Best Online Banking Deals

[Anthony Marrone]

I've reviewed several blogs' lists of best deals for opening up a checking/savings account with a national bank (ING Direct, HSBC Direct, etc.), but am interested what deals the readers of Wisebread are taking advantage of. I personally just opened two new Bank of America Accounts and two new ING Direct accounts, and after they were all funded, walked away with a cool $250 ($100 each for Bank of America; $25 each for ING) in free bonus money. What deals are we getting out there?

[Jess]

I went with ING originally (ING Direct, not Electric Orange). I'm considering switching to WaMu or perhaps HSBC Direct, although after what The Honest Dollar said in her blog about the WaMu/Chase thing, I'm thinking of waiting. HSBC Direct seemed convenient, mostly because they have savings and checking linked, and there's an ATM right where I live.

[The Honest Dollar]

Jess, WaMu also offers linked checking and savings. Their online savings is fee-free if linked to a checking account, and has 4.75% yield. I have both WaMu and HSBC.

Before opening any new accounts, I'd recommend people to wait until the Fed has cut rates farther and banks adjust their rates to follow, so you can get a better sense of where the best deal is.

[Anthony Marrone]

Originally Posted by The Honest Dollar

Jess, WaMu also offers linked checking and savings. Their online savings is fee-free if linked to a checking account, and has 4.75% yield. I have both WaMu and HSBC.

Before opening any new accounts, I'd recommend people to wait until the Fed has cut rates farther and banks adjust their rates to follow, so you can get a better sense of where the best deal is.

When you do that you're really hedging on the fact that the rates will be cut in the near future. Although this is likely, not putting your $1000 savings over to ING at 4.10% APY and keeping it at Bank of America 0.30% APY is costing you about $38 a month. That's about $500 if you allow that mistake to persist for one year. Just my thoughts...

[rstlne]

I used to have an account at ING Direct. Last year, HSBC Direct had a special deal (6% APY intro rate for a few months, as I recall) so I moved my cash reserves there. And that's where it still is today.

[Megan]

I don't want to be moving money around all the time, so I have an ING Account, but I have to admit, I'm being swayed by the HSBC rates. When one of my reserve accounts hits a certain balance, I might open up an HSBC account with those funds.

It might be in my best interests, financially, but I just can't bring myself to constantly chase the rates.

[pastorjezer]

As far as I know HSBC direct has consistently been voted the best online savings account with an interest rate that narrowly edges the Orange savings account. Ultimately, what it comes down to is which package is best for you, so do your research and find out which bank(s) suits you.

[frozemud]

I picked Emigrant's savings account, which is currently at 4.55% APY, down from when I opened the account at 5.15%. I'm pretty happy with it but I don't need much customer service because I don't do anything fancy with the money--just piling it up (small pile).

I also did the Bank of America $100 deal for opening a checking account. Free money, wooo!

[Basenjimom]

I have an ING account, got the free bonus money as well when I opened . I am very happy with them, and their interest is still at 4.1%, which is good. I don't like moving my money around all the time whenever the rates change, so I am staying. They just rewarded me with a fresh batch of referral bonus links, so check here for details if you need one!

[The Honest Dollar]

Originally Posted by amarrone

When you do that you're really hedging on the fact that the rates will be cut in the near future. Although this is likely, not putting your $1000 savings over to ING at 4.10% APY and keeping it at Bank of America 0.30% APY is costing you about $38 a month. That's about $500 if you allow that mistake to persist for one year. Just my thoughts...

Rates will almost certainly be cut in the near future, probably by the end of the month. You can either open up an account now, only to have the yield drop in a month, or wait a few weeks and go for the best deal after the big rate cut. If you wait two months, it would cost you about $7. You have to decide if the hassle of switching to another bank account in a few weeks is worth $7. For me, it's not; for you, it might be.

The point is moot if you don't care about liquidity. If you don't need the cash immediately, you might as well put it into a high yield CD and lock in a 4% yield now regardless of the Fed's rate cutting.

By the way, amarrone, your math is incorrect. Putting $1000 into a 0.30% APY account versus a 4.10% APY account costs you $38 per year, not per month. That's because the interest rates you cite are annual yields, not periodic.