Presidential Bank has raised the rate on their Internet Checking Plus account (review) to 4.37% APY and their Premier Savings (review) to 4.62% APY. I still consider this my main checking account, but recently I’ve been considering a switch to HSBC Checking with HSBC Direct instead.

This is on the eve of the end of their Winter Save Up Sale. Chart updated.

This is interesting – Citibank finally fully rolled out its e-Savings Account, which has no minimum balance requirement and currently pays 4.50% APY. Why not just call it CitiDirect? It’s not the highest rate for a no-minimums online saving account, but it’s still really good for a bank with such a wide physical branch network.

What’s the catch? “To open a Citibank e-Savings Account you must have or open a checking account in the Citibank EZ Checking, Citibank Account, Citibank Everything Counts Account or CitiGold Account relationship package.” The EZ Checking looks like the easiest option:
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Obviously, whenever you apply for a credit card you expect them to perform a credit check, which will ding your credit score a bit temporarily. But sometimes even opening a savings account can cause a hard inquiry. I figured I’d share based on my 3 free credit reports what banks did and did not pull my credit, partially for my own memory.

Banks with Credit Check
Bank of America Checking (none for subsequent accounts)
Presidential Bank Checking (none for subsequent accounts)
Pentagon Federal CU Checking (signed up for overdraft protection)
Citibank Checking
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Everyone who sent me their Form #2 in February for my Emigrant Direct Referral Bonus should have been paid last week. If not, please e-mail me. Thanks to all who participated, I paid out over $100 again this month.

Don’t you love how they still claim to have America’s Highest Rate*? My Online Bank Comparison Chart would disagree. Of course, the fine print says “*Highest Nationally Advertised Annual Percentage Yield for unrestricted day of deposit to day of withdrawal savings accounts.” What the #$*% does that even mean?

New accounts can get a $10-$20 Emigrant Direct referral bonus, and my Rate-Chaser Calculator may be useful as well.

Washington Mutual Bank has a new and improved WaMu Free Checking Account, and it looks pretty good. Features include:

» No minimum balance or direct deposit requirement
» Free checks for life
» Free outgoing wires (great for funding brokerage accounts fast)
» Free ID Theft Recovery Service
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Everyone who sent me their Form #2 in January as part of my Emigrant Direct Bonus should have gotten paid last week. If not, please e-mail me. Thanks to all who participated, I paid out over $100 this month.

It looks like the $50 bonus offer for opening HSBC’s Smart Package checking is now extended to March 15th, 2006. There is also a $10 bonus for opening the HSBC Free Checking account. Go to this page and enter the promotional code ‘check‘ in the box on the bottom right.

Click here for a comparison and why both of these go great with the HSBC Direct 4.80% OnlineSavings account.

VirtualBank recently released that their eMoney Market Account is now paying 4.60% APY. New accounts can get a $20 bonus. My Rate-Chaser Calculator may also come in handy.

I recently opened an HSBC Checking Account to get the $50 bonus, but also to work with my existing HSBC Direct/OnlineSavings account paying 4.80% APY. Now that I have both, I would definitely recommend it! With my SmartPackage Interest Checking account, there is no monthly fee with either direct deposit or $3,000 in combined balances in ‘qualifying accounts’. The big question was whether the OnlineSavings account is such an account. To have written confirmation, I sent an online secure message on HSBC’s site. The response:

Your Online Savings account balance will be included for the combined balance requirement of your checking account.

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A great thing about online savings accounts with no minimum balances is that theoretically you can just move all your money to the one currently paying the highest interest! (If it’s worth it.) But, from e-mails I have gotten and other reports on the web, you might want to leave some more spare change in those accounts. Specifically, Capital One 360 and Emigrant Direct have closed people’s accounts without warning for having balances of less than $1. On top of that, Emigrant doesn’t pay interest if your account is closed before the end of the month!

But they have no minimum balance you say. Yes, but in their fine prints they can also close your accounts at any time, for any reason. So I’d advise keeping $5+ in your accounts to avoid account closure and lost interest. This way, if the rate leaders change, your options stay open.