Okay, so you know I've open two savings accounts with basically no money in them at this point. I researched a lot of places before I made my final decisions. (No, I'm not going to tell you what my final decision is for privacy sake and because I haven't used them long enough to give you a good recommendation).
But this is the information I gathered in case you too wish to open a micro-savings account yourself.
The places that have good savings accounts that allow you to open an account with less than $50 bucks . . .
UFB Direct -- 5.31%
iGoBanking -- 5.3%
HSBC Direct -- 5.05%
Emigrant Direct.com -- 5.05%
E-Trade -- 5.05%
ING Direct 4.50%
Assess them for yourselves:
1. Make sure the rate they give you is not an introductory rate. A bank called FNBO is giving an introductory rate of 6% only until September 28th.
2. Make sure there is not a requirement to put a larger sum in later (in 3 months, or 6 months or 1 year). The bank WT Direct gives a 5.25% interest rate for the first 60 days the account is open and .60 after that unless you deposit $10,000 or more.
3. Find out how often the interest is compounded (daily, monthly, quarterly or yearly) -- it matters, believe me. Don't believe me? Click here.
4. Find out how often the interest is actually put into your account (daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly) -- this really matters.
*Be careful of brokerage/trade accounts because they give a better yield but they are not FDIC insured.
Articles on this topic that I found utterly helpful:
Which High Yield Account is Best
from "Get Rich Slowly"
Accounts for Canadians
I used these websites to help me find this information:
Bankaholic (www.bankaholic.com)
Bankrate (www.bankrate.com)
Savingsaccounts.com
Savings, wealth, small cash, keeping your money, savings accounts,
DON'T be signing up with UFB. I signed up for the High Yield savings account a couple of months ago and have only seen 3.93%. Emailed and asked about it and the answer is below. At sign up time the high yield was supposed to be 5.31%. I'll be pulling out of there pronto.
ReplyDeleteThe High Yield Money Market Savings is a variable rate product and subject to change. Many factors go into pricing the various products offered through UFB Direct and from time-to-time the decision is made to introduce new products as they have done with the new Absolute Savings account. The Absolute Savings account is a new three tiered savings product that offers exceptional rates for each tier on low minimum balance accounts and offers the same features as the High Yield Money Market Savings account with ATM cards and no fees. The Absolute Savings account is designed to provide an incentive to customers to save more to earn more. To better assist you, please reply via bank mail and we will convert the account per your request. The account number as well as the ATM card number will remain the same. We will wait for your reply. If there is anything else we can help you with please let us know. ........., Sr. Operations Associate