Bank Savings Account

[medved]

I have been keeping too much money in a low interest checking account. I want this money to be immediately available to me, so I have concluded that the best answer is to move some of it to a higher interest savings account. I realize savings account rates are low these days -- but even an extra one percent is something.

I saw these two options:

https://www.gsbank.com/savings-products/online-savings.html?prod=SAV

https://www.dime.com/home/home

Do you think there's any significant difference between these? If not, I guess I will just go with the "Dime" option since the rate is slightly higher.

Or do you know of a better alternative?

Thanks!

 

[Sojourner]

They look about the same to me, and basically the same as most other online savings / money market accounts I'm familiar with. Going with Dime would net you an additional $50 per year on a balance of $100K, so all else being equal I suppose that's the one I would pick. Not sure how much value there really is to chasing tiny amounts of incremental interest rate yield unless you're talking about a huge amount of cash to fund the account. In my experience, banks with the absolute highest yield today may not be the highest in the future (i.e. they may be slower to raise rates when the interest rate landscape starts to shift nationally).

Ally is another really good option for this, BTW. Consistently ranked one of the top online savings options.

 

[RetireAge50]

I'm using personal savings from American Express. They used to be the highest, currently only .9%.

I like your Dime pick but I have never heard of them until now.

 

[mystang52]

I'm using personal savings from American Express. They used to be the highest, currently only .9%.

I like your Dime pick but I have never heard of them until now.

Dime is a well known bank for us Brooklyn NY natives. I'll echo the recommendation for Ally, where I keep most of my liquid savings. It only takes one or two business days to move money, electronically, to/from Ally and my checking account.
But I also recently opened a Money market Account with my checking account bank; it too pays 1% interest and I can transfer money between it and checking instantaneously.

 

[RE2Boys]

I've used Discover Bank and Synchrony Bank for online savings. Goldman Sachs Bank is relatively new as it formerly was GE Capital Bank but GS bought it as part of GE's downsizing of their financial arm. As soon as I heard I'd deal with Goldman, who was one of the prime players in the 2008 financial meltdown, I moved all my funds out, just did not want anything to do with those folks.

 

[Texas Proud]

For me the interest rate is not that important, but the ease of the website...

See if you can find out how easy or difficult it is to move money...

I used to have Orange and it was very easy to move money... they sold out to Cap 1 and I closed my account...

For me, I use Vanguard ST bond fund... better interest but with some rate risk...

 

[wmc1000]

Count me in as another discover bank user. Currently .95% on savings and I also use their checking account functions to pay bills online as they pay me $0.10 per transaction to do that.

 

[braumeister]

Dime is a well known bank for us Brooklyn NY natives.

Another Brooklyn native here. Dime has been around forever, so it's definitely a reliable outfit. Looks good.

I've kept my cash for years in the online Discover Bank. As an AAII member I got a bump up when I opened it, so I have a 1.0% rate. Never a problem transferring money in or out.

 

[tmm99]

Ally is another really good option for this, BTW. Consistently ranked one of the top online savings options.

Some of my money is parked at Ally Bank also - I moved my savings to Ally from ING when the rate was pretty good, but now, it is only giving me 1%. I guess that is as good as it gets anymore...

 

[audreyh1]

I use Synchrony Bank at 1.05% as the cash holder for my retirement portfolio, instead of using money market funds. Transfers either way are available the next business day.

 

[Cobra9777]

We use Ally for all idle cash. Currently pays 1.0%. Transferring is easy and fast. No fees of any kind. At the time I first opened the account, I had read several online rankings/reviews and Ally was consistently at or near the top.

 

[LitGal]

Have been happy with Ally and my AAA Discover accounts for years. Consistently higher interest paid than most places today.

 

[gerntz]

Is the difference between "low interest" account & 1% meaningful? What does "immediately" available mean - like a debit card or in 1-2 days? I can have 2% muni bond fund assets available in 2 days.

 

[mystang52]

One way to get better returns on savings is to ladder CD's. DW has [irrational] concerns about liquidity, so I went overboard - we have many CD's, one maturing each month. We let them automatically renew, but at least the option is there to redeem, appeasing DW's concerns.
Bottom line is that I'm currently averaging in the area of 1.6% or so. Won't get rich off that either, but at least it's more than nominally better than the 1% or so typical of most liquid online savings accounts.

 

[DrRoy]

We recently moved money into Capital 360 money market at 1.3%.

 

[mickeyd]

Another Ally fan here. They are all OK just as long as they are FDIC or other insured.

 

[tmm99]

We recently moved money into Capital 360 money market at 1.3%.

Maybe the rate has already come down?
https://home.capitalone360.com/rates