Net Worth & Goals Update – March 2011

Posted on March 2, 2011 // 23 Comments
Net Worth Chart 2011

Oh alright, here’s another net worth update. My last snapshot was about 9 months ago. I know people like the voyeurism, but hopefully my commentary will also provide some helpful insights as to achieving our goals.

Credit Card Debt
I used to take money from credit cards at 0% APR and place it into online savings accounts, bank CDs, or savings bonds that earned 4-5% interest (yes I know, much less recently), keeping the difference as profit while taking minimal risk. (Minimal in regards that the risk was only dependent on my behavior and not outside factors.) However, given the current lack of great no fee 0% APR balance transfer offers, I am currently not playing this “game”.

Most credit cards don’t require you to pay the charges built up during a monthly cycle until after a grace period of about 14 days. This theoretically provides enough time for you to receive your statement in the mail and send back a check. As this is simply a snapshot of my finances, my credit card debt consists of just these charges. I don’t carry any balances or pay any interest charges.

Retirement and Brokerage accounts
Since my last update, the broad stock indexes have risen significantly, about 25% including dividends according to Vanguard Total World Stock Index ETF (VT) that I use as a general benchmark. Although these high valuations make me nervous, I am still a believer in stocks for the (very) long run and rebalancing your asset allocation regularly. Don’t buy high and sell low.

Here is our target asset allocation. Being heavy in stocks, our portfolio bounced back significantly as well.

Our total retirement portfolio is about $360k or on an estimated after-tax basis, $318,000. At a theoretical 4% withdrawal rate, this would provide $1,060 per month in retirement income, which brings me to 42% of my long-term goal of generating $2,500 per month. These are all really rough numbers, but helpful to measure progress and visualize living off your portfolio.

Cash Savings and Emergency Funds
We are happy to hold a year’s worth of expenses (conservatively estimated at $60,000) in our emergency fund. According to my emergency fund poll, many of you readers also have substantial savings set aside, with most having at least 4 months of expenses. Very nice.

Recently I wrote about how I maximize interest in my emergency fund, including the specific banks and institutions I use.

Home Equity
I would like my house paid off in 15-20 years at most, so I’ve been putting some extra money towards the mortgage. Note that this is only after maxing out both our 401k plans, fully funding IRAs every year, and creating a one-year emergency fund. I’d like our mortgage pay-down progress to parallel our portfolio growth so that both are ready for at least partial retirement in about 10 years.

So there you have it. Mrs. MMB and I both earned a six-figure salary again last year, which combined is in the top 5% of households. We try to save a lot of it while it stays this way. 🙂 The future is hard to see, but we’re getting there a lot faster than we thought we could.

Filed Under: Banking, Credit Cards, Goals, Investing, Retirement //

FDIC-Insured Bank Accounts Holding Chinese Renminbi (CNY) (RMB)

Posted on February 17, 2011 // 12 Comments

Reader Jonathan wrote in the tell me that the Bank of China (BoC) is offering FDIC-insured bank accounts that are denominated in renminbi, the official currency of China. Also referred to by the primary unit yuan, you may have heard about how China tightly controls this currency in the news. Since many sources view the yuan as being undervalued relative to the dollar due to artificial exchange rates, some people view holding yuan as a good investment. Here’s how the Bank of China news has played out in financial websites.

  • 1/12 – The Financial Times blog BeyondBRICs brings up the ability to open accounts in yuan, but says “No need to rush out and open a renminbi account just yet.” They note that this ability has actually been around since February 2010, but nobody in the media really noticed.
  • 1/12 – The Reuters blog by Felix Salmon picks it up and brings it a step further, pointing out that US officials have said the yuan is overvalued, so that “Chinese revaluation is going to happen at some point, and when it does, you’ll make money”, and “the downside is limited”. More excitement.
  • 1/14 – The Wall Street Journal blog ROI joins the fray, stating (1) It’s very unlikely to go down. (2) It’s very likely to go up. (3) You won’t miss out on a lot of interest elsewhere, as nowhere else is paying a lot of interest. (4) It will diversify your portfolio. (5) It may offer you and your family something of a hedge against the decline of the U.S. economy. Can you feel the buzz?
  • 2/7 – Time Magazine blog Curious Capitalist has another post on the topic a few weeks later. It provides more detail on what this account does not offer: interest, the ability to withdraw yuan, deposit yuan, write checks, or use debit cards. Basically you can speculate on the conversion rate of USD-CNY and that’s it. More below.

