Online Savings Accounts & Current Rates

[jeffmem]

Yep I just saw that email this morning. Not very happy about this... Gonna have to move the money again to a bank giving a higher interest rate. Shorebank has been good for about the last 6-12 months, been very stable, but now they are getting lower... What a pity.

[feh]

Yep I just saw that email this morning. Not very happy about this... Gonna have to move the money again to a bank giving a higher interest rate. Shorebank has been good for about the last 6-12 months, been very stable, but now they are getting lower... What a pity.

Same here - I opened an account w/ Shore in August or September, and in the last 4 months, they've dropped their interest rate twice.

I just completed an application for Redneck Bank. Shore is losing my business.

[saverbootay]

Looks like Redneck offers 2% only up to $35k. After that, it's 1%.

[feh]

Looks like Redneck offers 2% only up to $35k. After that, it's 1%.

Yes, I noticed that when I was opening an account. Not a problem for us, though, as we don't need to keep more than $20-30K in cash.

[weissheit]

Century Direct is now way down in terms of interest rates

Checking - 0.8%
Savings 0.9%
MMF 1.05%

I am closing these accounts to simplify my life, I can get these rates at a local brick-n-mortar bank!

[poundwise]

Century is among a few from the list to bite the dust, including one literally.

Flagstar, Heartland, Century accounts no longer have a yield that qualifies them from appearance on our list here.

Umbrella Bank is no more and the bank that assumed the accounts does not offer any sort of 'high yield' online savings.

Among the rest, the following changes were made for the first update for 2010:

Shore Bank down from 1.95 to 1.70
Bank of Internet High Yield Savings down from 1.75 to 1.65
Discover Bank down from 1.75 to 1.60
Bank of Internet Money Market Savings down from 1.70 to 1.60
AMEX down from 1.70 to 1.50
Bank of Internet Advantage Savings down from 1.65 to 1.55
Union FSB down from 1.65 to 1.20
Nationwide down from 1.60 to 1.50
Dollar Savings Direct down from 1.60 to 1.50
Ally Online Savings down from 1.55 to 1.49
Ally Money Market Account down from 1.55 to 1.49
FNBO down from 1.50 to 1.40
Apple Grand Yield Direct down from 1.50 to 1.40
iGOBanking down from 1.41 to 1.31
Emigrant Direct down from 1.30 to 1.20

Other institutions listed have not changed in the past two months.

No new institutions were listed. If you know of any that meet the criteria (see first page), especially any with a yield greater than 1.50%, please let me know.

[ukgaz]

ING direct now down from 1.30 to 1.25 as of today

[sweeps]

I see Poundwise is still on top of things here. Way to go PW

[poundwise]

I see Poundwise is still on top of things here. Way to go PW

Yeah, its a lot less fun that when the list was shorter and filled with 4%-5% APY account offerings but it is what it is.

Its good to see you back on the forum.

[Beppington]

Could these rates go to zero? Or, at least, how the heck close could they get to zero?

If they went negative (is that even possible?), we'd all just put the cash in a safe or under our pillows, right?

[poundwise]

Could these rates go to zero? Or, at least, how the heck close could they get to zero?

To get as close to zero as possible, do something idiotic like opening a Bank of America "Keep the Change" regular savings account. The rate, as of this afternoon: 0.10%.

[weissheit]

Sentiment seems to be pointing to even lower rates: FDIC limits bank-account interest - Personal Finance blog - Money Magazine's More Money

However, if the author had done a little more digging she could have found this string which has several banks with better rates along with smaller initial deposit requirements.

I finally caved and went to a type of rewards checking account. I was turned off by all the ones that had activity requirements. But Apple FCU in Northern Virginia has an "investor's checking" @3.5% APY. Instead of debit card and online bill pay activity they simply require 10k in an investment account. So I rolled over an old 401K that exceeds this amount significantly and dumped in the maximum balance permitted to get the 3.5% APY.

[saverbootay]

If they went negative (is that even possible?), we'd all just put the cash in a safe or under our pillows, right?

If you consider real return (return after inflation), maybe we're already at a negative number.

[poundwise]

If you consider real return (return after inflation), maybe we're already at a negative number.

True.

[weissheit]

If you consider real return (return after inflation), maybe we're already at a negative number.

Agreed, but only if you strip out the housing component used in calcuating inflation. Due to the depressed housing market it is masking the fact that the cost of everything else is rising, thus putting interest rates in the negative in real terms!