Comments on: Current High-Yield Online Savings Account Rates

By: lee

lee — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:13:25 +0000

the current rate of inflation is 3.6%
So at best these banks can promise to steal 3.6-0.90=2.7%, right?

It’s stupid to lock ur money away at 0.90% APY, when they promise to lose 2.7% equity per year (if inflation rates continue).

Am i overlooking something?
How are banks NOT offering to steal my equity?

By: Banking Guru

Banking Guru — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:02:59 +0000

@Sandra

I used Smarty Pig to save for a kitchen remodel at Home Depot. I wanted to save $12,000 so I could make it legit. I was able to get a discounted gift card for like $10,000 at Home Depot for around $9,000! Normally that would be too much of a gift card, but since I was saving for that purchase anyway it was perfect. Plus my parents even contributed a bit and for my bonus late last year my boss (who knew about the account) said he would give me a slightly bigger bonus if he could deposit it right there! So, my experience has been great.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:10:57 +0000

Has anyone used Smart Piggy for their savings account? If so, what’s your experience with the account?

By: cathy

cathy — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:13:24 +0000

can we please audit The Fed and end The Fed so that they will stop printing and diluting our dollar and they will stop manipulating interest rates, stock prices and gold prices? Let the free market of supply and demand determine interest rates. I need a good interest rate on my savings account. Am I the only person in the world with a savings account? why isn’t everyone furious at The Fed?

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:19:56 +0000

Thank you for this list. Everbank looks great. I’m just getting started on peer 2 peer lending services like Lending Club, my only concern is that you’re not insured by FDIC the way you are with a bank, so if people default, you’re out of luck. How safe do you think Lending Club is?

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:12:28 +0000

We’re lucky to have a local community bank that offers such a high rate. It’s not too high on the safety list, but our deposits are insured so we’re not too worried. It’s called Provident Community Bank. It offers 4.01% right now. It’s one of those high-yield checking accounts with certain requirements about so many debit card purchases a month and having direct deposit, etc. When we opened it, it was at 5.76%, but it kept dropping while the Fed kept dropping rates. I feel like we’re responsible savers with a very low risk tolerance, yet we’re not being as well rewarded in the market. Oh well. We’re certainly not going to change our personalities to fit the market. We’ll just hope for the best and keep saving.

By: John Z

John Z — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:07:50 +0000

Has anyone had dealings with Discover Bank? Have read some favaroable comments, but one thing confuses me. They say you cannot withdrwa interest for one year otherwise you will not receive their interest rate of 1.34?
Any comments?

By: Wren

Wren — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:55:19 +0000

@AWD

I have a SmartyPig account and I LOVE it. They’re currently offering 2.15%. I was surprised not to see it on here as well. I’ve had my account for a few months now. I know I’m kind of a spaz, but I think that it’s cute looking and I like that. Mostly I like that ACH withdraw system.

@Nate

3.05%? Whaaat? You might want to check that again. Mine just got bumped UP to 2.15% until the end of the year. Unless you’ve got some kind of special deal rate, you may be mistaken. On the front of their website it says they offer 2.01%

Also, you can totally set your own payments. I do. When you pick the goal you can choose an amount for it to pick for you, or you can set your own amount.

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:26:51 +0000

Just closed my account with Capital One. I originally opened account in 2008 and used if for about one year and then closed it because of the poor service and customer response, etc. I saw rate was fairly high beginning of this year and decided to give them one more try. Soon after I reopened account, rate went down but I stayed with them. Recently they just notified me that they had frozen my account so I couldn’t access in via the Internet. When I spoke to them they said I had to verify my identity by sending them copies of license, social security card and utility bill. I told them forget about it and that I couldn’t be bothered (especially since it was opened originally in 2008 with no problem).
I told them to close account and send me cashiers check for the 6 digit deposit. I will never use them again and it is their loss.
Just my opinion regarding Capital One; so think twice before opening an online account with them.
Any others have problems with Capital One? Would love to learn I am not alone.

