Some quick rate announcements: I called HSBC and confirmed that the rate on their HSBC Direct account is going back down to 4.50% APY after April 30th. Presidential Bank’s Premier Savings Account is now up to 4.75% APY (still 4.37% for checking). T-Bills are looking nicer and nicer.
HSBC Direct down to 4.50% APY, Presidential Savings at 4.75%
Posted on April 28, 2006 // 13 Comments
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Don’t forget about GMAC. It is up to 4.75%. It is FDIC insured, and you can use checks and atms to withdrawal money. The only negative is it requires $500 in your account to have no fees.
Thanks for the update….I have an ING accoutn and an Emigrant, and finally, a Citibank eSavings account. I was waiting to see what HSBC did until I decided my next move (next account opening). The winner is GMAC.
GMAC is also 4.75, and they have been very agressive about keepign up the rate.
And, their 6 month CD is now 5.10
http://www.gmacbank.com/todays-rates.do
GMAC has some good features – for now I’ll just add that GMAC also performs a hard credit check upon account opening.
There also vanguard money market funds.
Example: Vanguard NY money market fund pays now 3.47% (federal and state/city tax free for NY residents). That equals about 5.3% in bank equivalent yield = and no liquidity issue as checks can be written anytime.
Offtopic question: are the expense ratios of mutual funds and ETFs yearly? I.e., does a 0.15% expense ratio means that each year 0.15% of your investment goes to overhead costs? If so, it seems to me that ETFs are better for long-term investments than index funds.
Hi! First of all, this is a very informative and entertaining site. I can certainly relate to a few of your posts. Thanks for doing this!
I’ve been looking at 3 online savings accounts (ING, HSBC and Emigrant) and I saw your comparison… Do any of these have offers/bonuses for new savings accounts? Which one do you think is best overall? I am having a hard time deciding. Obviously the highest rate would be great. At the same time, I value ease of use and customer service must be pretty good. And no hidden fees. Thanks in advance for your feedback.
I have an ING account but not an HSBC or Emigrant. From the little I know, I think HSBC is the best if you have banks/ATMs in your area. I like my ING account and it’s linked to my BofA checking account. I think I may have heard bad things about Emigrant (I’m not sure though, it may have been a diffent company).
D’oh. I posted a long answer. 1 HSBC (if in area) 2 ING 3 Emigrant (but I may be confusing emigrant with another)
Offtopic question: are the expense ratios of mutual funds and ETFs yearly?
Yes, the expense ratio is over the course of a year.
If so, it seems to me that ETFs are better for long-term investments than index funds.
ETFs have expense ratios too. Usually they are lower than a similar mutual fund though.
Yes, but doing a comparison you get like .002x = .001x + 5 so after subtracting .001x from each side you get .001x=5 where x is the number of years times the dollar value of the investment.
Although I have been happy with HSBC Direct, I just read ING is planning to introduce an interest checking account to compliment their savings. This will make things interesting as the battle for consumer loyalty heats up!
I’m thinking about moving my money away from HSBC back to Charles Schwab again, their SWVXX fund pays about the same (4.48% APR vs. 4.50%) and it’s a lot less hassle.
I really don’t like how HSBC handles the EFT, they hang on to your money for a number of days before crediting it.
Don’t forget that money market funds are an attractive, liquid, short term investment. When you park money at PayPal, it sits in a money market fund. You can access that money more easily than at ING or elsewhere (perhaps a bad thing). Currently yields ~4.53%.