So, should you go out and open an account? Well, first you must go in person to a Bank of China branch in New York City, either at Madison & 48th St or in Chinatown. Some of the articles erroneously reported that you can open up an RMB account at the Los Angeles branch. According to the Bank of China website, this is not true. The branch does not offer FDIC-insured accounts, and doesn’t offer personal account of any kind.

The limit a U.S.-based individual customer can exchange is $4,000 a day. From what I have gathered, you open an account and “buy” RMB from Bank of China using your U.S. dollars. Your deposits are FDIC-insured against bank failure, but not losses from currency fluctuations. If you wish to withdraw, you must again exchange your RMB back to USD, leaving you again with dollars. You can’t withdraw any RMB, here or in China. The savings account earns no interest. So any difference will be due to the exchange rate.

According to the Wikipedia entry for Remminbi, academic studies have shown then yuan to be undervalued relative to the dollar using “purchasing power parity analysis”. The Treasury Secretary called it “substantially undervalued” a month ago. Per this article, the rate of 6.5855 CNY to 1 USD set just yesterday (2/16) is a record high, leaving the yuan up 3.6% since last June.

I honestly don’t pay enough attention to currency markets and all the politically-related news to really weight the pros and cons properly. Even if it does seem like the yuan is undervalued right now, but who knows when or how it will be corrected? China sets the exchange rate for the most part, so it could be years or more. During that time, its economy could experience high inflation as well which could make RMB even weaker relative to USD.

I see no sure bet here, just a speculative investment. But if you have a “play money” account capped at 5% of your portfolio like I do at times, this might be one idea that you could drop some bucks on. What do you think?

Update: You can get basically the same thing online at Everbank WorldCurrency Access deposit account. It doesn’t currently earn any interest, and unfortunately there are no interest-bearing CD options available right now either. But it does let you get it renminbi-denominated.

Filed Under: Banking, Investing //

Where I Keep My Emergency Fund Cash – January 2011

Posted on January 18, 2011 // 30 Comments

The results of my Emergency Fund survey are in, and appears that there are a lot of big savers out there! 28% of respondents had cash reserves of over 12 months of expenses, and 24% of you had the more-often recommended 4-6 months of expenses.

With such sizable cash reserves, where you do guys put it all? I figured I’d share my stash-the-cash choices, which may not be perfectly optimal but I’m open to talking about it. The size of the circles are proportional to how much of my money I keep in each respective account.

With interest rates so low across the board and still dropping it seams, it’s been hard to get really excited about many new options. But remember, it can be better to be earning 2% with low inflation than 5% interest in a high inflation environment. Every basis point helps.

Rewards Checking Accounts

You’ve likely heard of these by now. Usually through local credit unions, these checking accounts pay a higher interest rate if you jump through some hoops each month. However, if you make a mistake you’ll forfeit virtually all your interest for that month, so it can be tricky. More coverage here.

One nationally-open example is DanversBank, which offers their Free Rewards Checking currently paying 3.01% APY on balances up to $25,000, provided you satisfy the following each month:

* perform at least 12 debit card transactions (excluding ATMs);
* receive their monthly statement electronically;
* access Online Banking, and
* sign up for direct deposit or receive a recurring ACH transfer

To find a local rewards checking account limited to your area, check out DepositAccounts and use the filters. Sadly, my local account recently dropped their rate significantly.

