The Sun's Financial Diary

Though I have multiple online savings accounts and often move money around to get the best deal, I don’t consider myself a real rate chaser. Rate chasers, according to the definition in a NY Times article, are savers who hunt for the best interest rates at banks and credit unions and quickly move their cash [...]

If you still want an ING account, you can get a $25 bonus if you open an account before the end of the year. There’s an ING Orange Savings Account ad in the November issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine with a reference code for $25 bonus. I have posted similar giveaway a couple of [...]

Several months ago, I had a post comparing savings and interest checking accounts that offered by online banks. After last month’s rate reduction by the Federal Reserve, we have seen many online banks lowered their interest rates in the past couple of weeks. The following is an updated list of online bank offers. Update: Check [...]

HSBC Direct, another popular online bank that offers high yield savings accounts, has just lowered its interest rate to 4.50% from 5.05% APY following last week’s Fed rate cut. The 55 basis points reduction is by large the largest among major online banks. Last week, ING Direct reduced interest rate for its Orange Savings account [...]

Got an email from ING Direct this morning with their new interest rates less than 24 hours after the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate. The ING Orange Savings account used to pay 4.50% APY. The new rate, effective September 19, 2007, is 4.30% APY. Meanwhile, yields of  their Electric Orange checking accounts are also [...]

There’s another $25 bonus in the October issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance for opening an ING Direct Orange Savings account before November 30, 2007. ING Direct is a leading online bank which offers high-yield savings account (4.50% APY) and interest bearing checking account (4.00% APY). If you are not familiar with ING Direct, here’s a [...]

If you are not a Bank of America customer, but used their ATMs to get cash recently, you probably have already noticed that you paid more in fees now than before because BoA has raised fees it charges non-customers for using its ATMs from $2 to $3, the highest such fee among major banks. According [...]

FNBO Direct is the online division of First National Bank of Omaha. The bank currently offers 1.25% APY for its online savings account with no minimum. Note: The original post was written on August 13, 2007. Please scroll down or click here to find the latest update. I am using FNBO Direct and quite happy [...]