Online Savings Accounts & Current Rates

[Narajin]

What does MMA mean? Looks like a good list, but is that available for Canadians? I tried signing up for ING Direct US and they asked for an SSN, which I have SIN the Canadian equivalent.

[brecklin]

money market account

[joseblanco]

Originally Posted by Narajin

What does MMA mean? Looks like a good list, but is that available for Canadians? I tried signing up for ING Direct US and they asked for an SSN, which I have SIN the Canadian equivalent.

First I would not bother w/ INGdirect because their rates are to low. They are a global company and should have a canadian banking product. Of all the banks on the list I think HSBC would be your best bet. They are global and rate competitive. They are owned by Household bank PLC so between being an English corporation, being global and having a competitive rate I'd say try them. Here is their canadian link. Good luck.

http://www.hsbc.ca/hsbc

I'd just invest in the oil sands trust on the Toronto Exchange, its return will exceed anything banks can offer and for now I'd say its a stable investment.


Ciao, Jose

[Narajin]

Thanks! I'd like to try investing on the oil too, but how do you go about that? I'm such a newbie at stocks.

[joseblanco]

Just call any brokerage, preferrably not a full service one as you know what you want to purchase. The brokerage can be in the US or Canada or anywhere for that matter. The oil sands trust is traded on the Toronto exchange and its open to canadian citizens w/o limitation. Its open to US and citizens of other nations but their participation is capped. Good luck.

[poundwise]

List updated August 12th. No changes.

[Broken Arrow]

Apple Bank looks interesting.

Anyone have any experiences with them?

[Ima saver]

Just bringing it to the top!

[poundwise]

Not to state the obvious or as a put-down to ING, but all of the more recent moves upwards by several institutions makes ING's offering, and its low-by-comparison rate, even less desirable.

If they had not, at one time, been a leader in online savings, I doubt any of us would even notice them now. I wonder if they will step up with a better rate soon or if they have just determined that they don't care to be competitive, rate-wise, in that arena any longer.

[poundwise]

Updated August 20th.

UFBDirect moves from near the end of the list to the top with a new APY of 5.26%.

[JoyJoy]

Poundwise, you're doing an excellent job keeping us informed about the online money market account rates, thanks!

There is one other bank that requires under $1,000 deposit and that is [/b]Corus Bank;
Yield 5.10% with a min. investment of $100.00. Phone 800-989-5101. Corus Bank is located in Illinois.

[poundwise]

Originally Posted by JoyJoy

Poundwise, you're doing an excellent job keeping us informed about the online money market account rates, thanks!

There is one other bank that requires under $1,000 deposit and that is Corus Bank;
Yield 5.10% with a min. investment of $100.00. Phone 800-989-5101. Corus Bank is located in Illinois.

First of all, thank you for the compliment.

Secondly, unfortunately Corus Bank does not qualify for this list due to the fact that even though you may open an account with them with $100, they have a minimum balance requirement of $10,000 to avoid fees.

Corus Bank

[JoyJoy]

Ooooops!! Corus definitely doesn't belong on this list! Sorry Poundwise. I should have done my homework first! Thanks for correcting me!!

[yellow heel]

I need to open like 5 different saving account to get the best interest rate! I can't keep up with the rapid change!

[joseblanco]

Originally Posted by yellow heel

I need to open like 5 different saving account to get the best interest rate! I can't keep up with the rapid change!

I understand your observation. I actually went through a rate chasing phase until I finally decided I needed to focus on things other than rate. Before things heated up INGDirect was the king but its purely online. ED was the same because while the have brick-n-mortar you r online account cannot be services at their regular branches. But now banks like HSBC, Citibank & presidential all offer brick-n-mortar access, traditional checking etc. So I expanded my horizons in terms of variables to consider and have left the pure online banks for HSBC & Presidential. HSBC give me international access to my funds, an ATM card and has a local branch. Presidential has the same sans the international access. INGDirect made this easy to see when it stalled at 4.35 and everyone else jumped up to 5%+ So go with a 5% plus online bank that has a broad spectrum of other services that you can grow into and also has a local brick-n-mortar branch that you're allowed to utilize. ONly if the lose their competitive edge like INGDirect did would I then switch.

[poundwise]

MMA rate list updated Monday morning, 08/28. No rate changes since last update.

[sweeps]

Poundwise, just out of curiosity, why did you move the list to the middle of the thread?

[vsjhoc]

Originally Posted by poundwise

List updated Monday morning, 08/28. No rate changes since last update.

Lbwise, thanks so much for being our rate tracker.

[poundwise]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

Poundwise, just out of curiosity, why did you move the list to the middle of the thread?

When a thread has multiple pages, this shows up as 1, 2, 3.. Last Page.

Most people will click on 'Last Page' if they are following a thread. So, rather than have the list and then 3 or 4 pages of discussion following, I moved the list to the top of the current 'Last Page.'

Of course, there is a link from the top of the first page to the list, for anyone who does start there.

[sweeps]

Ok, the problem is as new pages get added, you're going to have to keep moving the list -- which causes more work for you and also renders direct links to the list obsolete.