Comments on: The Best Online Savings Accounts (Updated!)

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.
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.).

Comment by BillyR — 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, BillyR’s comment regarding “illegals” getting free benefits and not paying taxes is irrelevant, xenophobic and just plain ignorant.
Comment by William — 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.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:14:38 +0000

I’m still sticking w/ ING Direct. I just like them better – better website, no overdraft fees on their checking, my fiance and I can email each other (or anyone else for that matter) money. It’s still a pretty decent rate even if it’s not the highest out there. It would drive me crazy to move my money around every time a bank is paying 1/2% higher rate. Not to mention, I’ve never been charged a fee…I read some of the terms on the other banks mentioned and they charge fees for a lot of stuff that ING doesn’t.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:52:53 +0000

Checked out the 1st constitutional, looks pretty good

By: Ellen

Ellen — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:45:52 +0000

I just transferred money from E-trade to my dollar direct account. E-trade is giving 1.45% on their savings account, Dollar direct is 2.05%, now I found GMAC @ 2.23%. Still looking for a better rate on savings,

By: Jasen

Jasen — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:21:35 +0000

Great information to read!
I have been looking to move my money from ING cause of course their 1.5 or 1.65 APY isn’t looking so good compared to some of the others. I happen to love ING but I found a 5 star rated Doralbankdirect offering 2.25% and 4 star rated 1stconstitutiondirect offering 2.75%. Anyone have any thoughts on either of these two banks. Doral’s office is in Manhattan and 1stconstitution in Cranbury NJ.

Any thoughts?

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:23:47 +0000

I have ING Direct and Emigrant Direct accounts, but the other account I have, capital one, gets 2.01%. That is where I have switched more of my money to.

By: AWD

AWD — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 07:16:33 +0000

Huh?

SMARTYPIG??? After Bernie and all the other ponzi and related scams…can anyone provide info “SmartyPig” Savings is for real?

It SOUNDS like a good deal where they automatically withdraw and apply money to your designated “goal” but a bank named SmartyPig gives me thoughts to wonder?

Is SmartyPig for real?

Thanks in advance for any info you can shine on this. In this day and age of too many rip offs, I DO appreciate it.

AWD

By: AliceZ

AliceZ — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:07:41 +0000

Opened an account with AmericaNet and linked an outside bank. I instructed AmericaNet to transfer money from my linked account to my AmericaNet account. I was told this could not be done until 30 days had passed. This is the first time a bank told me they could not transfer money for 30 days.
Thinking of closing account now.

By: Bernie Bildman

Bernie Bildman — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:18:28 +0000

I linked to ShoreBank Direct (2.80%) from within my Etrade savings, transfers went through in 1 day going to and from Etrade (requests originated on the Etrade side) painlessly.

Going the other way around, request for transfer orininating from the ShoreBank side took 3 – 4 days. If Shore holds the line, I will keep my cash there. They are highly rated by the FDIC and deeply rooted locally in Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit, focused on serving minorities.

So far I am very happy with them, I had a small problem this weekend, called the number and it was resolved instantaneously

By: Bernie Bildman

Bernie Bildman — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:42:24 +0000

All high interest _checking_ accounts have conditions, usually you have to use their debit card at a POS (not ATM) 10 times a month, have a direct deposit once a month etc, and the funds are usually limited to $25 or $50K

By: Gavin

Gavin — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:32:14 +0000

DollarSavingsDirect only received a ONE STAR rating (out of FIVE STARS) when their financial soundness got analyzed due to the ongoing bank meltdowns. Although they are FDIC insured, I wouldn’t put my money there. If they do go down in flames, I don’t want my money stuck in limbo for several months while the feds sort out the mess.

By: BobZ

BobZ — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:43:59 +0000

HSBC just dropped it’s rate to 1.85%

When will it end? It’s getting worse and worse!!!!

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:49:31 +0000

Maybe we can get some input here.I guess I have to ask some dumb questions here because moving money around is not my expertise.I know the process is more involved and I am not a rocket scientist but it seems to me that when an institution needs money from investors/depositors they just raise the interest rates for a period of time to get depositors and when they have what they need they lower it again.It takes a while for us to take notice of the reduction,shop around,find a higher rate and move our money. After Chase Morgan took over WAMU I watched the rates drop to 1% on an online savings account I had.How does GMAC offer 2.75% for an online savings account and Chase Morgan 1%. Are there that many customers who just don’t do anything with their money at these institutions regardless of low rates that they don’t try and make their money work for them?