Long-Term CDs – Ally Bank

If you have a large cushion, it’s quite possible (if you’re lucky) to not have to touch it for years or more. Therefore, I think it’s okay to put some of it in safe investments but slightly less liquid.

With the Ally Bank certificates of deposit, you can still access your money as long as you pay a early withdrawal penalty of 60 days interest. That’s significantly less than at other banks. I have a 5-year CD paying 3% APY, but the current rate for new deposits is 1.60% APY for a 5-year CD (as of 10/25/13).

Rates change constantly, but let’s assume you have a certificate of deposit from any bank paying 2.39% APY with an early withdrawal penalty of the last 60 days of interest. (2.39% APY ~= 2.26% rate compounded daily.) Here’s how your actual annualized interest rate would fluctuate given your holding period.

After just 6 months, you’ll already be earning 1.58%, more than a comparable 12-month CD. If you somehow had to withdraw after 1 year, you’d still have earned 1.99% APY. Basically, after just 6 months I have nothing to lose and a lot to gain, so I keep a sizable chunk here.

Savings Bonds

I have some older Series I Savings Bonds, but they aren’t a very good buy right now. The total rate consists of a fixed rate and a variable rate that adjusts with inflation every 6 months. If you bought a bond now, you’d get a 0% fixed rate and only 0.74% from inflation. However, my older bonds have higher fixed rates, and according to my TreasuryDirect statement they are earning 1.74%, 2.25%, and 2.75% right now. The annual purchase limit is now $5,000 in paper I-bonds and $5,000 in online I-bonds per Social Security Number. I’ll keep them for a while, as I like the tax deferral benefits and inflation may come back to bite us.

Online Savings Accounts

Rewards checking account and savings bonds have deposit limits, and you only want to lock up a certain amount in longer-term CDs, so the rest goes into the now-popular online savings account. There are a lot of players out there now, but many of them are packed together with very similar features and interest rates.

Right now the rest of my cash is over at SmartyPig.com, an FDIC-Insured bank account that lets you save for specific goals like an online piggy bank. However, they’ve added so much flexibility that you can pretty much use them like any other savings account. Their rate has dropped recently from 1.75% APY to 1.35% APY for balances up to $50,000. This is still amongst the top rates, but I’ll be watching them closely.

Alternatively, Everbank has their Yield Pledge Money Market paying 1.10% APY for the first 6 months for new accounts. This rate is higher than any 6-month certificates of deposit currently available, while still being available for withdrawals at any time. The rate is guaranteed stay in the top 5% of competitive accounts. Evantage Bank has their Mega Money Market account paying 1.75% APY for balances up to $35k. Most other banks are clustered around the 1% to 1.2% mark.

So… where’s your cash?

Filed Under: Banking, Investing //

Chase Adds New $10 Monthly Fee to Free Checking (Formerly WaMu)

Posted on December 1, 2010 // 107 Comments

While catching up on snail mail after getting back from Thanksgiving, I found a letter from Chase Bank telling me that my Chase Fee Extra Checking account (formerly Washington Mutual Free Checking) will now be called Chase Total Checking as of February 8, 2011. Along with the new name comes – you guessed it! – a new $10 to $12 monthly service fee* unless I meet at least one of the following criteria each statement period:

  • At least one single direct deposit of $500 or more,
  • A minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more,
  • An average balance of $5,000 across all Chase deposit accounts (checking, savings, CDs) and/or investment accounts with Chase Investment Services Corp,
  • Pay $25 or more in qualifying account fees (not including this monthly service fee)

Back in April 2009, I reported that Chase was converting over WaMu Free Checking accounts and was keeping the important no monthly fees and no minimum balance feature. Well, that lasted about a year and a half.

I haven’t been using my Chase checking account very much recently, especially since their savings account basically pays no interest at all. As it stands, I’ll be subject to the $10 monthly fee. I don’t think I want the hassle of making online ACH transfers back and forth to simulate a direct deposit each month, so I’ll probably end up closing the account. WaMu was my primary bank for a few years, but I’ve learned not to get too attached to any single financial institution.