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:20:58 +0000

I have had accounts with Ally, HSBC and CapitalOne Direct. Ally is the most user friendly with HSBC a close second. CapitalOne, even though they are paying a slightly higher rate, I really regret openning an account. First went through account validation (including the typical 2 small deposits) no problem. Then I tried to deposit money and had to go through the whole 2 small deposit all over again while my money sat earning zero interest in my checking account. Then I transferred another larger amount, which they proceeded to lock up for 10 business days. Also their “Contact Us” e-mail doesn’t work, had to use phone to contact. When they unlock my funds, I am going to move back to Ally.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:39:01 +0000

I checked out ING’s website, it is just something about ING unlike HSBC that I don’t like. I don’t like the thing about your money being put on hold and unavailable. That doesn’t ride with me, it’s bad enough you are dealing with an online only bank and then to tell me that you are going to put a hold on my money.Nahhh. But they come right out and tell you that on the FAQ’s. I did like that about them.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:52:15 +0000

I love HSBC

By: Johnathan Truenhaven

Johnathan Truenhaven — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:12:29 +0000

WAMU 5% 12 month CD?
Could not find info on your site!
But it was memtioned in info below your headline.

By: Victoria R.

Victoria R. — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:46:46 +0000

I currently have a reward checking account with a local bank (so I have the convenience of cashing/depositing checks, cash station, etc.). I highly recommend reward checking accounts (Dave Ramsey also promotes them which is where I first heard of them). I earn 4.19% APY on amounts up to $50,000 BUT in order to earn that rate, each month I have to have 15 credit card transactions, one direct deposit and bank statements are e-mailed to me. Any amounts over that I get .25% APY.

Having said that, any amounts I have over $50,000 go into my online savings account with CNB Bank Direct http://www.cnbbankdirect.com. My rate started at 4% APY with them but I checked today and it is now down to 1.70% APY. I have never had any problems with CNB and any time I e-mailed customer service with a question, I got an immediate response. This account is linked to my reward checking. It does take a day or two to transfer money into the savings account and a few more days to transfer money out. I have found CNB very easy to use. If you need to add a beneficiary, contact them and they can add that to your account.

I am thinking about checking out SmartyPig and 1st Constitution Direct but not sure it will be worth all the effort for only a slight percentage higher than what I am currently making.

By: KB

KB — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:32:03 +0000

I would check out westbankiowa.com. I’ve been enjoying 4% up to 30K for a year now. reward me checking. 12 credit transactions and one outo debit is all required a month. ATM fees refunded as well.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:44:18 +0000

IRA Savings @ING Direct. FDIC-insured @1.4% APY.

By: PeteG

PeteG — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:22:30 +0000

I have my IRA in a Fidelity MM, which is now paying less than 1/2%. I thought investing in the Fidelity MM would protect the principal as it would also have share price of $1.00, but even that now is in question.
Does anyone know where I might be able to transfer this (fairly large) IRA in order to get a better rate and safety?

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:16:23 +0000

Doral Bank had a nice rate a while back and now I see that they have dropped it to 0.50%!
Goodbye Doral Bank.

By: Jasen Anthony

Jasen Anthony — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:22:55 +0000

For all that were interested in D.E Huntley’s post #122

I called American Express to try and take advantage of the
ONE Card. Unfortunately I was told that they are no longer accepting applications for that card. So, thanks for the info
but doesn’t do us much good if we can’t open the account.

Does anyone know a way around it!

Best
J

By: Jasen Anthony

Jasen Anthony — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:43:55 +0000

Hi Alicez

yes it’s 1stconstitutiondirect.com
their direct super savings account
& yes they are in Cranbury NJ

By: alicez

alicez — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:32:12 +0000

Jasen – Do you mean 1st Constitution Direct NJ?

By: Jasen

Jasen — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:32:16 +0000

Hi Gang…

I went online to American Express to try and find the no fee “ONE” card. I was not able to find it!! Can you give any advice on where I can see the details about this card? Is it called something else?

Also for those of you still interested. Constitution Direct went from 2.75% to 2.5% to now 2.05%. I’m still using them and they have been great to deal with. Someone always answers the phone, and everything was very easy to set up over the net. If anyone is getting better than 2.05 to 2.5% please post it and let us know!

By: D.E. Huntley

D.E. Huntley — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:05:18 +0000

The best deal on a savings account is to have a no fee ONE card from AMEX. 1% of everything spent goes into a High-Yield Savings Account earning 2.75% and has not changed in many months. You can link it to other banks and transfer money free into the High-Yield account any money you are holding in cash. If you are like me, you pay off your credit cards every month and so it truly is a High-Yield Savings account, no introductory fees that go away and you are with one of the oldest and most sound institutions around. It is the true winner for me and anyone with the same habits.

By: BillyB

BillyB — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:55:47 +0000

Had practically same experience with Provident Bank, NJ. After their promo period, rate on first $10,000 falls to 0.99%. Very confusing and time consuming opening of account.
Will close after promo period as rate is just too low!

