Online Savings Accounts & Current Rates

[saverbootay]

Citi's Ultimate Savings Account dropped to 3.15%.

[poundwise]

Updates today - November 7, 2008

APY drops:

Zion's from 3.56 to 3.41
Heartland from 3.55 to 3.05
FNBO from 3.50 to 3.25
HSBC from 3.25 to 3.00
Wamu from 3.00 to 2.50
Ultima from 2.75 to 2.25
Key from 2.50 to 2.00


New additions:

Citi Ultimate Savings at 3.15


Other changes:

• AmTrust rate falls below 2.00 and so they are dropped from the list
• GMAC no longer requires a minimum balance and only requires $1 to open

[Pitman]

Updates today - November 7, 2008

New additions:

Citi Ultimate Savings at 3.15

It was only a matter of time before this was going to happen.


btw Kudos to you Poundwise, you've been doing an excellent job with the updates.

[ea1776]

A common trend I noticed with all of the online savings sites, was that they can "change the rate at any time for any reason".

Can anyone recommend a hand full of them that:

a) Have a good track-record for not changing rates very often.
b) Have a good track-record for having relatively high competitive rates.
c) Don't nickel and dime you for online withdrawals/deposits (or any other "common uses" for the savings accounts for that matter).

[poundwise]

Can anyone recommend a hand full of them that:

a) Have a good track-record for not changing rates very often.
b) Have a good track-record for having relatively high competitive rates.
c) Don't nickel and dime you for online withdrawals/deposits (or any other "common uses" for the savings accounts for that matter).

Having maintained this listing for over two years, I can tell you that I've seen rates rise and fall and, though I've not specifically run a chart and tracked the movement, I'm familiar with which accounts are the most steady and which are not.

Of all the accounts in the top 12-15 of the listing, OneUnited stands out as a solid, consistent offering at one of the highest rates. Their site is nothing special though perfectly functional and you have to open and maintain the account with $1K. Otherwise, I don't think there is another account that has been so high on the listing for so long with little vertical movement on the list.

Among the newer offerings, iGOBanking has held firm better than most. Though the rate has fluctuated, as they all have, it doesn't rise as high or fall as low as many others. They also seem to have a simple system and it is easy to open an account; only $1 is needed for a initial deposit and a minimum balance.

These are not the only accounts I recommend, however, those are the two that come to mind first when addressing the specific qualifications you outlined.

[ea1776]

Thanks a lot for your great help Poundwise. And thanks for doing such a great job with this thread!

[chris0101]

I started an online savings account with Venture Bank Direct, their APY is 3.8% with no minimum balance. It was quick and easy to set up and was earning interest in 1 day.

[Aleta]

Their website doesn't say how long they guarantee this rate.

[saverbootay]

There's a site called SmartyPig. SmartyPig®: Simple. Smart. Savings.®
The name makes you wince, but it says 3.9% APY and has things like ACH fund transfers.
But, they also talk about "savings goals," so I can't tell if it's like a regular old online savings account.

That's weird. When I put in a URL, somehow other words get put in place, like an advertisement link.

Oh, looks like they require a monthly contribution. Maybe that's why they offer a reasonably high yield.

[Pitman]

Citi's Ultimate Savings Account has dropped to 3.00%.


*sigh

[poundwise]

Their website doesn't say how long they guarantee this rate.

Only a few banks have offered promos with a rate guarantee of some sort (EverBank is one); otherwise, no rates for any of the savings accounts are guaranteed.

[ea1776]

I recently opened accounts at OneUnited and ING.

I just put $250 in the ING account to get the $25 bonus, which is already in there. I plan on transferring all of that to OneUnited once the bonus money "vests" (Dec. 3rd).

OneUnited was a lot more strict on identity verification than ING was (not necessarily a bad thing, but it took much longer to open the account). Also, I made my OneUnited a joint account, and the other account holder has to send in their DL to verify. No big deal.

Both sites seem to have a straight-forward web-interface.

ING had more security "features" that needed to be setup for getting access to the account (not necessarily a bad thing either but gosh, 5 security questions???).

Anyways, thanks again Poundwise for the OneUnited recommendation. Let the high-yield saving commence.

[saverbootay]

Curses, Chase strikes again.

Wamu is down to 2.25%. Even less than ING now.

[buzz]

GMAC Money Market Savings is up to 3.25%.

Why no listing for their Online Savings Account? At 3.75% it is one of the highest returning savings available.

[weissheit]

Thanks Buzz.

Poundwise the GMAC 3.75% APY looks like it meets listing criteria, they have no minimum balance as per this link: GMAC Bank : Online Savings Rates

I personally would question their solvency, but they are FDIC insured if I am not mistaken.