* According to the Terms & Conditions booklet, the monthly service fee is $10 for accounts opened in California, Oregon, or Washington. Otherwise, $12.

Filed Under: Banking //

Chase Checking Promotion: Up to 25,000 Continental Miles

Posted on November 5, 2010 // Leave a Comment

Chase Bank has a promotion that can get you up to 25,000 Continental Airlines miles for the following actions:

  • 10,000 bonus miles when you open a new Chase Checking account with at least $100 and either make 5 debit card purchases or set up direct deposit.
  • 15,000 bonus miles if you open a Chase Continental Airlines Preferred Debit Card ($65 annual fee) and make a purchase on it. However, in the fine print it says you can opt for the regular Chase Continental Airlines Debit Card with $25 annual fee and still get the 15k bonus. Both cards offer the first checked bag for free for you and companions on your same itinerary.

Unfortunately, this is only for new Chase checking account holders, so I am not eligible. You must print out the coupon and bring it into a Chase branch to redeem. Continental is merging with United, but that probably won’t be completed until later next year. Offer ends December 31st, 2010.

If you are a new customer, live near a Chase branch, and fly on Continental or United, this is a relatively cheap way to earn a some frequent flier miles. Finally, I note on this other Chase page that you can also get 2,500 bonus miles for getting an additional debit card for a joint account holder (up to 3).

Selected fine print:
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Bank of America Small Business Checking $200 Bonus

Posted on September 24, 2010 // 2 Comments

I logged out of my Bank of America business account and saw this $200 bonus for new business customers with relatively achievable requirements. (New means you don’t have an existing business account, and must have closed your old account at least 90 days ago.)

  • Earn $150 when you deposit at least $750 per month into your new small business checking account for 3 consecutive months between September 20, 2010 and November 21, 2010.
  • Earn another $50 when you pay at least 2 bills during one of those same 3 months through Online Bill Pay, accessed through Online Banking. You can pay virtually anyone, anytime, anywhere in the United States.

Offer expires 11/21/2010 and is available only when you open a new business checking account using SBESP10. The $17.00 monthly maintenance fee can be avoided with one of the following:

* Enrolling in Business Fundamentals and making a monthly qualifying purchase with your Business Check Card
* $3,000 minimum balance
* $10,000 average balance
* $10,000 combined minimum balance with other biz accounts
* $20,000 combined average balance with other biz accounts

By the way, the same rules about sole proprietorships being valid businesses here also apply to business checking accounts.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

New Marketing Trick: Short-term FDIC-Insured Bank CDs With Really High Rates

Posted on August 24, 2010 // 21 Comments

If you still read newspapers like me, you may have come across an advertisement like this one recently touting an abnormally high 3-month or 6-month CD rate in last Sunday’s issue:

According to Bankrate, the current national average for a 6-month certificate of deposit is 0.37% APY, with their top yield being 1.25% APY. Highly-advertised Ally Bank offers less. So how can a tiny local non-bank that you’ve never heard of beat the rates of even online banks by over 2 whole percentage points?

It turns out that this is the newest version of the “free show tickets for timeshare presentations” marketing ploy. In this case, you must go into the office of an life insurance agent and listen to their sales pitch before getting the bank CD. Allan Roth over at CBS Marketwatch visited one of these offices and wrote about it. These non-bank salespeople are supplementing bank CDs from other FDIC-insured banks with their own money to reach the advertised rate. Questionable? Yes. Scam? Well, maybe not.

How It Works…

  1. You respond to the newspaper ad, and the terms always require you to physically come over to their office.
  2. After dealing with varying levels of life insurance and/or annuities salesmanship, you maintain your desire to open the account.
  3. You write the check for the CD directly to an FDIC-insured bank, with which the sales office is not officially affiliated with. This CD has a realistic rate, say 1% APY or similar.
  4. After a week or two, enough to make sure your funds cleared, the insurance people will cut you a check which together with the bank’s interest, add up to the advertised APY (assuming they are still in business).

