If you haven’t figured it our yet, the place to get the best interest rates on your savings is now over the Internet. There are a number of online banks that offer rates much higher than you are likely to get at your local bank. Two of the more popular of these are ING and Emigrant Direct.

ING had been the interest rate leader for awhile when Emigrant Direct hit the scene and trumped them. Since then Emigrant Direct has been able to keep the interest rate lead, falling out for short periods of time. Currently Emigrant Direct offers a rate of 4.0% on their savings account ($1 minimum, no fees) which they initiated a few days ago.

ING ($1 minimum, no fees) had been offering 3.3% and responded to Emigrant Direct’s raised rates by uping their interest rate to 3.4% which I think is a disappointment to most of us.

When looking strictly at interest rates, Emigrant Direct comes out as the winner, but their site is less user friendly that ING’s site. In addition, ING offers a $25 sign up bonus which for accounts with a small amount of money in them more than makes up for the difference in the lower interest rate.

Of course, the best course of action is to open an account with both, receive the $25 bonus and then switch your savings into the bank that is offering the best interest rate.