Comments on: Opening an Everbank Yield Pledge Money Market Account

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:54:22 +0000

I as looking over the info at EverBank. If your balance falls below $1500 there’s a $4.95 monthly fee. So this means you’ll have to either keep $1500 in that account if you transfer funds away, or close your account. Sounds lame.

“Minimum opening deposit of $1,500 is required. In any month that your average monthly balance falls below $1,500, a $4.95 monthly fee applies”

On a side note, if you have any experiences with business banking I’d love to read about it.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:13:26 +0000

Yep, those reward checking accounts have become very popular lately, 5% is about the average right now.

By: James

James — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:44:17 +0000

Something else to think about is a local credit union. I just started up a “max” checking account at lake michigan credit union. LMCU.org. It is 5% yield if you have direct deposit, login 4 times a month online, and use the debit card associated with the account 10 times a month. The cool thing is this. As most credit unions, they only let you in for certain reasons. I signed up even though I didn’t live, work, go to school, or worship in those counties. They called me and informed me that I did not qualify for an account based on my living conditions but I could qualify by making a charitable donation this specific charity of there choice. It was $5 minimum. So now I have a checking account, with checks, a debit card, and 5% APY up to $15,000. Local research can pay off big time!!

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:35:15 +0000

I can, but I still have to wait for the paperwork to get there!

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:21:05 +0000

I hope you can do a follow up review in three months talking about your experiences with Everbank.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:18:38 +0000

The worry is that they’ll go belly up but as long as you have under the FDIC limit ($250k now), you shouldn’t have to do anything. It’s usually only for deposits above the FDIC limit.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:17:43 +0000

It’s not promotional and it’s not guaranteed, it’s just the going rate. The Everbank rate is a promotional rate and is guaranteed for three months.

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:51:51 +0000

Also, is the DSD 3.2% rate promotional or guaranteed for a certain period of time or something else?

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:49:43 +0000

I’m about to move money out of CountryWide (now down to a pathetic 1.65 APY…thanks to BOA acquiring them) and was going to go with Dollar Savings Direct.

Before I make this decision, I’m wondering if you could elaborate a little more on “safety” concerns/ratings.

Since all are FDIC insured, what are the primary concerns? Are they that the bank will go belly up and then we’ll have to go through the (not very enjoyable) process/paperwork to get our deposits back?

By: AverageJoe

AverageJoe — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:13:01 +0000

The international currency CDs sound really interesting, I’ve never seen that offered in a retail setting. Depending on the rates and minimum deposit amounts, could be fun and educational to try them…but I need to check it out first. Thanks for the review Jim!

By: thomas

thomas — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:26:16 +0000

Wow, that’s actually a pretty good deal on savings. Broken record here, but it’s nothing like the 6%+ rates not too long ago. Man that was some sweet money making.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:36:55 +0000

Maybe because of the account I opened? I did the money market account and I had to print out a form to sign and mail in.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:36:15 +0000

Everything is dropping because interest rates are at all time lows, so banks don’t feel compelled to pay out high rates. The only thing I can recommend, if you want safe investments, is to go with CDs.

I’m not sure what you mean by private banks, could you elaborate?

By: nickel

nickel — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:33:09 +0000

Rates are dropping because the Federal Reserve says so. Whenever they cut short term rates, savings rates follow shortly thereafter.

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:18:56 +0000

Interesting that you had to print out the application and signature card and mail them in. This was the old way, but according to Jonathon at MyMoneyBlog, the application process was completely online with no paperwork as of November 2008. Wonder why they went back to the old way.