These Banks are paying some of the highest interest rates

[ford14]

With so many of us taking buyouts, and so many people getting lump sums we need to make sure that our buyout money will stretch as far as possible. I send out a free e-newsletter once a month to 100+ subscribers online, giving them tips on how to set up a budget for their household, save money, make extra money on the side at their leisure, where to get the best interest rates, etc. And would like to share some of the best places that I have found to get the best interest return on your money. All of these accounts are FDIC insured banks that have a proven track record:

 

ING Direct Bank:

www.ingdirect.com- The Current Interest is rate 4.50%. This is a Savings Account , there is a $1 minimum to open this account (they are also offering a $25 signup bonus if you open the account with at least $250, they will deposit your $25 signup bonus directly into your account.) You need a referral link to get the bonus.

 

Emigrant Bank:

 

www.Emigrantdirect.com- The current Interest rate is 5.05%. There is a $1 minimum to open an account. This is a Savings Account.

 

MetLife Bank:

 

www.metlifebank.com/index.do - The current Interest rate is 4.50%. This is a Money Market Account. There is a $5,000 minimum to open this account in order to get the 4.50% rate. You can open it up with $1,500 but you will only get 1.0% interest if the amount is under $5,000. As long as you keep at least $1,500 in this account you will not be charged any fees. If your account goes under $1,500 there is a $15 per month fee. Your first set of checks for this account are free, and you also get a free atm card with this account. You can write up to 3 checks per month on this account. I treat this account more like a savings account, so I rarely write checks on it.

 

OneUnited Bank:

 

www.oneunited.com - The current Interest rate 5.25%. This is a Savings account. There is a $10 minimum to open up this account.

 

These internet accounts are easy to open up, and must be linked to your regular checking account that you already have at other banks or credit unions. Then you would simply transfer money in-between accounts as needed. I have had an Ingdirect account for several years and the MetLife bank money market for several years, so I can vouch for these banks far as having good interest rates, prompt interest payments, and no fees so long as you keep at least the minimum required amount in the account. Ing Offers a $25 signup bonus also, but you need a referral link to get it. Just means somebody else who already has an ING account needs to e-mail you a referral link prior to signing up, if you don’t know anybody who can send you the referral link then e-mail me and I can send it to you. You can call ING directly to ask about their referral program at 1-800-ING-DIRECT, only members who have login info can access the info about the referral program. You can signup without the referral link, you just won’t get the $25 signup bonus.

 

I have investigated the info about united bank and emigrant bank the same way I did the other two banks, but I do not yet have accounts with them, they seem to be just as good though. I also have the Ford Interest Advantage account and have had it for at least 8 years, but with everything going on with ford I don’t reccommend it the way I used to, and have withdrawn some of my money from it and put it into FDIC insured investments. The Ford Interest Advantage Account (Formerly known as the Ford Money Market Account) is not FDIC insured, it is insured only by Ford Motor Credit. For those who don’t mind the risk they are paying around 5.75-6.05% depending on the amount invested, they have free checks and check writing privileges. I think you can write checks on this account as much as you want, but the check amount has to be a minimum of $250. Interest is paid on the last day of each month. I have gotten very good interest over the years from this account, however, it is the riskiest of all the accounts that I have mentioned here. The interest rates go up on a pretty steady basis as well. There is a $1,000 minimum to open up this account, additional investments of at least $50 can be automatically withdrawn from your paycheck (Your labor relations can set it up for you), or you can invest through the mail by submitting payment coupons, or you can do a wire transfer through your bank (minimum for wire transfers is $2,000). You can invest as often or as little as you like, however the minimum that you can invest is $50 at a time. This is the link to the ford interest advantage website: www.fordinterestadvantageaccount. If you are a ford employee you can open the ford interest advantage account with as little as $100 a month as long as you let them automatically withdraw it for 10 months till your account reaches the $1,000 minimum. It doesn’t matter if you already have your money directly deposited into another bank, ford will automatically deposit money from your check into your ford interest advantage account also. I believe that TESPHE and the Ford Interest Advantage accounts are the only exceptions where ford will directly deposit your paycheck into more than one financial institution at a time along with your bank or credit union. If you aren’t a Ford employee you can still open up a ford interest advantage account, however you must have the $1,000 minimum upfront, you don’t get the option to have the $100 a month taken from your paycheck to reach the minimum. As with any investment make sure you read the fine print on the websites to make sure you fully understand the terms.

 

If you took the $100,000 lump sum buyout after taxes you’d have about $60k leftover, if you put that amount into an account paying about 5.00% interest you would get somewhere between $200.00-$250.00 per month in interest on that account. Those of us who are leaving ford and taking the buyout need to stretch our money now more than ever, so putting our money where it will get the most growth is even more important now, every penny counts. If anybody has any questions about opening up one of these accounts I will answer the questions if I can, or if you are interested in getting my free e-newsletter please send me a private message on this board. My free e-newsletter is full of money saving tips, how to set up a budget for your household, how to grow your money, how to cut down on household bills, how to make extra money online legally (online auctions, mystery shopping, etc).

Edited December 16, 2006 by ford14

[SalinePlastic]

Thanks for the info.....

[Atlas]

May I suggest you talk to a finacial advisor. Savings accounts traditionally earn a lot less than other vehicles. 5.25% is not very good when compared to a 12 month CD at my local bank (I think it pays about 6%).

