Comments on: Online Interest Checking Plus Savings Accounts: Who Offers the Best Deal?

By: Collette

Collette — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:43:43 +0000

What are the best ones you have found and how are they working for you?

I am confused as to whether to take up a checking and savings for the apy rates or not.

By: Tony Roberts

Tony Roberts — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:21:41 +0000

Coulee Bank ( http://www.couleebank.net ) offers an incredible 6.01% APY with their Rewards Checking account. The rate is easy to earn. All you have to do is make 10 check card transactions a month, use e-statements, and do 1 automatic payment a month (they call it ACH). Coulee Bank pays 6.01% on the first $25,000 and 1.01% on anything above that. The best thing about this account besides the rate is it is FREE, you can apply online, and it is from a great bank with real people that answer the phone. And as they like to say, Banking Green has its Rewards. The Rewards Checking account saves paper and preserves our natural resources. No wonder I feel good about recommending this to everyone I know. Check it out. I guarantee you will love it.

By: Sun

Sun — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:42:36 +0000

Angela: Yes, that post is a old one and things have changed a lot since then.

If the Fed keeps cutting rate, which is expected when they meet again at the end of this month, then yes, banks will follow to lower their rate. I had several updates in the past when I tried to follow all the changes, but gave it up because the changes were dramatic and fast. What I think is that if a bank offered the best rate before the current cycle began, then they may still have the edge if they have reduced the same amount as other banks did. This is not always true though.

Unless you check one by one, you are going to find who offers the best deal

By: Angela

Angela — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:03:08 +0000

I know this article was posted almost a year ago, and interest rates are subject to change, but I was very dissappointed after following the links to find that all of the banks featured here have rates that are at least 2% lower than when this was written. Is it normal for rates to fluctuate that much over time? Is it likely that rates will continue to decrease? How do you know you’re getting the best rate if the rates are constantly changing?

By: hank

hank — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:47:25 +0000

It’s really ridiculous how many of these are out there, but nice to be able to see them in one place. I did the same thing to figure out my cash cow as UFB Direct at 5.22% last week - good post - Hank

By: Save Money! » Online Interest Checking Plus Savings Accounts: Who Offers the …

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 02:07:49 +0000

[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAt that time, there aren’t many banks that offered savings accounts with decent rates. My local bank, Summit Bank (then Fleet Bank, now Bank of America), had a rate that was close to zero. So I was quite happy with what I got from … [...]

By: Savings and Interest Checking Accounts Update | The Sun’s Financial Diary | A Personal Finance Blog on Saving and Investing

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:36:12 +0000

[...] my , Several months ago, I had a post compared savings and interest checking accounts that offered by [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:28:47 +0000

HSBC just lowered their savings account rate to 4.5% APY.

By: 4-Week T-Bill Rate Tumbled | The Sun’s Financial Diary | A Personal Finance Blog on Saving and Investing

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:29:54 +0000

[...] at currently available bank rates, EverBank’s 6.01% introductory APY offers the highest return with an acceptable minimum [...]

By: Roundup for week of 24 June 2007 at Mighty Bargain Hunter

Roundup for week of 24 June 2007 at Mighty Bargain Hunter — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:20:20 +0000

[...] The Sun’s Financial Diary compares various online checking and savings account combinations. [...]

By: Roundup for week of 24 June 2007 at Mighty Bargain Hunter

Roundup for week of 24 June 2007 at Mighty Bargain Hunter — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:20:20 +0000

[...] The Sun’s Financial Diary compares various online checking and savings account combinations. [...]

By: Sun

Sun — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:51:16 +0000

Tim: Yes, that number is indeed kind of confusing. I have thought about it but just didn’t find a simple and better way to present the “big picture.” My thinking was look at the combined number first. If that number is high enough compared to others, then look at rates for checking and savings separately. If the combined number isn’t high, then it’s not going to be a good deal. I probably should have used a table instead of writing a lengthy post

As for the MMA, I feel there are more like savings account with rates stable for quite a long period of time. Since I don’t follow the rate changes, I don’t know how often it changes.

