Interesting Money

(Rates may be out-dated. Please see the Current APY Wiki for updates)

As you may have heard, the Fed decided to keep the rate steady at 2% yesterday. Despite their decision, HSBC Direct decided to go ahead and lower their savings rate anyway.

New rate: 3.25% APY (down from 3.50%)

I’ve had an account with them for about a year and a half, ever since the 6% promotion that they ran back in 2007. Wow, 6 percent. That seems like an unimaginable savings rate right now! Considering the current rate environment, 3.25% is still somewhat competitive, but there are better offers if you want to squeeze the most interest out of your cash.

Here are a few other competitive options (nationally available):

1) Dollar Savings Direct

• Rate: 3.75% APY
• Minimum required: $1,000
• Can link up to 2 external accounts

Dollar Savings Direct is a newly-spawned online savings account from Emigrant Bank. Since Emigrant Direct is only yielding 3% right now, I can only assume that Emigrant thought it more profitable to open a new division rather than simply increase the rate for their existing customers. Phooey.

2) Washington Mutual (failed) – now JPMorgan and Chase

• Rate: 4% APY
• Minimum required: $1
• Requires WAMU Free Checking account

Despite the requirement to open a checking account, there are a several perks to this combo. One of the best is that you get free checks for life. If you tend to write a lot of checks, this is a good deal. Yes, there is currently a lot of anxiety about WAMU’s future, but as long as you stay under FDIC limits you should be fine. Yep, they died, but Chase is still currently honoring the rate as of this typing.

3) Venture Bank Direct

• Rate: 3.75% APY
• Minimum required: $1 to open (no minimum thereafter)
• Can link multiple external accounts

I’m not sure how many external accounts you can link, but their FAQ reveals that you may have more than one.

Deposits and withdrawals pass between your linked (external) funding account(s) and Venture Bank Direct via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) and usually it takes 2 to 4 days to process.

Venture Bank is supposedly releasing an online checking account as well, so keep your eye on this one.

4) Flagstar Bank Express Money Market

• Rate: 3.65% APY
• Minimum required: $1 to open (no minimum thereafter)
• Free checks for life
• Visa Debit Card (partnered with Allpoint and Presto! ATMs)

Flagstar MM is an interesting option. There are no monthly fees, but as with all accounts of this sort, there are fees if you exceed the outgoing transaction limitations (no more than six pre-authorized transactions, such as check-writing or ACH outgoing transfers). ATM usage is unlimited.

The “free checks for life” option is great. Again, if you tend to use checks a lot, this can save you a bundle. I also appreciate that they provide postage-paid envelopes for mailing in deposits). Overall, this looks like a solid account.

Those are just a few options for higher interest rates. As usual, be sure to check the individual sites to verify the actual rate.