Yes, I used ‘Direct’ three times in the title. Many people have wanted to link their new Emigrant Direct account with their existing Capital One 360 accounts. However up until recently, unless you used your Capital One 360 account as your initial funding account, you couldn’t do this, as both required checks to link additional accounts. But thanks to a new check-less linking feature, it has been done! I got this idea from Consumerism Commentary.

First, log in at ingdirect.com, and click on the link about Externally Link Accounts. Then click on the Add Link button. You’ll need to know the name of your bank, the routing number, and the account number. For Emigrant, the name is Emigrant Savings Bank, and the routing number for Emigrant is 226070319. They’ll then send two small deposits to your Emigrant Direct account (free 43 cents for me!) which show up in a couple days and you confirm them again back at ING. I just confirmed my deposits and they’re all linked up. I’ll also send a couple bucks back and forth to amuse/assure myself, but I think it’s a go.

HSBC Bank has had their no minimum, no fees Online Savings Account around for a while now, but this is the first time they have offered a better rate than Capital One 360, VirtualBank, or Emigrant Direct. I don’t have an account there, but it does have some nice features:

• Currently at 3.75% APY
• Open with $1, No minimums or monthly fees
• Online access and unlimited linked external accounts
• ATM card and withdrawal access through any ATM, deposits at HSBC ATMs only
• FDIC Insured, and HSBC is a major international bank.

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Short answer: No, not really, unless you are talking amounts over six figures.

I’ve seen so many people get hung up on this, I think it deserves a post. The easiest way to explain it is with an example. Let’s say ‘DaBank’ compounds interest daily on their accounts, and ‘MoBank’ compounds interest monthly. Let’s say you have a $10,000, 1-Year CD with both of them at the same 5% APR interest rate, and compare how much interest you have at the end of the year. Both credit interest monthly.

• Compare the rates of the Best Online Savings Accounts

MoBank:
Since MoBank compounds monthly, you are getting 5%/12 = .4166% every month. So, at the end of the first month, you will have 10,000 x 1.004166 = $10041.67. During the second month, you will be earning .4166% on $10041.67, not just $10,000. So at the end of the 2nd month you’ll have $10083.51, not $10083.34. This goes on for twelve months:

• $10,000 x (1 + .05/12)¹² = $10511.62.

DaBank:
Since DaBank compounds daily, you are getting 5%/365 = .0137% every day. So, at the end of the first day, you will have 10,000 x 1.000137 = $10001.37. Using the same basic formula as above for 365 days:

• $10,000 x (1 + .05/365)³⁶⁵ = $10,512.67.

So over the course of a year you’ve only earned $1.05 more by compounding daily versus compounding monthly!

The easy way to not even worry about this is to just compare APY instead of APR.

If you compare APYs, or annual percentage yield, the compounding effect is already taken into account, whether it be daily, monthly, or every 6.374 seconds.  In our example above, MoBank would advertise a 5.12% APY and DaBank could advertise a 5.13% APY, with the same 5% APR. I hope that clears things up for some!

Now, I know someone commented “How the heck do you keep track of all these bank accounts?” before, and I’m sorry I didn’t reply right away. Someone else asked again, so I got off my butt and whipped up a diagram to explain it. It’s not that bad, and it’s worth it get the best interest rate for my cash. First, I use Yodlee to track bank balances. This way I just log in to one site, and at a glance I can see balances and recent transactions. If I need more detail, then I can log into the respective bank websites. Yodlee also recently added access to Emigrant Direct, so that was nice.

Now to explain how I transfer money to and from these accounts, here is a picture. Please excuse my mad Microsoft Paint skillz.
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In addition to my seperate informational pages, I also put together this comparison chart with most of the critical points. For each bank name, I have linked the information page (for example: Emigrant Direct) that I made for it. The best value for each feature is bolded:

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Direct Link: http://www.presidential.com
Current APR: 4.75% APY
Interest Compounding: Compounded and credited on a monthly basis.
Minimum to open: $5,000
Minimum to avoid monthly service charge: $5,000
Other fees of note: None
Download formats available: .ofx/.qif/.csv files*
Number of external bank account links allowed: None
Routing Number: 255073345
Opening Bonuses: None
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Website: EmigrantDirect.com
Current APR: 5.05% APY
Interest Compounding: Compounded daily and credited monthly.
Minimum to open: $1
Minimum to avoid monthly service charge: None
Other fees of note: None
Download formats available: .ofx/.qfx/.csv files*
Number of external bank account links allowed: 4
Routing Number: 226070319
Opening Bonuses: $10-20
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Direct Link: http://www.virtualbank.com/bc_esav_virtual.asp
Current APR: 4.60% APY
Interest Compounding: Compounded daily and credited monthly.
Minimum to open: $100
Minimum to avoid monthly service charge: None.
Other fees of note: Close-out in first 90 days fee of $50.00 (No min, so just leave open for 90 days)
Download formats available: .ofx/.qif/.csv files²
Number of external bank account links allowed: 4
Routing Number: 067092200
Opening Bonuses: $20 referral bonus
[Read more…]