By: MikeW

MikeW — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:01:44 +0000

Iopened an account with Everbank. Nothing but headaches. The interst rate after the promo is less than ING, one fee for goinf under $5,000 wiped out all the interest i had earned, and it took me 6 emails to change my address. does not work with quicken. They send emails to tell you to check your secure email, which then only tells you about the transfer you already knew about. ING is MUCH more user-friendly!

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:36:47 +0000

Just recd email from HSBC advising that their online savings account rate has dropped to 1.45% (again).

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:44:30 +0000

Even though rate shopping is a waste of time, people will always do it and it will always have a negative impact on everyone BUT the rate shopper (and even the rate shopper will most likely have negative repercussions).

Here’s what I mean. If you leave $5 in a bank, that bank will most likely charge you money; most banks have minimum requirements. If they don’t charge you anything, you’re actually making rates go LOWER because that bank has to facilitate your account that only costs them money. This is more of a problem for banks now because the banks aren’t making much on your deposits anymore (hence the dropping rates). So go ahead, be a rate shopper. Be a parasite out for your own good. It will help you and hurt everyone else involved on the grand scale.

It’s like buying a car. Will you just buy the cheapest car out there, or will you be willing to spend a little more for a better car? I’m going to take a rate cut to put my money with a bank that I like better. Hopefully other people will follow my lead and look out for themselves in a big-picture way by looking at more than one thing, the rate, and hopefully that bank will succeed. What would happen if everyone put their money with the banks that were better overall? Those banks would compete with each other and rates would go up anyway.

By: AWD

AWD — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:55:58 +0000

Which is why we MUST keep rate shopping! We can only punish the banks by pulling our funds each and every time they pull this. I left $5.00 in there (like I do similar banks) in case they raise the rates back up. But aside from that I transferred my monies elsewhere.

For those that think rate chasing is silly or a waste of time, it’s the only chance we have of fighting the bank cuts. Stop moving your money out and ALL the banks will continue to drop rates.

Is it a waste of time? I look at it as kind of a job. We get the interest rate for having money in there, but if I can get a better rate by shopping around, for sure I’ll keep doing it.

By: Jasen

Jasen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:49:12 +0000

Everyone should look into 1st constitution direct
http://www.1stconstitutiondirect.com

3 months ago they were offering 2.75 I moved all my liquid cash there. It was easy to open and a service rep answers the phone every time I’ve called. After my 3 month introductory rate of 2.75 the rate went down to 2.25 but I called them and asked them if they would give me the introductory rate again and they did. I’ve been with them now about 5 months. Their system is pretty easy to use and they have been nice people to deal with.

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:17:56 +0000

Looks like Dollar Savings dropped it’s online rate big time.

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:49:21 +0000

Understand that Tennessee Commerce is offering online savings accounts with 2.30 rate. Any comments?

By: Hanna

Hanna — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:35:11 +0000

Yeah, Chris was probably trying to mention http://www.Smartypig.com which has an interest rate of 2.75% (Previously 3.06% a few months ago!).
Smartypig though is a cross between a savings account and a CD. When you open up an account and set up a goal, the minimum goal amount must be $250 and then the first initial deposit much be $25 or more. You then calculate the monthly contribution into the account and then deposit money until it reaches the goal amount. Once you the goal is reached you can either 1.) Keep the money in there and acquire more interest. 2.) Close the account and transfer the money back to your banking account. ( Or get a gift card, debit card of your balance)

I just closed a goal and awaiting the money to be transferred back to my checking account. Their transfer does take longer with than online savings accounts, ( 5-7 business days compared to 2 business days with ING) but hopefully everything goes well.

By: ryan

ryan — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:58:58 +0000

do you mean smartypig chris?

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:26:21 +0000

You don’t even mention Smart Piggy – best interest rate @ 2.75% – much better than any that you’ve listed here!

http://www.SmartPiggy.com

By: BillyR

BillyR — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:20:00 +0000

William – I’m glad that you will never have to depend on the government for anything, when you reach my age..
But for me, as a wounded and disabled serviceman, I have to depend on the government for my small payment (allotment).
I didn’t want to depend on anyone else either, but I had no choice in the matter.
But, why does an illegal alien, who does/did nothing for this country, depend on the U.S. government for free food; free medical; free prescriptions, etc. (mre than I am getting)?
Have a nice 4th!

By: William

William — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:19:00 +0000

m I not entitled to my opinhion? Wait until you reach 75 years of age and must decide wheter to buy food or prescription medication and then see illegals aliens (speaking only Spanish and young enough to be working) getting all these free benefits, payed for by my tax dollars. And here am I trying to earn the best interest on my small savings account.
Wouldnâ€™t you say there is something wrong with our system of benefits? Wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq canâ€™t get insurance or money to pay for food and yet illegal aliens get everything for free (food, medical, prescriptions, etc.).