How Much Extra Interest?

But really how much money are they losing on this? If you buy a six-month CD with an annual percentage yield (APY) of 3.35% and commit $25,000, you’ll earn approximately $418. With a APY of 1.25%, that is $156. The difference is $262. That’s basically the “bonus” that they are paying to get you into the door.

The article by Roth was initially published more than 8 months ago, so that would suggest that this marketing ploy is working and the word is spreading amongst insurance salespeople. Now, I’m sure some people will call about the CD and either not have the $25k or otherwise decided not to go for it, so that improves their bottom line. I am pretty certain that their ad targets those with large cash balances looking for income-type investments, so that they can pitch annuities with seemingly safe and high yields.

Warnings

If you still want to invest in one of these bank CDs + incentives, you should be prepared to be presented with annuities that will actually seem to yield even more that their advertised 3-month CDs. They will be carefully packaged to look like a good deal. They will be described as “insured” and “safe” because they will be backed by an insurance company. The actual yields will be computed by a formula too complex for most math PhDs to fully understand.

Next, you should check if the extra interest is really worth it due to the fact that you’ll have to deal with paper checks. If you are writing a check from a bank account that isn’t earning interest, that is some lost days of interest right there. Since you’ll be receiving the CD funds as a check as well, that’s another few business days of potential lost interest. Use my handy Ultimate Rate Chaser Calculator to see your net interest boost.

Finally, you should be sure to only write the check to an FDIC-insured institution. You should interact with them directly to ensure safe transfer of funds and proper opening of account. Double-check the CD renewal guidelines, so you are not stuck rolling the CD over for another 3 months.

Here’s a list of other companies that I found offering similar ads. Some are pretty shady in my opinion, and pretend to be an elite broker supplying high-yield bank CDs. Others are actually pretty transparent about the fact that they are offering a carrot for you to listen to their pitch. If you know of any others, please leave a comment below, and I’ll add it to the list.

  • Sun Cities Financial Group (http://www.scfg.com)
  • First Fidelity Tax & Insurance (http://www.firstfidelityamerica.com)
  • American First Assurance (http://americanfirstassurance.com)
  • Integrifirst USA (http://integrifirstusa.com)

I personally wouldn’t trust any of these guys with a $9.99 cut-n-paste GoDaddy website and a rented office with any of my personal details.

Filed Under: Annuities, Banking, Insurance //

SmartyPig BBVA Compass $150 Checking Account Bonus

Posted on August 11, 2010 // 3 Comments

While clicking around on the SmartyPig site, I saw that their new partner BBVA Compass Bank has a $150 bonus for new accounts. It doesn’t seem to be limited specifically to SmartyPig users, although it is “only available in AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, NM & TX where BBVA Compass has a market presence.” More details:

  • Open a new “Build to Order” checking account.
  • $75 bonus for setting up recurring direct deposit of at least $300.
  • $75 for paying 5 bills via Online BillPay every month for 90 days.

“Build To Order” checking account have no monthly service charge, no minimum balance requirement, no direct deposit requirement (besides the stuff required for the bonuses above). Minimum $25 to open. Then there are several “premium” options to choose from, and you get two for free. Account must be opened online between 8/1/2010 and 08/31/2010. I am not sure if ACH transfers count as direct deposits.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Chase Checking Bonus: 100 Bucks For New Accounts

Posted on August 11, 2010 // 2 Comments

Chase has an online offer for a $100 bonus for opening a new Chase Checking account with $100 and either setting up direct deposit or making five debit card purchases within 60 days of opening. You can either open online or in-branch.

Ongoing, you keep the account open for 6 months and must continue either the monthly DD or 5 debits to avoid a monthly fee. Still, not a bad deal if you want to try out another megabank. Expires soon though – 8/14/10.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

SmartyPig: Tips and Tricks To Use Like a Bank Account

Posted on August 10, 2010 // 24 Comments

In a previous post about 4 Stash Your Cash Deals Most People Haven’t Heard Of, I mentioned the new FDIC-insured savings site SmartyPig.com since they have consistently high yields, currently at 2.15% APY on balances up to $50,000 with no minimums or monthly fees. Funds are held at BBVA Compass Bank.

