ING is having a Winter Save Up sale!

[region2]

Check it out at www.ingdirect.com. All new moneys starting today deposited to an Orange Savings Account earns 4.75% until Tax Day. What a clever promotion. I heart ING.

 

[brewer12345]

They need to do something, if they won't raise their rates. Lots of other online banks are kicking their butt on rate.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah, when I can get a better rate (than their standard 3.8%) from vanguards prime money market, and emigrant direct has been beating them by a half percentage point (up until now), they definitely need to do something.

But who wants to bet that the rate after 4/15 isnt gonna be so hot? They're hoping people will put their money in and then not bother to move it for a while...

 

[justin]

ING closed my two accounts because I had a zero balance for 3 months in a row. Guess I'll have to be happy with my 4+% at Vanguard Federal Money Market.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

They're going to hate the .01c I've got in my account right now then...

 

[justin]

I did have $.02 in my account (interest on a partial month's interest payment on my initial deposit). Then I withdrew my $0.02.

 

[dougdo]

Interestingly enough one can get 4.3% just for leaving their money in a Paypal account. And they seem to be constantly adjusting this rate to make it more competitive.

Now if only i trusted them more... Actually it's not them I trust but the fact that they're the most obvious targets for fraud etc .

 

[brewer12345]

Interestingly enough one can get 4.3% just for leaving their money in a Paypal account. And they seem to be constantly adjusting this rate to make it more competitive.

Now if only i trusted them more... Actually it's not them I trust but the fact that they're the most obvious targets for fraud etc .

Paypal isn't a bank. Not even close. So you are taking a lot more risk with them.

You can get 4.5% FDIC-insured with a Superior savings savings account. Corus is close to 5% for a short term CD.

 

[dougdo]

Paypal isn't a bank.  Not even close.  So you are taking a lot more risk with them.

True...its a mm fund, they do give you this caveat:

*7 day average yield as of 1/17/2006. Yield varies over time. Money market funds are neither insured nor guaranteed by the FDIC or any other government agency. Although the Fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 USD per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in the Fund. Distributed by Funds Distributor, Inc. Learn more about the Safety of your Money or about the Fund in the prospectus.

Not that i'm worried about eBay going under.

I'd also been using Emigrant but one thing that bugs me about Emigrant is their technology sucks and the only access to your account is via transfer.

Who is Superior? haven't heard of them before. When I look at what i think is their website, there's no rate info.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Note that paypal has "lost" their customer account information to hackers at least twice. Their customer agreement says they can, and do, seize your account if they decide something 'funny' might be going on. You have very limited recourse when they decide to do this.

Before even using paypal, let alone keeping money there, have a walk through www.paypalsucks.com

They pulled crap on me twice and I havent used them since.

 

[JB]

I get regular email from paypal that look like phishing attempts. I checked their site and they have a 'report fraud' section. I reported the emails and asked them to confirm whether or not they were sent by paypal. Never heard anything.

 

[Outtahere]

I get daily emails from Ebay and Paypal, all are phishing attempts, I don't even look at them anymore just hit delete. I figure if there is something I should know about I can get it from My Messages at Ebay and log into Paypal for updates. I NEVER keep a balance in Paypal, just read the Papal board at Ebay and you'll see why.

I turned on a friend to the ING "Sale", it's just what she's been looking for, I'll stick eith Emigrant.

 

[BUM]

With an Andy Rooney type whine.... Have you ever noticed that Vanguard has several taxable money market accounts all paying different rates? I have. The prime is the highest but so are the fees. You knew they charged a fee right. I didn't. Not until I started looking at the different ones.

Why do they do that? Which is best?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I believe the fees are factored into the stated yield. The difference is the way the money is invested and the odds of loss of capital. Money markets do not guarantee retention of the $1 NAV. Most institutions historically made up any losses to maintain the $1 figure, I imagine as having been the first bank to show a loss to money market investors wouldnt be a good thing to be first in.

You're looking at rather minute differences in very, very low risk investments. Some invest in what amounts to overnight loans at almost no risk, some invest in very short term (less than 3 month) agency bonds; I think the Prime fund also sticks with low risk short term stuff but goes a little broader in what it'll invest in.

My moneys in Prime. If you look at any of the other vanguard funds, it seems to me that they always hold their cash awaiting investment in the Prime fund as well. Seems they're very comfortable with the extra premium offsetting a minute additional risk.

 

[justin]

I have my money (including the 0% credit card money!) in VG Federal MM. The yield seems to be a few basis points below the Prime MM on average, but the Federal MM usually has 30-40% of assets invested in US obligations that are free from state income tax. For me, that increases the effective interest rate by about 10 basis points for the Fed MM (7% marginal state tax rate).

In hindsight, my choice of the Federal MM over the Prime MM has worked to my advantage - to the tune of a whopping 3-4 basis points per year!!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Coinstar is applauding!

 

[dougdo]

Note that paypal has "lost" their customer account information to hackers at least twice.  Their customer agreement says they can, and do, seize your account if they decide something 'funny' might be going on.  You have very limited recourse when they decide to do this.

Before even using paypal, let alone keeping money there, have a walk through www.paypalsucks.com

They pulled crap on me twice and I havent used them since.

Actually I agree they suck; i was also a victim several years ago of someone accessing my account and I had to fight with them for months to get the money back. I eventually got like $13 as part of the class action settlement against them about how they screwed so many people over. And hopefully they've changed their ways but I don't really know.

I do know, and this really sucks, is that certain things can only be done on Paypal; i.e. certain places/auctions/etc it is the only form of payment accepted. This is not a pretty monopoly situation developing. I had no choice in my business but to reopen an account.