Comment by BillyR â€” Jul 3rd 2009 @ 6:15 pm
__________________________

Yes, you are entitled to your opinion but it has nothing to do with savings accounts. Also, while you may depend on the government, when I reach 75 I will depend on my own resources and not have to worry about the government.

By: BillyR

BillyR — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:15:13 +0000

Re:
By the way, BillyRâ€™s comment regarding â€œillegalsâ€ getting free benefits and not paying taxes is irrelevant, xenophobic and just plain ignorant.
Comment by William â€” Jul 3rd 2009 @ 3:57 pm
———————-
Am I not entitled to my opinhion? Wait until you reach 75 years of age and must decide wheter to buy food or prescription medication and then see illegals aliens (speaking only Spanish and young enough to be working) getting all these free benefits, payed for by my tax dollars. And here am I trying to earn the best interest on my small savings account.
Wouldn’t you say there is something wrong with our system of benefits? Wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq can’t get insurance or money to pay for food and yet illegal aliens get everything for free (food, medical, prescriptions, etc.).

By: William

William — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:57:16 +0000

Since Dollar Savings rate stopped dropping and has held steady at 2% I put my money back. At least it’s 1.25 points above Chase’s online savings at this moment. The transfers take about a week but I don’t have any issues with them so far.

By the way, BillyR’s comment regarding “illegals” getting free benefits and not paying taxes is irrelevant, xenophobic and just plain ignorant.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:22:43 +0000

I used to love ING, but their customer service and how they treat their customer is the absolute worst. My checking account bank screwed up something with a dispute over a transfer and not having my authorization to do something with my ING account. ING had 30 days before they had to reverse the transaction and they did it in one day. They did not call me the customer, they just did it. When they DID finally call me, it was to say they are ending their business relationship with me and closing my account and basically I would be blackballed from ever having an account with them again. Seriously? My bank, their COMPETITOR did something and they just stuck their tail between their legs and said F*** you customer, and closed my account without asking ME the CUSTOMER what was going on. Now I have to jump through a bunch of hoops just to not be blackballed from ING Direct. This is how they run their business, they don’t ask the customer what happens first, they just blackball you.

After talking with them they confirmed how terrible they are. I asked, what if there was fraud on my checking account and I never had any knowledge of what happened. They said they would close the account and make you get proof from the bank that it was an error, and then they would CONSIDER letting you “re-open” the account as they say. First, it’s not re-opening an account, it’s letting you open a NEW account. Secondly, if their was fraud on the other banks side, why don’t they just FREEZE the account and talk to the customer? Nope, they just blackball you first and then ask questions later. You are guilty before proven innocent.

Somebody else made a big mistake at my one bank, and ING said F*** you to me and just closed the account. I will NEVER do business with a company like that again. The customer comes first, but obviously NOT with ING. I do NOT recommend their bank in the least bit. I never had ONE problem with them before this one incident and they just “end their business relationship” with me. Bravo on not giving a crap about your customer.

Do NOT use this bank, they will screw you on a dime over nothing. Not to mention they did not lose ONE penny in the whole issue that took place, they only did a transaction, no harm done on their company at all.

ING = Terrible customer service

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:23:28 +0000

Experts say that most of the banks that are dropping rates are doing so to actually get rid of deposits and hopefully keep more from coming in. This time last year, the average savings rate for Americans was next to nothing, and now it’s at 6.9%. With lending guidelines so tight and no return on investments, banks cannot afford to be paying out the kind of interest they used to. Once you see mortgage rates start going back up, savings rates will follow. For the time being, find a high rate with a bank that you like and trust. You’re better off doing that than bouncing your money around all the time as a rate chaser; you’ll probably lose more interest in the transfer time than if you just kept your money in one place!

By: Nickel

Nickel — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:22:14 +0000

AliceZ: It’s standard practice for banks to check credit if there is any sort of overdraft protection associated with your account, because that is essentially a line of credit. Not sure if that’s what was going on in your case, but I just thought I’d throw it out there as a possibility.

