January 23, 2009:  According to BankRate.com's 2008 Checking Survey, online banks require higher average minimums when opening either an interest or non-interest checking account.

The average minimum required to open an interest checking account at an on-line bank was $650.81, compared to $376.75 at a traditional bank. The average minimum for a non-interest account was $133.33 on-line, and $82.71 at physical locations.

On-line banks beat brick-and-mortar banks when it comes to required balances in interest checking account to avoid service fees.  At online banks, the average was $843.75, while at traditional banks it was $3,461.84.

The average monthly service fee for an on-line interest account was reported to be $4.38, compared to $11.97 at traditional banks. 

Interest paid by on-line banks average 2.06%, while brick-and-mortar institutions averaged 0.24%.

For non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees, both types of banks were about the  same: $28.95 at the traditional bank, and $28.71 at an on-line.

To collect this information,Bankrate.com surveyed one interest checking account and one non-interest checking account at each of the largest banks and thrifts in each of 25 large markets, a total of 247 interest accounts and 226 non-interest accounts. Bankrate.com also considered 22 checking accounts at 18 institutions offering online accounts and compared them to their brick-and-mortar counterparts.