INGDirect Tops Emigrant

[Buckeye]

INGDirect is paying 3.4% on savings and EmigrantDirect is pay 3.3%. For the past couple of years, I think Emigrant has been paying higher rates than ING and Emigrant's rates have been stickier than ING's on the way down after Fed cuts. Interesting change.

[Razor]

I like ING. It's easy to use and the rates have been pretty good. Too bad one of my CDs matures next week.

[Buckeye]

I have a CD coming due at Fairwinds CU (central Florida) the day after the Fed meeting so I drew on my HELOC to get the amount re-invested this week while I could still get 3.98% APY. I'll pay back the HELOC next week when the CD matures.

[Sue J]

Emigrant had been at 3.6% but recently dropped to 3.3%. Last year at some point FNBO had a high promo rate and I opened an account there. Right now FNBO is at 3.85%. www.fnbodirect.com

But FNBO has the worst website, their transfers take at least 2 days longer than any other online bank and even though I opened 2 accounts they don't allow you to transfer between accounts, you can only transfer to and from outside account. It's just difficult to deal with them.

Everything has dropped so much. My local bank www.Amtrust.com had a special that ended last month for a Money Market Account at 4.5% for 3 months. That's the highest I had seen. Amtrust also has a "Gold Savings" that had been at 3.5% for months and that dropped to 3% and now to 2.75%.

Amtrust also has an online savings website - High Interest Savings Accounts Online: Compare Savings Interest Rates with an e-savings account at 3.75%.

[retire@40]

Oh boy, we're back into sucky interest rate territory again. Trying to be happy with high 3% rates vs. mid 3% rates. Those 5% and 6% rates looks pretty good compared to what we have now.

Low interest rates cash accounts, stock market going down, real estate values going down. Food, health, and energy prices going up.

I wonder where we are heading.

[OAG]

PENFED still has 5% APY CD's available - Need to ladder them out a long ways.

[cantlogin]

Originally Posted by Sue J

Emigrant had been at 3.6% but recently dropped to 3.3%. Last year at some point FNBO had a high promo rate and I opened an account there. Right now FNBO is at 3.85%. www.fnbodirect.com

But FNBO has the worst website, their transfers take at least 2 days longer than any other online bank and even though I opened 2 accounts they don't allow you to transfer between accounts, you can only transfer to and from outside account. It's just difficult to deal with them.

Everything has dropped so much. My local bank www.Amtrust.com had a special that ended last month for a Money Market Account at 4.5% for 3 months. That's the highest I had seen. Amtrust also has a "Gold Savings" that had been at 3.5% for months and that dropped to 3% and now to 2.75%.

Amtrust also has an online savings website - High Interest Savings Accounts Online: Compare Savings Interest Rates with an e-savings account at 3.75%.

FNBO can't be trusted. After opening an account with them they threatened to freeze my funds unless I provided them with additional personal information which was not a part of the original application. I had to quickly close my account to get my money back.

[retire@40]

Originally Posted by cantlogin

FNBO can't be trusted. After opening an account with them they threatened to freeze my funds unless I provided them with additional personal information which was not a part of the original application. I had to quickly close my account to get my money back.

American Express did the same thing to me as I mentioned in this thread: American Express: Backstabbers

They requested more personal information not originally requested on their credit card application.

The worst part about it was that this request was made AFTER they had already given me a balance transfer and a credit card. Even if I had lied on the original application (which I did not), wouldn't it be too late anyway?

[SecondCor521]

There are liquid accounts paying in the low 4's now. Provident Direct is paying 4.5%, Alliant CU is paying 4.3% I think, and Shore Bank is paying 4.15%. I believe all are FDIC or NCUA insured; I have confirmed to my own satisfaction that the latter two are.

2Cor521

[Sue J]

Thanks for the info.

Here's the link to Provident Provident-direct - Great rates on your online accounts I never heard of them, but when I looked up locations they have an ATM in my grocery store!

And Alliant - Alliant Credit Union

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Sue J

Thanks for the info.

Here's the link to Provident Provident-direct - Great rates on your online accounts I never heard of them, but when I looked up locations they have an ATM in my grocery store!

And Alliant - Alliant Credit Union

Is that 4.5% savings rate a teaser at Provident? It's a lot higher than their CDs.

[Sue J]

"*Annual Percentage Yield as of 02/22/08. Rate is variable and may change after account is open."

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Sue J

"*Annual Percentage Yield as of 02/22/08. Rate is variable and may change after account is open."

I would guess it would drop to 3.5% soon after the account is opened.

[SecondCor521]

We're in a rate-dropping phase at the moment, so all the banks are lowering their rates. I am not an experienced rate chaser, but it does seem to me that all the banks follow the Fed rate changes; some more agressively than others depending on how much they need our deposits.

I've just recently opened accounts at Alliant CU and Shore Bank, and will probably open one at Provident as well. I currently have my savings at Amtrust Direct, which were paying 5.26% on my account for the first 90 days; today the rate dropped to 3.75%.

2Cor521

[Oldbabe]

For me, I like a conservative bank like ING. They did not make any subprime or other questionable mortgage loans during the recent bubble phase. They are solid. I don't know anything about the other banks listed above but these days I'd check out what's in their underwear drawer if I could, not just look at what interest rate they're paying.

[Buckeye]

I looked at my INGDirect account today and the savings rate is down to 3.1% from 3.4% when I started this thread. I thought it was odd Emigrant was lower than ING but that didn't last long.

I agree ING was conservative with their loans (and they gave good rates to those who qualified...me!) so they must be reducing interest rates to boost the bottom line and not trying to cover for unusual loan losses.

Are they both going lower if the the Fed reduces rates next week? Yikes!

[EmilySBK]

With today's unstable economy, interest rates are extremely fickle. It's hard to forecast rate changes, but if you stay up to date with financial news, you begin to get a feel for when and why those changes happen. Hopefully these difficult financial times will soon improve.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Originally Posted by Buckeye

I agree ING was conservative with their loans

That wasnt our experience. My wife applied for a home equity loan on her home just before we remodeled it, back before we were married. She made a decent wage but had a mortgage and two car payments that ate up quite a bit of it. Decent credit. Her house hadnt been sold or had an appraisal done in almost 20 years.

We asked about the appraisal and they said they might 'do a drive by assessment' then later said they had nobody in the area so...nevermind!

House could have been a wreck, burned to the ground, or carted off for all they knew.

ING gave her 40k and asked if she wanted more, plus they threw in a $250 or $500 bonus for signing up.

We never used the heloc, but the free money came in handy. Paid for our wedding and then some!