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:34:04 +0000

Regarding my previous post and my application for savings account at Ally. When I first called them I told them I had a ‘freeze’ on my credit cards because my son said that would prevent someone from opoening a credit card in my name. They said “no problem,” and that they would process my application ‘manually.’
I received a call today from Ally saying they could/would not approve my account until I removed the ‘freeze’ from my credit cards.(Contrary to what I was told originally.)
I told them to “forget about it.”
I previously have opened two accounts at other online banks and they were ‘happy’ to get my business (even with the ‘freeze’ on my credit cards).
I guess Ally isn’t that anxious to get new customers.
….Just my comments about my dealings with Ally for someone else who might have same situation.
(Please, no comments about the ‘freeze’ on my credit cards. I am letting that remain.)

By: BillR

BillR — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:25:34 +0000

Doral Bank was offering 2.25% and now I notice they just dropped the rate to 1.60%.
Big drop as far as I am concerned and I will now be considering my deposit with them.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:09:12 +0000

Had no trouble in the beginning when I opened account Most on-line savings ask for your drivers license info (way of identifying you). They must have had a large influx of applicants to not answer questions in a timely fashion

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:26:29 +0000

Just tried to open an account with Ally Bank (formerly GMAC). Really complicated procedure as far as I am concerned. You have to sent them copy of driver’s license and then they say they will get back to you 24-48 hours.
Very difficult to get information via the telephone because reps say request is now in their operations department, etc.
Still waiting for response.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:33:04 +0000

@AWD

I consistently see SmartyPig missing from these lists but I’ve been using it for months now and i have to say that it ROCKS.

For starters, SmartyPig is more of a web application built on top of a bank. Funds deposited in your SmartyPig account are placed in an account at West Bank where it is FDIC insured and will earn (at the time of writing) 3.05%. You read that right.

The idea is that it’s goal based savings so you generally cant go adding and removing money all “willy-nilly”. You create a goal, say a TV or a house down payment or an emergency fund. You tell it when you want the money by and how much you will put in now. Then it calculates how much you will need each month to meet your goal and sets up a reoccurring withdraw from another bank account to fund your goal. That’s it! You can add additional funds off cycle or close your goal anytime. You can also change the date or amount of your goal as long as there aren’t any pending transactions. Also, if you know you will be buying something like a TV, you can redeem your goal for a gift card, say at BestBuy, and they give you an additional amount (up to 6.0% extra) depending on the gift card. I haven’t used this yet so I just transfer the money back to my bank but its a nice option to have.

Now the downsides. You can’t move money from goal to goal and you can’t deposit money without a goal. What i did when i was generally saving money was set up a goal called “A Money Pile” to just hold my cash while i figured out what to do with it. Also, you can’t set your own monthly payment so you might have to tweak the amount or due date to get the monthly amount right. If you know you need 5000 by the end of the year but you can’t save the full monthly amount for a couple months, you will have to change the amount or due date to get the right payment. One last downside, it takes a little too long to transfer the money out, i think it’s 5 business days. I wouldn’t put money you might need tomorrow in it.

If you can deal with those few downsides, I would HIGHLY recommend SmartyPig. My fiance and I have been able to save a lot of money we might have otherwise squandered. Being able to log in and see how much your monthly contributions are and how much interest you have accumulated on each of your goals is very motivating. I would say it’s borderline addicting to see your accrued interest on a daily basis! I don’t know any other bank that lets you see this.

Lots of the personal finance advice says to “pay yourself first” and SmartyPig is one of the best ways to do it! Plus you simply can’t beat the rate. Even CDs don’t offer that much now a days.

By: David

David — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:30:13 +0000

I also use Shorebank Direct and they have an excellent online savings account. The current interest rate is 2.0%, but they have been consistently within 0.5% of the highest rate on the web. Highly recommended.

By: BillyR

BillyR — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:55:58 +0000

HSBC just dropped online savings rate to 1.55%.
Rates going down – prices going up. What an economy!
Only people not worrying are the illegal aliens who are getting free food, free medical, free prescriptions, etc. And paying no taxes.

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:59:37 +0000

I have an account at 1st Constitution, but am thinking of closing.
They do not allow beneficiary.
The only way to add a 2nd linked account is to send them statements from the bank. I don’t like this because the statement lists account numbers for my checking, savings and credit cards. Too much exposure is not to my liking.
Homepage leaves a lot to be desired.
Rate has dropped also.

By: William

William — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:14:39 +0000

I pulled all of my money from Dollar Savings Direct (DSD) and back into my Chase savings account. DSD is paying 2.05% and Chase only pays .75% but that point and a quarter is not worth the hassle of transferring the money and Dollar Savings doesn’t seem to rate as “safe” as Chase. I would put the money on a decent CD but I may need it for a downpayment on a house in the near future. I enjoyed the 4.0% for a while.