By: Friday Finance Findings for June 22nd : Generation X Finance

Friday Finance Findings for June 22nd : Generation X Finance — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:54:18 +0000

[...] Online Checking and Savings: Who Offers the Best Deal? - Online banking is all the rage but with so many options how can you be sure you’re getting the best deal? The Sun makes it easy. [...]

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:35:15 +0000

the combined interest rates that you posted are rather meaningless and misleading, despite your explanation.

also, a caveat regarding MMA should be included. MMA rates are not necessarily guaranteed or static in comparison to regular checking and savings accounts rates.

By: Sun

Sun — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 18:33:06 +0000

jt001: I know WaMu has good saving account offerings, the reason it was included in this post was they don’t offer interest checking account. Actually, I think it’s quite a good deal if there’s local branches in your area. I also have a B&M bank (Bank of America) and I don’t think I will ever get ride of it for the same reason as you mentioned. I like the convenience of making a quick deposit and getting cash whenever I need it and these can’t be replaced by a bank that does its business only online. But I only have checking account with BoA. All the savings go to online banks that are all connected to BoA. For online banks, I want the highest rate possible.

Michael: Thanks for the information. I never heard SalemFiveDirect.com before and will check it out.

Janker: It’s true that getting free ATMs and a high yield savings account together is very nice. I have HSBC account as well. Unfortunately there’s no branch in my area though I have a ATM card.

By: Time Magazine Story about ING Direct | The Sun’s Financial Diary | A Personal Finance Blog on Saving and Investing

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:32:56 +0000

[...] competitors. Currently at 4.50% APY, you can easily find a dozen online banks, big and small, that pay savers 5+% APY for their money. If you are a rate-chaser like I am, you probably don’t find ING’s savings products [...]

By: janker

janker — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:33:34 +0000

I found one of the benefits of an online checking and savings account was access to the banks ATM networks and number of free ATM transactions. While the HSBC Direct checking rate is a bit lower than some competitors, access to almost 400,000 ATMs with three free withdrawals per month from non HSBC ATMs is worth the difference in interest rate.

This is especially true if you keep your money in your savings account and only move the money you need each month for your bills.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:05:13 +0000

I have recently switched to SalemFiveDirect.com. I am happy getting over 5% (depends on balance). Their billpaying is excellent. They give ATM refunds.

By: Midweek Links From Money Blogs

Midweek Links From Money Blogs — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:36:03 +0000

[...] Online Interest Checking Plus Savings Accounts: Who Offers the Best Deal? by Sun @ the Sun’s Financial Diary. An exhaustive post comparing features of different bank accounts. [...]

By: jt001

jt001 — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 13:11:39 +0000

What about Washington Mutual (WaMu)? If you open online both a free checking (no interest) with a savings account; the savings account will get 5% interest.

FYI, I’m a current NetBank customer for several years now. Before that I used Security First Network Bank (bought by RBC) which was the first virtual online bank.

I just saw last week that NetBank is selling out to EverBank. While I like what I saw at EverBank; I don’t like their high minimums on checking and savings/mma. I keep most of my cash/emergency fund in an ING Savings account.

So, I’ll be switching my banking elsewhere. After doing research I’ve decided to go with WaMu. With their free checking, bill pay, checks, etc. and high interest savings it seems a good deal. Also, I get the benefit of physical branches to use. To date I’ve had two problems by not having a traditional B&M bank: getting a cashier’s check quickly for closing on home and needing medallion signature stamps for transferring investments between brokerages.

I was considering ING Electric Orange, but in the end not having physical checks, no ATM fee refunds, etc. didn’t seem appealing to me. Also, I considered CitiBank, but when compared to WaMu the physical branches won out.

By: Sun

Sun — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:55:36 +0000

Mike: I am glad that you find the information helpful. Between ING and HSBC, if you want to use only savings account, then HSBC will be a better choice. If both checking and saving, then you may want to use ING because it offers better rate for the checking account.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:48:45 +0000

Hey your combined yield really caught my eye

I thought you really can get the 8%+ since that’s the first thing that I saw in the article. With rates going higher and higher, I wonder if there will be a day when 10% CDs are possible again.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:09:37 +0000

Hey, thanks for this…I’ve been eying ING and HSBC instead of using BoA savings for a better interest rate, and this was a great cheatsheat to save me the research.