In Brief

By Carole Buia

NET CHECKING Looking to open a new checking account? Forget the local Citibank; the best deals are online. Thanks to lower overhead costs, online banks are clamoring for customers. They offer better rates, lower minimum balances and rock-bottom service fees. The bonus: most will reimburse a portion of monthly ATM withdrawal fees.

MIN. MIN. TO TO AVOID BANK * YIELD OPEN FEES Presidential On-Line Bank 6.00% 2,500 1,000 American Bank 6.25%** 1 0 Everbank.com 6.01% 1,500 1,500 Flagstar Bank, FSB 5.00% 2,000 500 First Internet Bank of IN 5.00% 100 0

*All are FDIC insured ** Above $10,000 only earns 4%

POSERS If you're scouring the Web for that pre-IPO stock that will bring you riches, take heed. The SEC has been cracking down on a number of companies that use the Internet to make false and misleading pre-IPO claims and stock offers, either through their websites or spam messages. In most cases, these companies have no hope of ever going public. Last month 1stBuy.com settled with the sec after allegedly defrauding more than 1,000 investors of $3.8 million. If it looks too good to be true, chances are it is.

FUND DEPOT Think you can do better than your fund manager? FOLIOfn.com lets you purchase three "folios," or folders, with up to 50 stocks for $29.95 a month. Choose from more than 80 prepackaged folios or build one yourself. Unlike mutual funds, there are no minimums, and you decide when to take a tax bite. Trading is free twice a day, but real-time trades cost $14.95. Folios are catching on. The next several months will see the launch of copycat companies, including NetFolio and UNX.com

--By Carole Buia