EmigrantDirect – Your experiences and opinions appreciated.

[WyndChym]

We are considering putting some of our cash into Emigrant Direct’s American Dream Savings Account (5% APY) but are cautious about doing business without a local brick and mortar branch. Please share your experiences with Emigrant Direct (positive or negative).  Thank you in advance.

 

[Cut-Throat]

So Far so Good. 8)

 

[REWahoo]

Same here. No problems with them during the 8-9 months I've done business with them. Consistently takes 2 working days to transfer $ from them to my local checking account.

 

[d]

i've been pleasantly surprised in all respects and do not hesitate to recommed them. do, however, realize the limitations on number of withdrawals and that the account set-up is a bit cumbersome (neither, in my experience, substantially different from most e-banking outfits)

 

[laurence]

Ditto, one year customer, interest gets paid and no surprise fees. Processing transfers and set up was a bit of a chore for me, too. But as a LBYM keeper of the faith, I felt the effort was worth the extra $$$.

 

[Outtahere]

No problems here either, well worth the little aggravation to set up.

 

[Mwsinron]

Incase your not aware when you goto take your money out, alot of places want your signature guaranteed. Not a big deal but something to be aware of.

 

[REWahoo]

Incase your not aware when you goto take your money out, alot of places want your signature guaranteed.

I'm confused. "Taking money out" of Emigrant Direct involves an online request to electronically transfer funds to your checking account at whatever institution you designate when you set up the account with Emigrant. No signature is requied, so no guarantee is needed.

 

[Mwsinron]

My mistake I assumed all online financial institutions require a signature to verify who you are. I needed to get a medallion signature for my Vanguard account from my local credit union.

 

[d]

no signature required (but if you change your designated "receiving" account, there might be)

 

[mccl]

i've been pleasantly surprised in all respects and do not hesitate to recommed them. do, however, realize the limitations on number of withdrawals and that the account set-up is a bit cumbersome (neither, in my experience, substantially different from most e-banking outfits)

What is the limit on withdrawals or transfers to your designated checking account?

 

[Gone4Good]

Here is what I don't understand:

EmigrantDirect is offering 5%
Vanguard Prime MM is yielding 4.98%

Why do I need EmigrantDirect?

 

[NinjaPigeon]

There's a miminum balance on the Vanguard MM of $2500 before you start getting fees assessed (unless you have over $50k with Vanguard). There is no such fee with Emigrant.

I'm sure there are other reasons.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Here is what I don't understand:

EmigrantDirect is offering 5%
Vanguard Prime MM is yielding 4.98%

Why do I need EmigrantDirect?

Minor issues. No FDIC insured etc. -

 

[free4now]

And no transaction fees to get in or out of the bank.

I have accounts with both emigrantdirect and ING, and I find ING to be slightly more trustable, but they are very close.

 

[Andre1969]

I have accounts with both Emigrant and ING. Orignally I started with ING, but when I learned of Emigrant and their slightly higher yield, I moved most of my money over there, but kept a bit in the ING account, just to keep it open if I ever needed it.

So far, so good. I've never had a problem transferring funds into or out of the Emigrant account (or the ING account, for that matter) The ING site does seem like it's a bit more secure, at least the log-in page. I've had both accounts for over a year now, and I'm satisfied.

However, the concern over a web-based account, versus one at a brick-and-mortar bank, is understandable. The first time I tried something like that was with Signet Bank (I dunno who they've merged and re-merged with since then) back around 1996 or so, only it was phone and mail-based instead of internet, but still not face-to-face with a teller. I didn't like it back then, but I grew into it, I guess.

 

[soupcxan]

I've been an ED customer for over a year, no problems yet. Getting the account established initially was overly complicated, and the website isn't much to look at, but at 5% I can forgive the small things.

Plus, they sent me a free cap that says "more money for your money"! That makes it all worthwhile.

 

[d]

What is the limit on withdrawals or transfers to your designated checking account?

i don't remember the fine print, but it's something like four withdrawals per month.

Here is what I don't understand:EmigrantDirect is offering 5%Vanguard Prime MM is yielding 4.98% Why do I need EmigrantDirect?

but it's not always been so, and this spread could again widen.

 

[Scrooge]

He, if you think that opening an account with Emigrant was too complex, don't even try HSBC  I have had accounts with both of them for a few months and haven't run into any problems so far. I only use them to purchase Treasury bills, though, perhaps there are differences in more obscure areas.

As far as the number of withdrawals per month goes, I seem to recall that there is an FDIC requirement that certain types of accounts have to allow at least 6 free transactions, but I don't remember any details 

 

[free4now]

Must agree about HSBC being overly complex... the process of signing up for online access to my existing mortgage account with them seemed to require a PhD. And they took more than a week to send me my password and username in separate post mails on different days.

 

[justin]

EmigrantDirect is offering 5%
Vanguard Prime MM is yielding 4.98%
Why do I need EmigrantDirect?

You probably don't. I gave up chasing the yield back when ING, emigrant and HSBC were all trying to one-up each other. Why spend all that time and effort chasing yield for a few extra bucks when I can go w/ Vanguard MM account and only potentially lose ~10 basis points?

In fact, I got into the VG Treasury Money Market Admiral Account ($50k minimum) and the effective pre-tax yield is about 5.1% for me right now.

 

[MJ]

Emigrant was never as sophisticated as ING but was usually 25 to now 65 basis points highter than ING so ING lost my business except for the mininum $1.

In fact, I got into the VG Treasury Money Market Admiral Account ($50k minimum) and the effective pre-tax yield is about 5.1% for me right now.

I thought because it was admiral shares, I needed $100k. Just move my money from their Prime MM to the Adm Treasuries MM. Thanks

Because I expected a very large sum of money when I sold my house, besides having ING and Emigrant, I opened up Citi eSavings and HSBC accounts. I will need the ATM cards from Citi and HSBC to get fee free cash from their ATM machines when begin travelling.

BTW, all online MM saving accounts are limited to 6 online withdrawals per month as per Federal requirement. I was a bit suprised when several online transfers I made from my citi MM to citi checking was counted as one of the 6 allowed but you can do unlimited transfers out through an ATM machine. Federal regulations, go figure.

 

[NinjaPigeon]

He, if you think that opening an account with Emigrant was too complex, don't even try HSBC

Boy is that an understatement. Having lived through the ordeal, I wouldn't willingly do it again for the .05% difference to ED. I've heard Presidential is even worse than HSBC though!

 

[glenlogie]

got this in my email this am. Apparently there going to have a better website-

Our new website will be launched on Monday, July 24, 2006.

From that date forward, the first time you access the new website a new secure access code will be required. This new secure access code was recently mailed to the home address we have on file for you and should arrive in the next few days. Please be on the lookout for this important mailing.

Also, please note that the EmigrantDirect.com website will not be available from Friday, July 21, 2006, at 5:00 PM ET to Monday, July 24, 2006, at 9:00 AM ET due to our conversion to the new website.

We are pleased to be able to bring you the best functionality and security in the industry with our new website.

 

[just_hatched]

When I opened my EmigrantDirect account last year, they sent
me a FREE white hat with blue and red letters!
(it says "EmigrantDirect".)

I must have won their new customer lottery.