“Historical” Online Savings Interest Rate Comparison
Want to see an interesting comparison of the interest rates of HSBC, ING Direct, Virtual Bank, Emigrant Direct and the Federal Funds rate in a table and easy to understand chart? Me too. That’s why I stumbled onto a thread at Fatwallet Finance documenting the interest rates of all those savings accounts (there are a couple more that I omitted) I thought a graphical representation would be an interesting thing to see. Historical is in quotes because this only goes back to January ‘05 so it’s not exactly History Channel type depth but I think it’ll suffice.
Some thoughts…
Actual history and a line chart after the jump.
| Date | HSBC | ING Direct | Virtual Bank | Emigrant | Fed. Funds Rate |
| 1/05 | 2.35% | 2.60% | 3.00% | 2.25% | |
| 2/05 | 2.35% | 2.60% | 3.00% | 2.50% | |
| 3/05 | 2.75% | 2.53% | 2.80% | 3.25% | 2.75% |
| 4/05 | 2.88% | 2.98% | 3.05% | 3.25% | 2.75% |
| 5/05 | 2.88% | 3.00% | 3.05% | 3.25% | 3.00% |
| 6/05 | 2.88% | 3.00% | 3.25% | 3.25% | 3.25% |
| 7/05 | 3.25% | 3.05% | 3.40% | 3.50% | 3.25% |
| 8/05 | 3.50% | 3.27% | 3.40% | 3.50% | 3.50% |
| 9/05 | 3.75% | 3.40% | 3.55% | 4.00% | 3.75% |
| 10/05 | 3.75% | 3.48% | 3.55% | 4.00% | 3.75% |
| 11/05 | 4.00% | 3.71% | 3.55% | 4.00% | 4.00% |
| 12/05 | 4.25% | 3.80% | 3.55% | 4.00% | 4.25% |
| 1/06 | 4.25% | 4.75% | 3.55% | 4.25% | 4.50% |
| 2/06 | 4.80% | 4.75% | 4.60% | 4.25% | 4.50% |
| 3/06 | 4.80% | 4.75% | 4.60% | 4.50% | 4.75% |
| 4/06 | 4.80% | 4.75% | 4.60% | 4.50% | 4.75% |
| 5/06 | 4.80% | 4.00% | 4.60% | 4.50% | 4.75% |
Based on records from Fatwallet’s user-supplied interest rate history records.
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There are 12 comments, add your thoughts now!
Not that it is terribly significant (
Here’s my interpretation of the chart; all the rates are virtually identical. If you had a hypothetical $10,000 saved at any of these online banks, once you got done paying taxes the actual different in interest per year might be $15 - $20.
So, rather than pick the bank based on the interest rate, one would be well-served to pick the bank with the best customer service, software compatibility, or some such.
One would be somewhat ill-advised to jump around from bank to bank; the potential returns from this strategy are minimal and the potential risks (money being out of play, having to track transferred money, etc..) far outweight the returns.
I’d still pick HSBC; they’re the only one I’ve been able to find that Quicken can connect to and they give you a acct# and routing# so you can do ACH transfers… There also sup-secure. So secure in fact that I was pissed off I elected not to get an ATM card with my acct because if you don’t get the card, you have to call in to do pretty uch anything when you’re setting up transfers and what not.
Isn’t HSBC’s promotional 4.8% APY supposed to end 31 April?
Shoot you’re right Chris… I put in one month too many on that chart. Nice catch…
No problem — Thanks Jim for presenting these data.
I just like to think what my reaction would have been 5yrs ago if someone had said “online bank” to me back then.
CK - I was thinking the same thing… put your funds in a bank with no branches and little in the way of customer service, all for an interest rate of 3-4% If it wasn’t for the FDIC, I’d think it was a scam.
The only reason my money wasn’t in an online bank 5 years ago is because 5 years ago was 2001, and the online bank my money had been in was bought by PayPal (and then shut down) in 2000.
[...] » “Historical” Online Savings Interest Rate Comparison on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity [...]
Just got an email that HSBC is going to be at 4.5 when the promotional rate ends (May 1).
[...] Check out this chart and graph on the Fed Funds Rate versus ING, Emigrant, HSBC and Virtual Bank for the past year and a half. The conclusion is: “HSBC has the best rate, hands down. If you were going to open an account anywhere (and couldn’t get ING’s referral bonus), open one at HSBC because of the interest rate. There’s no reason to pick anyone else over them.” “Historical” Online Savings Interest Rate Comparison on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity [...]
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