Bank of America sparked a bit of an outrage (ha!) when they announced a new $5 monthly fee for debit card users and Everbank counters with sixty bucks in bonus cash if you open a Yield Pledge Checking Account before November 30th. One bank announces a $5 monthly fee, another bank offers $5 a month as a cash incentive – can you see where this is going?

Brick and mortar banks can’t compete with online banks on the basics of banking – checking, savings, and certificates of deposits. The finances are what they are. Online banks have lower overhead and so they can pass along some of that in better rates. As of 10/24/2011 Bank of America has a 9 month no-penalty CD yielding 0.30% APY and a 12 month CD yielding 0.50% APY (rates). Everbank’s 12-month CD is 0.80% APY. It won’t wow you but it’s 60% higher.

So if you want to try a checking account that pays you $5 a month, rather than one that dings you $5, think about Everbank.

Clever marketing!

I’ve written about Everbank in the past because of their high rates and their unique CDs, especially the market-safe CDs. They’ve consistently been among the best rates on any listing of high yield savings accounts and I’ve been using them for quite some time.

As far as I can recall, this is the first time they’ve offered a deposit bonus for as long as I’ve known they existed.

(Click to continue reading…)

Not all CD early withdrawal penalties are created equal. I’ve long assumed that the standard penalty schedule of 3-months and 6-months was ubiquitous but with recent news that Ally Bank charges a mere 60 days has thrown by world view into disarray! Fortunately, early withdrawal penalties are disclosed in the Truth in Savings document a bank must publish about its bank products. Understanding them is crucial in our economic times and they often take a back seat to the headline interest rate.

I like to draw this analogy – The interest rate is the flash, it’s like the horsepower of the engine in a car, but knowing the early withdrawal penalty is like knowing the state of your spare tire. Tou don’t want to be surprised at a time of crisis.

(Click to continue reading…)

Last week, I wrote about how ING Direct and Everbank offered overdraft protection by way of a line of credit, rather than socking you with overdraft fees. I commented, off the cuff and without doing much research, about how online banks are better than traditional brick and mortar banks about overdraft fees because they aren’t as much a slave to meeting their revenue expectations. I figured it’d be a little unfair if I just left it at that, so I took a look at how online banks deal with overdrafts on their checking accounts.

In general, online banks are cheaper than traditional banks. Some use the same system of fees while some use overdraft protection, charging an interest rate. Some charge one fee regardless of the number of overdrafts in a single day while others hit you for each one. On the whole, online banks are cheaper probably because they can afford to be.

Let’s take a look at some popular online banks and their checking account fees:

(Click to continue reading…)

When it comes to interesting and innovative banking products, Everbank has always led the pack. With some banks you get the same vanilla options – checking, money market, savings, CDs. Reward checking is rare and “exotic” CDs are even rarer (how many banks offer one of the non-standard CDs?).

Recently I received an email from them about a 5-year diversified metals CD. The basic idea is that it’s a principal protected CD with a 5 year term that appreciates if the price of gold, silver and platinum increase. If there is no gain, you receive your principal back.

(Click to continue reading…)

In every professional sport, there’s a concept of a “rebuilding year.” These are the years where the team is working on drafting good prospects, building up their young talent, and crafting a competitive championship-caliber team piece by piece. It’s difficult to field a championship team every year for more than a few years, with free agency and everything, so it’s expected that after a few years of stellar performance, you’re bound to have a few leaner years where you’re rebuilding your talent. The good teams do this well, with strong performing rebuilding years, and others do it poorly.

How does this apply to you? It’s a little downside psychology. With the recent economic crisis, a lot of folks are forced into their rebuilding years. You may have lost your job. Your investments may have lost value. Your money doesn’t seem to get you as far as it used to… you’re down, but not out. So turn this year into a money rebuilding year.

(Click to continue reading…)

All throughout tax season, from about mid-February to early-April, I received letters from my banks telling me it that I was running out of time to contribute to an IRA. This happens every year because brokers and banks want your business. They want you to open your IRA with them. The letters pitch various products and the most intriguing one I saw this year was a letter from Everbank advertising a high yield IRA.

Everyone likes a high yield IRA, right? Reminds me a little of this insight into retirement wealth:

1. Open high yield IRA.
2. ???
3. Profit!

(Click to continue reading…)

A few years ago, if you told someone that you put your savings into an online bank, people would look at you funny. They ask whether or not your money was safe and secure, as if your dollars were actually locked away in a vault at the local bank. They’d ask whether you could talk to a human being if you needed to or if the banks themselves were safe (“because they’d heard stories”).

Well, years later, after enjoying yields of 5% or more, the general public is starting to pick up on the fact that just like buying books and CDs online, you can find better prices for your savings by shopping online.

It’s only natural that after savings and certificates of deposits, the next bank deposit product to start percolating the interwebs would be checking accounts. Most checking accounts do not bear any interest and often cost consumers money in various fees, from overdraft to ATM fees.

So what if I told you that you can get an online checking account, pay virtually no ATM fees, and increase your interest rate all at the same time? Well you can… online checking accounts offer just that.

In fact, some of the online checking accounts I list below may give you a higher interest rate than your brick and mortar savings account!

(Click to continue reading…)