Thanks to David for sending me this New York Times article about online savings accounts. I really think this market is maturing, especially since Citibank is entering the fold. Here’s an interesting quote:

Unlike credit card users, who freely hop from one product to the next to get a better rate, savings account holders tend to be more loyal, Mr. Newman said. Thus, he said, HSBC Direct does not feel compelled to offer the very highest yield.

This inertia explains HSBC’s drop back to 4.5% and ING’s recent lagging rates. But with no minimums, I’ll be working hard to keep them honest.

Some quick rate announcements: I called HSBC and confirmed that the rate on their HSBC Direct account is going back down to 4.50% APY after April 30th. Presidential Bank’s Premier Savings Account is now up to 4.75% APY (still 4.37% for checking). T-Bills are looking nicer and nicer.

I opened a WaMu Free Checking account today at my local Washington Mutual branch today, and it was pretty easy. If I like it, I might move all my local banking there from BofA. All I needed to apply in-person was $1 (it’s $100 online), driver’s license, and a credit card. The bank officer then basically led me through all the features:

No minimums, no direct deposit requirements – You can even have two free checking accounts if you want. She tried to upsell me the savings account, which does have minimum balance requirements or other catches. I declined, but she said something about not being able to remove it, so instead she set it to waive all fees forever. Let’s hope so.

Free checks for life – Got some starter checks and also ordered my free checks from a limited selection of free check designs, not too bad. Went for the puppies =)

Free ATM Cash Withdrawals – This really just means they don’t charge you for using other ATMs, but the ATMs themselves may charge you a fee. It does not mean they give you ATM rebates. WaMu has good coverage in my area, so it’s not a big deal for me.

Free Debit MasterCard with Rewards – You get 3 cents per purchase, paid out annually (max $250). Wee. Definitely not interested in this feature. The only nice thing is that you can actually track how many pennies you’ve racked up online. Maybe if you want to buy stamps individually at the PO and get 3 cents off each…

Free Overdraft Fee – You get one free check-bounce per year. The neat thing is that if you don’t use it, it rolls over to the next year.

Free Outgoing Wire Transfers – This is pretty cool, I don’t know of any other bank that does this. Wires mean almost instant transfers of money, and are useful for funding brokerage accounts or sending money overseas. (For some reason it makes me want to open up an offshore bank account in the Caymans…)

Free ID Theft Services –

* Toll-free access to Identity Theft Recovery Specialists if you become a victim of identity theft.

* Identity Theft insurance up to $5,000 (with no deductible) to help offset certain recovery costs, including legal fees, lost wages and expenses paid out of pocket in connection with the theft of your identity. (See program materials for details)

The way she described it seems like they will help you work with the credit bureaus to clear up your credit reports in the event of ID theft, and also pay you for the time you spent doing so (up to the limit). Not bad for a free feature.

Initial Impressions
After logging into my account online, I see that they don’t have any way to transfer funds to external accounts. I’ll probably just link it up to my HSBCDirect account and transfer funds that way.

Their Online BillPay does not seem as robust as Presidential Bank or Bank of America, with no automatic recognition of popular payees like American Express. That’s a bummer.

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:
[Read more…]

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
[Read more…]

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
[Read more…]

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.