A good savings account
 

Just an FYI for anyone looking to put together a high yield savings account. I recently got a credit card from Capital One Bank. After a while using the card (decent service and good rates) I started looking at their other options. They offer a no minimum balance, no fee 2.5% APY savings account. 2.5%, for those that don't know is QUITE high for savings, especially with no minimums (meaning things like CDs and the like). I know my CU that I use for savings/checking only offers 0.5%, and on savings only (minimum balance of $2500 to get interest on checking, even the 0.5% interest).

At any rate, I won't link, because I don't want this to appear to be an advert. But for anyone looking, they are worth checking out.

If anyone has other good savings banks (preferrably nation-wide of worldwide) by all means reply to this thread with the info.

If you're leaving your money in a savings account, you're missing out and wasting possible investment opportunities.

I'd transfer whatever you don't need in the short-term as soon as possible to a higher-yield investment account.

Not always. I have a chunk of money sitting in a savings account because I plan on using it in about 6-10 months, and for that short of a time, there is no sense in my putting in the market--the risk is too much for such a short term investment, especially when it is something that I will need to have (money for study abroad).

Wuss! :cool:

My bank (Charterone) has like 3.5% interest checking if you keep a min. balance of $2500.

[edit]
Nevermind, must've went down. It's 2% right now. It was 3.5% about a year ago.. but I dunno if it changes based on market or what.

But yeah... interest on savings, it it even worth it? If you had $2000, you'd only get $3 a month, right? (2000 * .02)/12? Or is it calculated differently?

Hence why I'm not a fan of using your savings account to "make" money. If you keep up with inflation, you've had a good year.

Just remember - banks profit by loaning out your money you deposit, and charging fees. Most investment organizations have a "% of assets under management" fee structure, which encourages them to have higher yields.

I have a high yield savings account with HSBC and last I checked the interest rate was still at 3.5%. My savings style is to keep a couple months worth of money in there, in case I lose my job or some other negative event happens and I need money right away. The excess goes into long term investments. Every month I go through my financial and make any necessary adjustments. Am I risking a lot of my money? Well, that depends on your opinion of risk. I am however growing my money faster than any other method.

I'm right on board with cadre. My high yield savings account is with ING 3% currently (it's high was close to 5%). No account minimum, no bull fees. I put money there for a 3-6 month buffer in case of loss of job, and in seperate accounts I created within it to save for things I plan to buy within the year that I don't want to put into investment accounts because of the potential for decrease in value within that year. My long-term investments 5+ years go to investment accounts.

Pretty much the way I'm doing it, right down to the same bank. I choose HSBC over ING because they had branches here in Mexico.

The only thing I can say is currently I'm not making any money with my LT investments. I haven't lost any great % but if you figure in inflation...

I have a high yield savings account at WaMu, paid at 3.68%APR on my Sept statement. That is a great rate for a liquid investment!:thumbsup: My only complaint is that they can be a little slow (sometimes 4-5 days) transferring funds to the companion free checking account.

Lindy

HSBC does this to me. Withdrawals and deposits take 3-5 days.

I've had this problem too, my checking account is through Chase so I have to plan ahead a bit. Supposedly I should have a debit card to pull money directly out of my savings account but I have yet to see it.

HSBC is now 3.25% WaMu is 3.75% if worried about wamu go FNBO for 3.5%

I'm usually sending cash the other way. HSBC doesn't charge me an ATM fee at all here. My regular Credit Union, which has been set-up for years for auto-deposit of my income, charges me up to $2 plus a "foreign currency conversation" fee of 2%. So at the first of each month I transfer enough for living expenses. If I'm planning on planing a major purchase- TV, tires, whatever, I transfer money for that as well as my credit cards all do the same. Only HSBC lets me do this for free. It not that big of deal, just requires a little planning.
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Unless you have over 100K, think that figures right, in one account I wouldn't worry too much about any one bank. Of course that depends on the whether or not the US government keeps bailing out one bank after another. I guess at some point even the FDIC could run out of money.

Personally I wouldn't bank at WaMu because they tried to fuck me and a lot of other people on a mortgage payment scam. No matter when you sent in your payment they didn't "receive" it until it was late, they then charged you a late fee. In my case over a $100. After a couple months of sending my payment out on the 25th and having them "receive" it and record it on the 17th of the next month I started paying it in person. Which really sucked in my case since the nearest branch was 50 miles away. I thought it was some oddity happening to me until I read in the WSJ they was a class action law suit against them. Turns out they were doing this to nearly 2 million loans.

I try to only let a company fuck me once.

I like to keep my eyes on all banks and deals higher interest means more money for my family. I mentioned 2 banks since some people do not like certain banks due to personal incidents (like yourself). A great website that shows current rates updates for accounts/ cd's etc..

Bank Deals - Best Rates and Deals

There was/is a class action suit against WaMu for what Tully mentions, and its financial difficulties are well known. It's not just Tully's personal grudge.

wierd. had a WaMu loan for close to 10 years and didn't experience that ever. Only recently changed because they wanted too many points to get a competitive rate AND wanted a 25% downpayment because of the down market I was buying in. I believe they were trying to get ME to keep the collateral at a 20% loan to value ratio even as the market continues to slide.

Yep, I got a letter and then several calls from a law firm in San Francisco asking me to join the lawsuit. I was in Oregon, not sure why it ended up in court in California. They got about $400 over the course of about 6 mos. with that scam. At first I was like "what do you mean it's late? Gez I better send this out earlier.' I kept sending it earlier and earlier. It was due on the 5th and considered late on the 15th. After sending it out twice prior to the first I figured out it was a scam and took action to have a hard copy receipt in hand, just sucked for me because to do so it required a long drive.

I declined joining the suit, IMO these class action suits work well for the firm and not so well for anyone else. I figured I'd spend a ton of time faxing, copying and making statements and in the end I'd get $40 back and the firm would get $360. I just said fuck it and got a new mortgage.

The class action law suit is just a specialized kind of scam perpetrated by a law firm instead of a business. The actual "victims" get awarded a small amount -most often as a credit or discount instead of actual money- and the lawyers make millions. But people do love to see corporations get spanked.

Lindy

Yep, I got a letter years back concerning a lawsuit against Dish Network. Had to do with the failure of a specific type of DVR unit they sold. I had one it work at times and other times it didn't. I went ahead and signed the paperwork and sent it in. A year and half later I got a large envelop detailing the outcome of the suit. In the fine print it basically stated the legal fees (profit to the law firm) was around 10 million. The envelop also contained 10 coupons for free pay per view movies and events, so long as the cost of that pay per view was 3.99 or less.

So law firm- 10 million. Consumers- $40 ea max... if they use all the coupons.

Sounds about right, right?

I have 6.01% with United Heritage. Free ATMs and everything. Great bank. I even just got a $500 loan at 4.5% for 13 months to help my credit score.
Anyway, I make quite a bit a month from interest. The question I have is, why are CD rates so low compared to high yield checking accounts like this? The highest CDs are like 5%, so why would anyone go for the CDs that are around 3 or even 4% when they could throw it in a high yield savings account?

OK, question for everyone. I have a checking account at Wamu and I see they are offering an online savings account with 4% APY. My question is do you think this will change given that JP Morgan Chase just took over? If I open an account now with 4% APY can they change that rate later?

Yes, they can change that rate anytime they want unless when you sign up you're given a guaranty that it will remain that for a certain amount of time. And yes I think under JP it will go down, but as always I could be wrong.