Emigrant Direct LOWERS Rate to 5.05%
Looks like Emigrant Direct has enough money and that it doesn’t need anymore… they announced today that they were dropping their interest rates from 5.15% to 5.05% effective tomorrow (the 30th). ING Direct’s current rate is a paltry 4.40% and there are a whole slew of online banks offering much higher rates including newcomer E-Loan and their 5.50% rate.
Right now, if I was going to open an online account I’d go with E-Loan. Check out Bank Deals for information on the details of the E-Loan offering and Punny Money for real life anecdote on how to open an E-Loan savings account.
9 responses to “Emigrant Direct LOWERS Rate to 5.05%”
CK responds:
Posted: September 29th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
This is a pretty stupid move. I’m going to open an account with Ford Motor Credit currently at 5.64% and 5.79% at 15K and 5.94% at 50K. It’s of course not guaranteed but I’m not losing any sleep over it. ( http://www.fordcredit.com/interestadvantage/index.jhtml for those interested and no I’m not connected. )
samerwriter responds:
Posted: September 29th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
If you have $10,000 invested in Emigrant, the lower rate will mean $10 less over the course of a year. After taxes, it’s more like $6 less. Is it worth noticing? Maybe. Is it worth worrying about? Definitely not.
Though you’re right — they’re basically playing games with rates to attract money. If you’re tired of banks playing games to get your business, Vanguard’s Prime Money Market offers attractive rates without the games, and an easy path to investing in a broader array of the best index funds available.
Golbguru responds:
Posted: September 29th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Well its not a noticeable drop right now, but the trend doesn’t look too good (and it messed up my calculations a bit in my last post) :(.
Do you think it’s time for locking in a good 5 year CD? …I would guess it is.
Herb responds:
Posted: September 29th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
I’m not a fan of buying CD’s yet… I think we’ve got until the end of year to figure out where rates are going. T-Bills have plunged because the Fed has stopped raising rates, but I’d expect things will begin to clear after the elections. We still have to see where housing ends up as well…
jim says in reply:
Posted: September 29th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
I wouldn’t buy CD’s yet but if you read any news you’ll hear whispers about how the Fed might lower interest rates because of a potential slowdown… if the whispers become more of a dull roar, maybe moving to a CD would be smart. Think about how there were “sky is falling” type stuff at least six months before the housing market slowed down… economics doesn’t move that quickly.
The Sun’s Financial Diary » Blog Archive » So, It’s not a Rumor responds:
Posted: September 30th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
[...] Yesterday, I saw a post from Jim, saying that EmigrantDirect is to lower its savings rate. It was kind of surprise because I also have an account with EmigrantDirect and I didn't get any notice about their rate change. Last night when I logged into my account in preparation of this month's balance sheet, the savings rate was still shown at 5.15%, the same as the past four months. However, when I checked again this morning, the rate dropped to 5.05%, matching the offer from HSBC. [...]
King Asa responds:
Posted: October 20th, 2006 at 10:24 am
Emigrant has been pretty competitive with their rates, but their website has been regularly pissing me off lately. It has been inaccessible on several occasions when I attempt to log in. They need to greatly improve their web server reliability in order to keep a respectable image.
The Tao of Making Money - Just another WordPress weblog » How Long Till You Double Your Money? Is the Rule Of 72 Good Enough? responds:
Posted: November 15th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
[...] And now it’s show-me-the-money -already-damn-it time For those of us who have accounts in HSBC Direct and Emigrant Direct, the rule is more like “Rule of 71″ and you will double you initial investment in about 14.3 years and 14.1 years respectively (now they will be same, read about it here on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity), at their current rates of interest. If you bank with ING Direct, the rule is more like “Rule of 70.8″ and you will double your money in about 16.4 years. Keep in mind that these are estimates and that we made some assumptions above (like n = 1) so the real numbers will vary a bit. [...]
Money, Matter, and More Musings » How Long Till You Double Your Money? Is the Rule Of 72 Good Enough? responds:
Posted: November 19th, 2006 at 7:41 am
[...] And now it’s show-me-the-money-already-damn-it time For those of us who have accounts in HSBC Direct and Emigrant Direct, the rule is more like “Rule of 71″ and you will double you initial investment in about 14.3 years and 14.1 years respectively (now they will be same, read about it here on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity), at their current rates of interest. If you bank with ING Direct, the rule is more like “Rule of 70.8″ and you will double your money in about 16.4 years. Keep in mind that these are estimates and that we made some assumptions above (like n = 1) so the real numbers will vary a bit. [...]