I also mentioned that even though they do have a some restrictions due to their “piggy bank” image, they have added enough flexibility (in response to user feedback, which should be applauded) that you can use it virtually like any other savings account. I got a few questions on what I actually meant by that statement, so here are a few “hacks” that I have used to increase the flexibility of my savings. I prefer to think of it as getting around their gentle nudges to keep saving. 🙂

Ground Rules

When transferring money into SmartyPig, you must do it in the form of Savings Goals. Your goal can be anywhere between $250 and $250,000, and you must transfer in at least $25 from a linked bank account to get it started. You can also schedule a recurring deposit of at least $10 a month towards the goal, but you don’t have to.

  • You can make as many goals as you like.
  • You can make additional one time, non-recurring contributions to a goal.
  • You can end a goal at any time without penalty, but you will have to redeem the entire existing balance all at once. There are no partial redemptions.
  • You can change your goal amount at any time.
  • You can transfer funds in between goals instantly. There is a limit of five outgoing transfers per calendar month per goal. Accrued interest cannot be transferred and will remain in the goal where it was earned.

Emergency Fund / Partial Redemptions

Setting up SmartyPig as an emergency fund is straightforward. I set a big goal like $25,000, and then put in a regular contribution. But what if something comes up and I want to make a withdrawal of say $1,000 out of the $5,000 I’ve already set aside? According to the site, I must end the entire goal and cash it out completely. Not so fast. In this case, I would:

  • Start a new goal, call it Emergency Fund 2.0.
  • Transfer $4,000 from my original goal into the new 2.0 goal.
  • Now, I should be left with $1,000 in my original goal, and I can cash it out by clicking on “Stop Goal”. I’ll also be cashing out all the remaining accrued interest.
  • I am left with a new goal with $4,000 still earning 2.15% APY, and $1,000 is headed to my main checking account to pay for the unexpected expense.

“Boosted” Gift Cards to Multiple Retailers

Another perk of SmartyPig is the ability to redeem your cash goal for a retailer gift card with a “boost”. You can get a 1% bonus at Wal-mart, 3% at Lowes, 4% at Amazon.com (my fave), and 12% at Macy’s. So for a $250 goal, I could cash out for $260 at Amazon. By default, you can only redeem a goal for one retailer. But by using the method above, you can effectively split your goal balances into smaller chunks.

Filed Under: Banking //

Everbank Online Check Deposit Review – FreeNet Checking and Yield Pledge Money Market Accounts

Posted on August 9, 2010 // 22 Comments

When I first heard about online check deposit a couple years ago, I was pretty excited. I loved the idea of scanning in checks from your home computer any time of day without the hassle of going to the bank or waiting for snail mail. But at the time only few banks offered it like selected credit unions and USAA, both of which had membership restrictions.

I actually forgot about it for a while, until I noticed last week that online bank EverBank started offering it on both their Yield Pledge Money Market and FreeNet Checking accounts. (See post on 1.10% Intro APY at EverBank.) Since I already had an account, I immediately signed up, tried it out, and am now hooked. How about a review for the curious?

Application Process

To be eligible, you must have an existing personal account (see above), and a computer with a TWAIN-compliant scanner (pretty much anything bought within the last five years).

  1. Download the application form and fill it out. Don’t forget to fill out the Security Code at the bottom, as my first form was rejected since I didn’t know what that referred to (had to call customer service).
  2. Fax or mail the form in. I found it amusing that in order to get online check deposit, I had to use a fax machine. Well, not really, you could just use a service like faxzero.com since there is no extra-sensitive information required on the form.
  3. Wait for the welcome e-mail, which should arrive within two business days. The title will be “You can start using Online Check Deposit” and inside will be your new login and temporary password.

