Trying to keep up with all these online banks and their rate activity could be a full-time job! So here are just a few more snippets. Emigrant Direct is now at 4.80% APY. [$10-$20 Bonus]
BankUnited offers a savings account paying 5.25% APY with $5,000 to open and $300 minimum to avoid fees.
Most of my own cash is still being held in 28-Day and 182-Day Treasury Bills, as they continue to offer the best equivalent taxable yield for me since I have to deal with state income taxes.
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whats your opinion on bankunited?
I have no opinion on BankUnited really. They are new and I am waiting for more details myself before forming one.
Right now I don’t have any plans on opening an account with them.
Finally, Emigrant Direct is trying to keep up.
ING Direct is falling behind and they don’t seem to care. My impression is that they established themselve as THE online bank, they think they can afford to offer a less than top rate. After all, I am still with them and I know many others just don’t want to going through the hassle to switch. I always telling myself mentally: just wait a few weeks, they will catch up…
You are right on the ING comment, they are a disappointment! Besides the prime rate is due to go up another 0.25% at the end of june and probably again on aug 8th… I think it would be wise not lock your money in CDs quite yet…
Does BankUnited offer a soft/hard pull?
I still keep $100 at ING Direct, just in case they ever have a teaser rate offer, like they did in March/April. Otherwise, most of my emergency fund is in HSBC Direct, which had a better teaser rate deal than ING Direct. I have some of my emergency fund at Emigrant Direct, because it is less inconvenient to navigate and use as HSBC. Plus, I have some of my emergency fund in a 28-day Treasury Bill ladder for entertainment.
As far as the T-Bill rate goes, they have been returning around 4.7% APR lately. The new 4.80% APY, according to the APY to APR calculator posted earlier, is equivalent to 4.69% APR. Not bad for those of us who don’t have state income taxes to boost the equivalent rate.
yay! Emigrant went up! I have them…sweet.
I have virtualbank too and they are falling a bit behind.
BankUnited is a sweet deal but sometimes a deal can be too sweet.
Anon is right- why lock $ into cds? I’m alittle pissed I’ve locked some money into CDs and now I can’t get it out! Its not really worth it with penalty right now since the CDs are paying 5%. If rights rise to about 6% on Money markets, then it will be worth it it switch.
I contacted BankUnited and this is what I found:
“Yes there is a Hard Pull on your credit ..
to apply you need a social security number
the interest compounded daily and credited quartly
David Quintanilla CSR
7815 NW 148th st
Miami Lakes , Fl, 33016 ”
Not worth it!!
Matt you say it’s not worth it. Can you or anybody comment on why it’s not worth it? Is it the hard credit pull and the interest credited quartly? If it’s for those reasons I think it might be worth it to me since I don’t have my credit hard pull often and I can wait the 3 month’s for interest to be credited. Let me know your guys comments.
Thanks for the reminder. Realized I should ladder more of the money I have in GMAC into 4 week treasuries. Even with GMAC paying 4.8%, given my tax bracket and CA marginal tax rate of 9.3%, one can gain .07% percent with treasuries. That amounts to $70 per $10,000 over the course of a year and that is after taxes. And probably more as I am unlucky enough to have some of my itemized deductions reduced. You get penalized twice in a state with high income taxes. Once on the rete and then having some of your state tax deduction disallowed since your paying so much of your income in state income taxes.