease (From 0.85%) To 0.75%
2/14/13 - FNBO Direct Scheduled Outage Sunday 2-17-13
12/26/12 - FNBO Direct Announces Savings Account Rate Increase for New Year
12/19/12 - FNBO Savings Rate Increase
7/20/12 - FNBO Direct Offers Another Savings Account Promotion to Existing Customers
7/19/12 - Bonus Rate
3/7/12 - Last Years FNBO Special 1.35% Rate Reminder
9/29/11 - FNBO Direct Savings Account Rate Cut & FYI On The Savings Account Promo
7/13/11 - FNBO Direct's Special Offer for Existing Customers and Keeping Accounts Open
7/1/11 - Special Rate Offer From FNBO
6/9/11 - FNBO Direct Cuts Savings Account Rate To 0.85%
5/11/11 - Internet Banks Improving Their Person-to-Person Payment Services
3/18/11 - Rate Drop At FNBO
1/25/11 - Closing Your Account At FNBO Direct
12/10/10 - FNBO Direct $25 Online BillPay Account Bonus
11/12/10 - FNBO Direct Update: New Cash Back Program and a New Bonus
9/1/10 - FNBO Direct's New Debit Card Reward Program
5/28/10 - FNBO Direct Cuts Rates on Savings Account and BillPay Account
4/22/10 - Reviews of FNBO Direct's Online BillPay Account, $25 Bonus & Its New Website
2/19/10 - FNBO Direct Reduces Savings Account Rate from 1.40% to 1.25%
11/16/09 - New 5.25% No-Minimum Online Savings Account - FNBO Direct
11/16/09 - FNBO Direct Increases Online Savings Account Yield to 3.50%
9/21/09 - 4.00% 60-Month CD at FNBO Direct - Nationally Available
12/12/08 - 4.26% 24-Month CD & 4.00% 12-Month CD at FNBO Direct
3/31/08 - $25 Bonus for FNBO Direct's BillPay Account
11/26/07 - FNBO Direct's New CDs and Checking Account
9/26/07 - FNBO Direct's New 2% Cash Back Credit Card and It's Official, New Yield of 5.05%
9/25/07 - Future Rates at FNBO Direct? and What's Next?
8/28/07 - FNBO Direct Planning a Cash Back Reward Credit Card
8/27/07 - FNBO Direct Savings Account Update - Withdrawing Money
8/10/07 - FNBO Direct's Account Frozen Emails - Mistake?
8/8/07 - FNBO Direct Employment History Requests and Worries of Account Holds
6/22/07 - Update on FNBO Direct Transfer Concerns
6/20/07 - FNBO President and the Future Plans with FNBO Direct
6/15/07 - FNBO Direct Savings Account Policy Updates - Concerns?
5/25/07 - HSBC Direct's Next Offer?
5/24/07 - How Much Have You Deposited into FNBO Direct?
5/21/07 - FNBO Direct Finally Does a Press Release on its 6% Savings Account
5/19/07 - Update on FNBO Direct Savings Account - $1M Balances and More on Transfer Times
5/14/07 - Transfer Speeds and Timing Deposits into FNBO Direct's 6% Savings Account
5/8/07 - My Experience Opening FNBO Direct 6% Savings Account - Part 3
5/4/07 - My Experience Opening FNBO Direct's 6% Savings Account - Part 2
5/3/07 - Concerns about FNBO Direct? Too Good to be True? Don't Worry. It's Legit
5/2/07 - My Experience Opening FNBO Direct's 6% Savings Account
5/1/07 - FNBO Direct's Savings Account Offers 6.00% Until 9/28/07
Small, overlooked bank, but very good.
Back in May 2007, while ING Direct and others were paying ~3.5-4.5% interest, the First National Bank of Omaha was paying 6% interest on savings accounts. I was leery, but their FDIC number matched up, and after a few phone calls I felt comfortable enough to put some decent money with them.
It's been 11 years now, and it works like clockwork. The website isn't fancy, but it's perfectly functional. I push a little bit of money over there every month, and it keeps growing. These days, their rates aren't hugely better than the big guys (Capital One 360, etc.), but I'm still leaving my money there for now. Besides, my main bank, Wells-Fargo, wants to charge $5-12 per month per savings account -- they can take a long hike off a short bridge. FNBO's never charged me any fees.
Beware Of Hidden Fees On The Online Checking ("Billpay") Account
As always, read the account disclosures before opening an account.
FNBO charges a monthly "Debit Card Inactive Fee" of $1 per month if you don't use the debit card associated with the account at least once every 90 days. If you opt out of the debit card entirely and just get an ATM-only card, they charge you $1 per month, every month, period.
Since I never use debit cards, this was a deal-killer for me.
If you are one of those people who open accounts while the interest rates are good, and then leave them dormant when the rate drops, there is a dormant account fee of $25 (first month) or $10 (subsequent months). It doesn't indicate how long the dormant period is in their online disclosure.
Terrible Application Process
Hands down the most complicated and confusing application process I've ever endured. After initial decline due to credit info freeze, manual review of application was eventually successful. Unfortunately the barrage of conflicting and confusing emails requiring multiple phone calls made it a truly unpleasant process. They are obsessed with security during the application process, but if you enable touch ID on your iOS device, you must enable a passcode limited to 4 digits.
Not The Best Bank You Can Do Business With
I will not recommend fnbodirect.com as bank has the worst customer service support and have been poor with its basic banking services. I used this bank while closing my home and it took more than 26-30 hours to get a wire transfer completed.
I was required to call them 3-5 times every 2 hours and it was the horrible experience to get a wire transfer completed working with bank. if you end up requiring tapping into any emergency funds you could imagine what you could end up if you have savings accounts at this bank. There are much better alternatives with good services with competitive interest rates in other online banks.
Data as of Q4 2019
Health Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 5452 |
| Year Established | 1857 |
| Employees | 4614 |
| Primary Regulator | OCC |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 1.38% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 13.17% |
| Annual Interest Income | $1.46B |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q4 2019vs Q4 2018 | $22.56B$21.58B |
| Loans | Q4 2019vs Q4 2018 | $16.16B$15.55B |
| Deposits | Q4 2019vs Q4 2018 | $18.32B$17.80B |
| Equity Capital | Q4 2019vs Q4 2018 | $2.36B$2.14B |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q4 2019vs Q4 2018 | $376.8MM$402.6MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q4 2019vs Q4 2018 | $109.0MM$116.0MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q4 2019vs Q4 2018 | $3.6MM$10.8MM |