E-Loan 5.38%, iGObanking 5.30%, ING Direct 4.50% APY
» E-Loan Savings lowered its rate from 5.50% APY to 5.38% APY. Commenters to my Eloan Savings review added that they had some transfer glitches as well.
» iGObanking is yet another online no-minimums savings account, offering 5.30% APY. I know little else.
» ING Direct recently raised its rate from 4.40% to 4.50% APY. $25 opening promotion.
See my online savings account comparison for a summary of the banking options out there.
December 7th, 2006 at 5:47 am
Re. E-Loan Savings. Well, it was nice while it lasted. The 5.50% APY was clearly a “loss leader”. The 5.38% APY may still be a “loss leader”; 5.38% APY = 5.24% APR. [1] The latest 1-month T-Bill pays 4.84% APR — although previous T-Bills have been just over 5% — and the 6-month T-Bill pays 5.03% APR.
E-Loan is still higher than Emigrant and HSBC, however, which are still at 5.05% APY.
[1] According to the APY-to-APR calculator on MMB.
December 7th, 2006 at 6:49 am
Be very careful with opening an E-Loan Account. When you open your initial deposit of $5000, make sure they dont take another $5000 and have an insufficient fee charge to your checking account if you dont have money to cover it. It seems that E-Loan has a glicth in their systems that withdraws cash from your secondary account twice.
December 7th, 2006 at 7:45 am
If you are chasing rate ..check out superiorsavings MMA
http://www.superiorsavings.com/
5.5% with 10K minimum
December 7th, 2006 at 8:01 am
eLoan had to lower their rate right after I opened an account there didn’t they!
December 7th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
I should be mentioned that T-bills have no state tax on the interest earned which can give them a pop of upto 1.17x (5%=>5.85%) if you are in the high state tax state and high federal bracket.
December 7th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
People say what goes up must come down. For E-Loan this coming down process seems happening a little too fast. Probably it’s just a bait.
December 7th, 2006 at 6:41 pm
Wilmington Trust (brick-and-mortar based in Delaware) has a 5.26% online savings account for balances over $10k.
http://www.wtdirect.com/wtdirect/
Haven’t tried it yet.
January 14th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I opened an igobanking account. It was straightforward, quick and easy (The neg reviews about eloan dissuaded me). although, you have to wait for the postal service to deliver your pin and userid info before you can do anything with the money in your account on-line (I don’t need the money, so I didn’t check on whether you can call and transfer or request a check for the money, but I figure waiting to get the PIN is just as quick).
Online signup is quick. I had to submit address verification (but I’ve had to do that with every thing lately), which I was able to do by fax. Once done, that same day, the account was approved. I funded from my primary checking account (I didn’t have to confirm the electronic deposits for some reason, probably because they were able to withdraw the money immediately). Since I’m in a different situation, I’m having to wait a few weeks to get my PIN to register for online access. When I called Igobanking re: address verification by fax, I got someone immediately and she was quick and curteous.
I currently have an INGDirect account, so I emailed ING to ask if they would match or at least match the biggie banks’ 5% just to stay with ING for the convenience of not having to open a different account; however, I got a pretty stern NO and lame excuses. Needless to say, ING saw my substantial deposits moved. I still have ING open just in case igobanking lowers interest or ING decides to be competitive.
February 28th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
[...] seems like a reasonable idea, and I know many other bloggers, likeJonathan at My Money Blog are taking advantage of the [...]
April 26th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I opened an account at iGObanking about a month ago and was going to make a large deposit, but then HSBC (where I already have an account) had their promotion of 6% on new deposits, so I put it there instead. After the promotion is over (April 30) I plan on transferring to iGObanking, unless HSBC comes with another incentive. The main drawback is that it takes 3 days to effect the transfer, so you are losing 10% of a month’s interest just to make the swap.
April 29th, 2007 at 5:49 am
KV, Just use iGObanking’s Premium transfer service. Transfers complete in just one business day and Igb credits your account with your transfer amount before it is even withdrawn from your HSBC account. I have both accounts and ING. Little to no interest loss.
May 14th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Yeah, when I went to do the transfer I noticed that feature, but it has a $2,000 daily limit. I was transferring a bit more than that, but it’s great for day-to-day stuff. Thanks.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Has anyone encountered any fees using iGobanking.com’s transfer service? The user agreement is kind of sketchy on this point.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
I wanted to make a deposit into a high yield savings account to get a high interest rate and keep it liquid in case I need to get to it.
I tried iGObanking.com, a subsidiary of Flushing Savings Bank in NY.
The bank’s application process is taking an abnormally long time. It?s still not completed.
I sent copies of requested documents (utility bill, copy of drivers license, etc.) to finish the application to iGObanking. I complied with all that was asked. But it?s been two weeks. Within the same time period I was able to open an account with ING Direct with all aspects being completed within a few days.
Ironically, iGObanking.com was listed recently in Money magazine as a good option for a high yield savings account. I would caution folks out there about iGObanking.com. They don’t seem to be efficient, organized or responsive ? and they only operate M-F during regular business hours. Because of my negative iGObnking experience, I won?t follow up with a deposit if and when the account is actually opened. I don?t have confidence in them.
I think ING Direct or HSBC Direct or FNBO are better options for good rates, efficiency and timely customer service.
August 29th, 2007 at 8:53 am
My igobanking experience is wrose. I buying a house, try to withdraw money one week in advance. They set 15,000 daily limit, so I withdraw them in 4 days. I successfully transfer the first 15,000, instead take 3 days, it takes 5 days. It automatically cancel my other transfer. I call in ask. They said somewhere in contract mention 25,000 limit a month. I explain to them my situation. They said I can just email them the request, they will do it. But 3 days after, I didn’t see any transfer pending or any email reply confirm my request.
Then I call again, the line is busy for 2 hours.
I have to borrow 50,000 to do settlement, which is impossible, I don’t know what to do now. I stuck.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:49 am
I was able to successfully resolve my account opening problems with iGObanking.com.
I sent a complaint letter to the CEO of the bank?s holding company, Flushing Savings Bank. My account opening was done within a day after I sent the fax. And I rec?d a letter of apology soon after from the iGObanking division manager.
As a last resort ? if only you don?t receive reasonable responses from iGObanking?s Customer Service Unit - or if you have continuous, unresolved problems or grievances with iGObanking, then sent a polite letter of inquiry or complaint to Mr. John Buran, CEO, Flushing Savings Bank, 1979 Marcus Ave., Suite E140, Lake Success, NY 11042, Ph. (718) 961-5400, Fax (718) 961-7646
I don?t recommend keeping a large amount of money in savings at iGObanking.com until they improve their customer service procedures.
?An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? ? Benjamin Franklin
January 17th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Thanks, Steve. Yep, IGO is pretty incredible. My dad, CPA, was placing FDIC-limit deposits at some banks (away from a brokerage house) and all went fine except for a Yes-No-Yes-No comedy from IGO. So they declined $$ (apparently because some of the other banks receiving good $$ that month did credit pulls !! ) from about as solid an individual as there is. I wonder if they factor in age, which would not be very smart on their part. So I may write to John Buran, per your suggestion above. However meanwhile my alternate GCF - Gloucester - handled this so smoothly (great internals, kudos) that IGO would only become a future alternate even if they had their act together, maybe when a promo-CD expires. Flushing has a branch near me, and I have a mini-account there, so we wanted to give them a try.
What a strange disaster is their internal systems.
(Oh, the gal on the phone was ok, reachable, obviously caught in confusion in the middle.)
Thanks for the headsup on Buran. I had been given his name and one other, I may follow your lead.