Dubbed “2011 Bank of the Year” by Money Magazine, Ally Bank (ally.com) offers many of the services of a full-service bank such as FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts with no minimum deposits and no monthly maintenance fees. You aren’t required to keep a minimum balance and earn interest on your deposits.

You can use any U.S. ATM without paying any fees. At the end of the statement cycle, it refunds any ATM fees charged by other banks. (The institution does charge some fees for such things as stop payments and outgoing wires.) You can also open an account online. The main disadvantage is the lack of physical branches, so you have to transact everything online or through the mail.