[mrballsonya]

With so many of us taking buyouts.......

 

 

Thanks for taking the time, I'm sure there are some people on here that will benefit from your research.

[ford14]

May I suggest you talk to a finacial advisor. Savings accounts traditionally earn a lot less than other vehicles. 5.25% is not very good when compared to a 12 month CD at my local bank (I think it pays about 6%).

 

I mentioned these particular accounts that I know are liquid (money that can be easily accessed at anytime without penalty), that can be started with as little as $1. I also have stocks, bonds, etc. but that is not what this post was about. I got my bonds directly through the government at: www.savingsbonds.gov/indiv/indiv.htm and I have stocks in tesphe, and I also have a brokerage account with www.scottrade.com, in these instances I was able to bypass the middleman and save on commissions. Not saying I would never use a financial advisior, but I personally didn't need them for those particular investments.

 

People who are taking the buyout, depending on their financial situation, may not want their money immediately locked up in something like a cd that will penalize them if they need to access their money before the cd expires. I am getting 5.9% for my ford interest advantage account, and I can access those funds at anytime, so I don't think getting a mere .1% more to lock my money up for several years is such a good deal. Though I know the cd is safer, the interest rates aren't much better than what I am already getting. From what I have seen, in order to get the 6% interest rate for a cd that you mentioned, you have to lock your money up for about 5 years. Which means you can't use that money to take advantage of even better cd rates that may come along over that 5 years, and if you want to withdraw the money early the penalty can be as much as 12 months worth of interest (the average is around 3 months penalty per year). Also, a few banks have a penalty so high that it can actually cut into your principle.

 

Can you give more details on the cd account at your bank? If there is something different about the cd that you are mentioning I'm sure it will benefit us all to know, but It is unlikely that it's any different than the rest of them far as penalties and amount of time you have to keep it for the rate you mentioned. Some people may need the extra restrictions that come with penalties so they won't bother their money and let it grow, so a cd might be better for them.

Edited December 17, 2006 by ford14

[Atlas]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Nick986]

While I'm not a frequent poster here...I felt I should throw my 2cents in on ING Direct.

 

I've had an account with them for well over a year now, and for a savings account you cannot beat the Interest Rate. It has continuously risen since I signed up for an account in August of 05. The customer service is excellent at answering any questions you have. All you need is a checking account to get your account started. Heck, I signed up for a 6 mo CD @ 5% with them.

 

I'm not trying to sell this stuff, but if you want a referral link (so you get some $$$), feel free to PM me or shoot me an email (just state something about it in the subject) nick986 (at) gmail (dot) com.

[ford14]

While I'm not a frequent poster here...I felt I should throw my 2cents in on ING Direct.

 

I've had an account with them for well over a year now, and for a savings account you cannot beat the Interest Rate. It has continuously risen since I signed up for an account in August of 05. The customer service is excellent at answering any questions you have. All you need is a checking account to get your account started. Heck, I signed up for a 6 mo CD @ 5% with them.

 

I'm not trying to sell this stuff, but if you want a referral link (so you get some $$$), feel free to PM me or shoot me an email (just state something about it in the subject) nick986 (at) gmail (dot) com.

 

I'd like to expand on the ing referral program. First of all when I first joined ING I had heard of their referral program, but did not see any mention of it on their website. I saw someone mention that they had the referral link on a discussion board, but I did not know this person and wanted to make sure it was legitimate, so I called ing directly and asked about it, and sure enough it was legitimate. The only people who have access to information about the referral program and referral links are the account holders. They can access it only if they login to their account.

 

I make double sure that I verify this type of info because I often pass it along to my e-newsletter readers, so I need to be as accurate as possible with the facts. Once I found that it was legitimate I literally did a search online to find someone with the referral code, I could have opened an ing account without it but wouldn't have gotten the $25 bonus. Why signup for free when I can get extra $? When I did locate someone with the referral link all I did was tell the person my e-mail address first and last name, as a matter of fact I may have just given them my last initial, I don't think it matters. They logged into their ING account, e-mailed me the referral link, I signed up and got the bonus. That's it. He also got a $10 referral fee for sending me the link, which didn't bother me one bit, bottom line was that I got my bonus and the great rate ing offers, and if he got something out of it too from ing then I was glad for him. At the time when I opened my account several years ago a person could get the $25 bonus for simply opening up the account with $1, now in order to get the signup bonus the person must open the account with at least $250.

 

Once you open up an ING account you can send up to 25 people referral links, and you will get a $10 bonus per person that you send the link to who signs up with at least $250. So if you decide to sign up, make sure you get the referral link be it from me, Duratec_Nick, or from someone else. If you want the $25 bonus you need the referral link from somebody. It's Free money. Too many people are getting ripped off letting their money sit in local bank accounts getting 1/2%-2% interest rates, online banking is the way to go. You can still keep your local bank account too, I have several bank accounts, some online, some local. But when it comes to putting my money in savings I go where I can get the most bang for my buck.

Edited December 17, 2006 by ford14

[Atlas]

I make double sure that I verify this type of info because I often pass it along to my e-newsletter readers, so I need to be as accurate as possible with the facts.

[chkchka]

Check out Eloan. About 2 months back I did some research and they had the best rate. It's lowered a bit since but I bet it's still competitive. It's a savings rate and at the time was 5.5(better than most CD's). The drawback is there is a bit of wait time if you ever have a problem and have to call.