With all of these different online banks around, it’s hard to keep clear which banks do what when comparing with new banks or answering people’s questions. I don’t know how many times I’ve searched the bank websites for the same info that I just searched for a week ago. So I’ve decided to make an information post for each of the banks that offer a good savings rate and that I have an account with. First up, Capital One 360.

Home Page: INGDirect.com
Current APR: 1.25% APY
Interest Compounding: Compounded and credited on a monthly basis.
Minimum to open: $1
Minimum to avoid monthly service charge: None.
Other fees of note: None
Download formats available: .ofx, .qfx files*
Number of external bank account links allowed: 3
Routing Number: 031176110
Opening Bonuses: $25 referral bonus

Deposit Hold Times: (from their site) Generally, you can’t withdraw a deposit for 5 business days. However, when you first open your account, you won’t be able to withdraw any money for the first 10 business days. As with all non-cash deposits, interest will begin to accrue no later than 2 business days after the banking day on which the funds were deposited. (Here’s an example – if you make a deposit on a Sunday, we will process it on Monday, and interest will begin to accrue no later than Wednesday.)

Safety of Deposits: Capital One 360 Bank, fsb is FDIC insured up to $100,000. Still, this does not mean all banks are the same. BankRate.com’s Safe & Sound Rating assesses banks’ relative financial conditions. Capital One 360 has a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

How to add external link:
– Send them a personal check (for at least $1.00) made out to yourself, and drawn against the account you want linked.
– Include the word “Link”, followed by your Capital One 360 Customer Number in the memo field of the check, make sure you sign it, and send it to the address below.

Contact Information:
Email: sales@ingdirect.com
Mail:
Capital One 360
P.O. Box 60
St. Cloud, MN 56302-0060

Phone:
– For new customers, call 1-800-
– For existing customers, call 1-888-
– To access your account through our Interactive Phone Service call 1-888-

Customer Service Opinion: I actually don’t remember ever having to call or e-mail them, which is interesting since this is the account I have had the longest. I guess it could also be considered a testament to how user-friendly their website is, how their bonuses and interest post promptly, and how simple their structure is. Anecdotally, I’ve heard positive things about their customer service.

User interface Opinion:I think it’s sparse and utilitarian. It works, and I’m happy with it. Here is a screenshot of what you’d see if you had an account:

Other things to note: One cool thing with them is that you can open multiple sub-accounts and label them “Vacation Fund” or “Car Maintenance Fund” and have nice little organized baskets of money. You can also set up automatic transfers to these sub-accounts. To open one, just click on “Open an Account” after you’ve logged in.

* .ofx is Microsoft Money’s current format, .qfx is Quicken 2005+ format, .qif is Quicken 2004 and older and also older MS Money format, .csv is Comma Separated Values which is a more generic spreadsheet format.

[Rates updated as of 1/13/10]

Capital One 360 now pays 3.30% APY, up from 3.15%.

MyBankingDirect.com is another ‘ICanBeLikeING’ Direct bank that is offering a 3.75% APY rate. Nice, but they require $5,000 minimum to open. If you keep the $5,000 in there for 3 monhts, you also get a $25 bonus. Minimum balance and fee information information available here (tiers, etc.).

UFB Direct is currently paying 3.67% on their Jumbo Money Market Account ($50,000 min), and 3.60% APY on their no-minimum balance High Yield Money Market Savings. Open with $200 and get a $25 bonus. I am not opening an account at either of these last two banks, but it’s good to keep an eye out.

[Update: This review still applies, but the rates are a bit old. Currently rates for this account can be found here. As of 4/3/06, it is 4.62% APY.]

Now that Presidential Bank has raised their Premier Savings Account rate even higher to 3.87% APY*, I thought I’d post a brief review of the account since I have one. I previously posted a review of the Presidential Bank Internet Plus Checking Account.

Pros:
Great Rate! They have consistently good rates, now beating Capital One 360 by 0.72%. I’ve found their customer service to be very satifactory. The interface is fine by me, although I’m a “Does it work like I want it to?” kind of guy, and don’t need too many bells and whistles.
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Very nice. Up from 3.75% APY. See their site for more info. Their Internet Plus Checking is now at 3.75% APY. I’m going to write a quick write-up about the pros and cons of the Premier Savings account for the curious.