Online Savings Accounts

[ides]

We are finally starting to save money. I've always had an ING direct online savings account and it's always been competitive with it's rates. However it was just purchased by Capitol One and it's savings rate dropped from .9% to .75%. So I'm shopping around for a better rate and was wondering what banks you guys use for savings accounts. Do online savings accounts always have the best rates or should I consider brick and mortar accounts as well? Has anyone used Ally bank? They seems to have a decent advertised rate of .95%.

[alison]

We have an account with AmEx. It's .9 right now, and it has worked out really well!

[MsSassyBaskets]

I have ING Direct too, and I hadn't noticed yet that the rates had dropped. I don't want to change because I also use Sharebuilder for investing and I like how the accounts are connected...

[ides]

Yeah. I've liked it but when I transfered funds last night I saw the rate and was disappointed by it.

[alison]

The AmEx high yield rates go up and down, too, but I haven't seen them go below .75. These accounts aren't going to get you any kind of significant interest--I'd look elsewhere like a CD if you don't need access to the $ right away.

[oceanchild]

Has anyone used Ally bank? They seems to have a decent advertised rate of .95%.

Ally Bank was one of the only banks to fail the "stress tests" last spring: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/bu...dend.html?_r=0 I have no idea whether that matters or not.

[MDPhDWife]

The AmEx high yield rates go up and down, too, but I haven't seen them go below .75. These accounts aren't going to get you any kind of significant interest--I'd look elsewhere like a CD if you don't need access to the $ right away.

We also have had ING accounts for years, but moved most of the money out once I discovered high yield checking accounts. I found a handful of smaller community banks and credit unions that will pay as high as 4% on their checking account. The only requirements are 1 direct deposit or ACH per month, e-statements, logging into their website once per month, and 15 debit card transactions per month. These are all things I would do anyway, so it has worked out splendidly for us.

Truth is, the only reason why I still use ING is for the kids savings so I can keep their money separate.

[ides]

Hummm. We want this to be hands off emergency funds so it needs to be a non active acct other than the one transfer a month from checking to savings but still accessible. I will check out local banks re checking accts with interest though. So far I haven't seen any that offer more than .1%, but I haven't dug that deep either.

[alison]

This is exactly how we handle our emergency fund. One suggestion I have is to ask how long funds take to transfer back to your regular checking account, so that you can indeed use the money in case of an emergency. For AmEx, it takes a good 3-4 business days, in my experience.

[ides]

Yes. About that long - 2 to 4 business days to transfer either way.

[migirl]

We have an account through Ford Interest Advantage (formerly Ford Credit), current rates start at 1% and go up to a whopping 1.1% depending on your balance. It's where we keep our emergency/rainy day fund, I like that transfers are relatively quick (1 business day, usually) and I have a checkbook that is tied to the account if I need to access the money right away.