Savings accounts are dead?

[Like2Plan]

L2P - I was referring to I bonds, not EE bonds.

DisneySteve,
I beleive the same applies for I bonds.....

Here is the reference:
§ 359.16 When does interest accrue on
Series I savings bonds?
(a) Interest, if any, accrues on the
first day of each month; that is, we add
the interest earned on a bond during
any given month to its value at the beginning
of the following month.
(b) The accrued interest compounds
semiannually.
Department of the Treasury 31 CFR Part 359 - Offering of United States Savings Bonds,
Series I Department of the Treasury Circular,
Public Debt Series No. 1-98
As of July 2009

Another reference:
"When are earnings added to the I Bond?

I Bonds increase in value on the first day of each month, and interest is compounded semiannually based on each I Bond's issue date. An I Bond's issue date is the month and year in which an I Bond issuing agent receives the full issue price."
Accrual of Interest. Interest on a bond accrues on the first day of each month. In other words, we add the interest earned on a bond during any given month to its value at the beginning of the following month.
Example: If you redeem a bond on January 31, none of the interest earned in January will be included in its value. If you wait one more day and redeem the bond on February 1, the value of the bond will reflect interest earned during January.

Information Statement
Series I Bonds
United States Treasury Department

[disneysteve]

L2P - Apparently, they changed the system, probably because of people like me who were exploiting that loophole. That's not the way it used to be done.

[HistoryChick]

I was checking out checkfinder.com and found several banks that will give me a higher interest rate on a checking account if I make 10-12 debit transactions per month.
Speaking as a person who has never owned or used a debit card, why do the banks want you to use them so much? Do they make a fee every time you debit your account with your card?

Ima, you're correct - the banks make more money from debit card purchases (where you sign) than from PIN based debit card or check purchases. While the price is the same for you either way, that store ends up paying more to the bank when you use the debit card with your signature

[disneysteve]

why do the banks want you to use them so much? Do they make a fee every time you debit your account with your card??

that store ends up paying more to the bank when you use the debit card with your signature

Not only that, but by putting that 10 transaction minimum on the account, the bank knows that a certain percentage of customers won't actually meet the criteria to get the higher interest rate. The bank gets the account and use of the money and doesn't have to pay out the advertised rate.

[Scanner]

Interesting that there is a $10,000 maximum purchase per year. Not a place you can really stuff a large amount of money.

[EconoMutt]

Interesting that there is a $10,000 maximum purchase per year. Not a place you can really stuff a large amount of money.

I think if you combine an on line purchase and a local purchase you can up that amount.

[bigredmachine05]

For I bonds, you can buy 5k at a bank[i.e. bank of america], and 5k from the US government at treasurydirect.gov.

I think for online accounts, if you look, you can do better than 1%. I just found one called incredible bank. It is 2.02%. The thing I liked with this bank is that I was able to fund with a credit card. So I used my 2% schwab and funded it with 10k[the max amount], and thus made a very easy 200 bucks for about 10 minutes of work. You actually used to be allowed to buy i bonds with a credit card and the limit back then was 30k.

Another good deal I have which doesn't exist anymore is darbydirect.com. I have a cd with them that gets me 3% the first year, 4% the second year, and 5% the third year. I can add money whenever I want and can take out money on the yearly aniversary penalty free. Thus, if rates get better, I'll just pull out the money on the anniversary.

Again, I think if one looks, there are good deals for savers to be had.

[disneysteve]

You actually used to be allowed to buy i bonds with a credit card and the limit back then was 30k.

I remember that. I made a fortune on that deal. I bought a 5K bond every other month. I timed the purchases and redemptions so that there would only be a 1-month interest penalty. Then I redeemed the bonds after a year and bought another. So I got all the interest plus the reward points on the CC. Unfortunately, they've closed those loopholes.