Making An Online Deposit

Here’s a flash video with detailed instructions, but it’s really long and slow-paced. Just read this:

  1. Log in to the special website at www.EverBankOnlineDeposit.com. This is not the usual Everbank website, but it checks out legit. Log in with your separate login and password.
  2. Click on the “Make A Deposit” link on the left. A java applet will load. The software will look for attached scanners. Choose the one you wish to use. [screenshot 1]
  3. Scan the front of your check and approve it. [screenshot 2]
  4. Scan the back of your check and approve it. [screenshot 3]
  5. Submit after confirming the deposit details. [screenshot 4]
  6. You’ll receive one e-mail immediately that your deposit was received.
  7. Wait for the e-mail will say it was approved and processed. This should arrive either the same day or next day. At this point, your check is considered deposited, and you are supposed to shred or destroy the physical check.

Other Details

Another advantage is that you can gain access to your funds sooner (and also start earning interest). Here are the details for funds availability. I think I read that any check over $5,000 will still be subject to holds.

Same business day credit for deposits scanned, submitted, and approved before 7 p.m. ET on a business day. Deposits made after 7 p.m. ET or on a non business day will be credited on the next business day. See the Funds Availability section of the Account Terms and Disclosures for information on access to funds.

I got this all to work fine on the first try on a Windows PC, but I could not get it to work on Mac OS X. I called customer service and they indicated that it was common for Macs to have problems with TWAIN drivers. While they said they could help me work through it, it would be a tedious process and may have to be repeated each time I wanted to make a deposit. (Basically, if you have a Windows computer, use it instead.)

In the end, after getting set up the first time it was a total snap. I often hold on to check for days if not weeks until I get around to going to the bank. Now, it just takes a minute. Scan, flip the check over, scan again, and I’m done. If needed, I can even use their free online fund transfers to move the money elsewhere. I can’t believe the mega-banks don’t provide this option already.

Filed Under: Banking //

EverBank Yield Pledge Money Market & Checking: Good Offer For $10k+ Balances

Posted on July 23, 2010 // 3 Comments

Everbank has 6-month bonus rates for their Yield Pledge Money Market and FreeNet Checking accounts. Both of these offers are targeted at new customers opening with at least $1,500, but in the end do offer some of the top rates available for an FDIC-insured bank account with these terms.

Yield Pledge Money Market

With a 6-month guaranteed introductory rate of 1.10% APY, this is higher than any available 6-month CD out there, which again is better than any 6-month CD offer out there.. After that, it is like other online savings accounts with a variable ongoing APY (currently 0.86%).

This online savings account “pledges” to keep the yield on your account in the top 5% of competitive accounts as tracked by Bankrate. (Everbank has indeed ended up on lists of best banks with consistently high rates.) Since it is a savings account, you are still limited to 6 withdrawals or outgoing transfers each month. There is a minimum average balance of $5,000 to avoid a $8.95 monthly fee.

FreeNet Checking

A checking account version, this also has a a 6-month guaranteed introductory rate of 1.10% APY, with a tiered interest rate afterward. (Current tiers and ongoing Annual Percentage Yields are: $100,000 at 0.86% APY, $50,000 – $99,999.99 at 0.83% APY, $25,000 – $49,999.99 at 0.78% APY, $10,000 – $24,999.99 at 0.76% APY and under $10,000 at 0.70% APY). There is no monthly fee.

Again, if you do the math this effectively extends the bonus rate of 1.10% out to between 5 and 6 months on a $10,000 balance, which is still better than any other CD offer of the same length. This account also pledges to keep the yield on your account in the top 5% of competitive accounts, but remember in this case that checking accounts in general have slightly lower rates.

If you are looking to get high FDIC-insured interest rates on a sizable balance for between a couple months to a year, without having to jump through any hoops like required monthly transfers or 15 debit card purchases a month, then this continues to be one of the best rates out there.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //
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