Well it seems like ING lost their dang on minds and lowered their interest rate on the Ultimate Savings. Unfortunately, that is where I have my emergency fund. I have gotten pretty used to the nice interest I earn every month. I am a little discouraged by the rate drop that I am tempted to move my money to another account. So I did some hustlette work and found the current interest rates for the money market/savings accounts for competing banks.
I will move my E-fund to an already established account. I am not looking to open a whole new account for this since I already have three. I currently have an online savings account with ING, Citibank, and Capital One. I added the others for your information. Aside from a higher interest rate, I am also taking in consideration transfer time, ATM accessibility, and easiness of the online banking. Between Capital One and Citibank, Capital One wins hands down. It currently has a 5% APY (4.88% interest rate), you get free checks, and an ATM card. Their online banking system is easy to navigate through and very nifty. Their transfers, to and from the account, only take 2 days to process. Citibank takes 3-5 days, actually leaning more to 5 days.
There was some discussion over at @ Mya Moola's on what was the best place to keep your emergency fund. I say it depends on your situation. I am content with what the online savings accounts offer. Currently, none of the brick and mortar banks in my area offer an APY that can even compete with online savings banks. I also find the customer service for the online banks to be much more friendly. The online banking system is far better than what I have seen at WAMU, Suntrust, BofA, etc. Easy navigation and the multitude of options make logging on and fidgeting with your account fun. I also enjoy the fact that my money far away enough for me to be not to be tempted but close enough for when an emergency does occur. For these reasons, I will keep all my savings in online savings accounts (as long as they keep up with the perps).
| Bank | APY (%) |
| ING Direct | 4.30% |
| Citibank | 4.75% |
| Capital One | 5.00% |
| HSBC Direct | 5.05% |
| Emigrant | 5.05% |
I will move my E-fund to an already established account. I am not looking to open a whole new account for this since I already have three. I currently have an online savings account with ING, Citibank, and Capital One. I added the others for your information. Aside from a higher interest rate, I am also taking in consideration transfer time, ATM accessibility, and easiness of the online banking. Between Capital One and Citibank, Capital One wins hands down. It currently has a 5% APY (4.88% interest rate), you get free checks, and an ATM card. Their online banking system is easy to navigate through and very nifty. Their transfers, to and from the account, only take 2 days to process. Citibank takes 3-5 days, actually leaning more to 5 days.
There was some discussion over at @ Mya Moola's on what was the best place to keep your emergency fund. I say it depends on your situation. I am content with what the online savings accounts offer. Currently, none of the brick and mortar banks in my area offer an APY that can even compete with online savings banks. I also find the customer service for the online banks to be much more friendly. The online banking system is far better than what I have seen at WAMU, Suntrust, BofA, etc. Easy navigation and the multitude of options make logging on and fidgeting with your account fun. I also enjoy the fact that my money far away enough for me to be not to be tempted but close enough for when an emergency does occur. For these reasons, I will keep all my savings in online savings accounts (as long as they keep up with the perps).
Comments
I haven't checked out any of the others but I keep hearing that ING has the best web interface, which is a big thing with me. But even ING's web interface doesn't come close to BoFA's to me.
Capital One has a pretty nice credit card site, so I'm sure their savings account online management is just as nice. Though Capital One is currently on my shit list!
Check them out.
@ Mya
LOL @ the shit list
Call them and see if you get the same response and let us know what happens.
You know when I noticed that change in the interest rate, I was like WTH is up with that. I may just open a new account with another of the HYSA you listed in this post. Ugh, the drama LOL!!!
I don't like the idea of having my money spread out all over the place, however I'll have to give some serious thought as to what to do with my savings. I agree that I believe other online banks will be following suit (HSBC dropped their rate by .55%...dang!).
I did call them cuz when I saw the drop I thought it was just my account. I was like..."Hold up! WTH I did to yall that yall gotta drop my rate??!!" LMAO. And they told me the same thing they told you. ING already had one of the lowest rate to begin with. So this was like icing on the cake. I called Capital One and they said they had no intention of dropping their rate anytime soon. So I am happy with my money being with them for now.
@ Velvet
Welcome back chica!! Missed ya crazy tail. I been on ya blog erday like a crack fiend, wondering when you was gonna come back. LMAO HSBC dropped their rate? From the 5.05%? Or to the 5.05%?
I never really looked at the big picture when I first opened my high yield savings account. I mainly did it for the bonuses and high interest rates. But I have some other criteria I need that ING wasn't fulfilling. Capital One did so I am happy with my decision. Rate drop just pushed me to taking action.
HSBC is on some foolywang ish and dropped from 5.05% to 4.50%. They didn't drop as fast as ING, but they cut far deeper. I'm a little concerned that this will be a domino effect and everyone will drop rates. I just wonder how long that will last.
Thank you for coming over to my blog. I really appreciate it. Besides, it gives me an opportunity to check out yours as well.
In reading other blogs, some people also mentioned Countrywide's Savings Link which is paying 5.5% on balances of $10k or more. $10k is a lot of money and that about sums up my whole emergency fund so if I have to use it at all, the rate will drop. So, I will stay at WaMu for now but you're right, convenience and easy access to the money is dangerous.
I am going to add you to my blogroll. Best of luck to you on your financial journey!!!
Sorry that you had so much trouble with Cap 1. I didn't run into any of that. I received my ATM card and checks within 5 days of opening my account. I am pretty happy with them and they STILL haven't lowered their rates although everyone and their mamas have.