You never need more than one checking account. I have two and for the last year or two, as I’ve moved slowly towards simplifying our finances, closing the second checking account has always been on my “To Do” list but has never been scratched off. I’ve closed plenty of online savings accounts, like HSBC Direct and FNBO Direct, but not this checking account because it’ll require me to go into a branch.

What has it cost me? There are a few hundred dollars in the account, let’s say it’s around $500, and if you assume 2% interest (high yield savings accounts have been at most 2% in the last two years), it has cost me around twenty dollars. Twenty bucks isn’t a ton of money but I’d rather have it in my pocket than the bank’s!

What have you been putting off? Maybe it’s getting your emergency fund off the ground or rolling over a 401(k) into an IRA or perhaps it’s just setting up a CD ladder… but there has to be something, money-related, that you’ve been putting off for one reason or another?

A couple weeks ago I closed my HSBC Direct account and today I closed my FNBO Direct account. As was the case with HSBC Direct, I’m not closing the account because I don’t like FNBO Direct or the online savings account itself. I’m trying to simplify our financial lives, post-marriage, and we have far too many financial accounts. Part of it is because you take two adults and make them one financial unit and part of it is because as a personal finance blogger, I open a lot of accounts so that I can provide a first-hand opinion of them.

Now that we’re in the simplification phase of our lives, something has to give and unfortunately it’ll be FNBO Direct today. I do have to say, the customer service lines were very fast and I appreciated talking to someone in Omaha (the “O” in FNBO). It’s nice to see a business provides jobs locally, especially in our economic environment.

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(Updated < ?php echo date("n/j");?>) If you are looking for a high yield savings account to earn more money, you have come to the right place. This page is updated daily and lists the interest rates of the most popular online banks including industry heavyweights like Ally Bank, Discover Bank, and Capital One. If you want a better interest rate on your savings account, this table will give you a head start. All of the banks on this list are FDIC insured so you know your money is 100% safe.

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We have twelve bank accounts.

You read that correctly, we have twelve accounts.

Ally Bank, FNBO Direct, ING Direct, HSBC Direct, Bank of America, M&T Bank, … the list goes on.

We also have a dozen credit cards. Citi, Discover, Capital One, … again, the list goes on.

We have so many accounts because we’ve slowly acquired them over the course of the last ten years. Our financial network map is an intricated mess despite our best efforts to simplify our personal finances.

That’s why we need to hit the reset button on our financial life.

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How much money do you have sitting in a savings account? $500? $1,000?

Do you have plans for that money? If not, it should be in a certificate of deposit at your bank. If your bank doesn’t offer good CD rates, then you should open a CD with an online bank and take advantage of their better interest rates. If you don’t think you have enough money, you’re wrong. You can open a CD at an online bank with a single dollar.

One dollar.

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The key to finding the best online savings account at the best online bank comes down to interest rates. The bells and whistles are nice but ultimately it’s about the money and the bank with the highest interest rates will win. That’s why we’ve included a table of the best interest savings account rates followed by a review of some of the more popular online banks. The best online bank for you may depend on a lot of factors outside of the interest rate, which is why minimum balances, fee, and other details are included in the table. One thing is clear, online savings accounts always pay more than a regular brick and mortar.

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(Updated 9/1) In the world of banking products, you are always trading off interest rate for flexibility. Typically the higher the interest rate, the less flexible the account. Take CD rates for example, they are often higher than savings accounts and they are less flexible. You decide how long you’re willing to keep your money locked up and then pick a bank that offers the best rate for that term. If you wish to get your money early, you pay penalty. On the other end are checking accounts. Checking accounts have the worst interest rates but offer the most flexibility. You can get your cash whenever you want it, write as many checks as you’d like, and visit your own ATM without penalty. For that flexibility, you earn very little, if any, interest.

Where does that leave money market accounts?

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One of the things I learned whenever I drew up our financial network map was that I had a lot of bank accounts, mostly high interest savings accounts at online banks. FNBO Direct, Dollar Savings Direct, HSBC Direct, ING Direct, and E*Trade for starters and that was after we closed accounts at Emigrant Direct and Virtual Bank.

There are many reasons why I have so many bank accounts, and I’ll explain that some other time, but the point of this post is that it’s easy to forget the big picture whenever you’re dealing with the nitty gritty of daily affairs.

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I’ve been emailing back and forth with reader Tomas (he’s the impetus for the Bargaineering VideoCast that will be published on Sunday), and one question I struggled with was which online bank has the best high yield savings account offer now?

In the last few months, interest rates have plummeted. It was only a few short months ago that Dollar Savings Direct offered 4.00% APY on their savings account. Now the rate is half that, a mere 2.05% APY. FNBO Direct, a long-time favorite of mine, just lowered their rates yesterday to under 2%. ING Direct, HSBC Direct, and E*Trade Bank all have rates under 2.00% and have had rates that low for quite some time.

So which one is the best? For me, it’s any of them. The difference between 1.50% at ING Direct and 2.05% at Dollar savings is microscopic. Half a percent isn’t worth the hassle of opening up an account, to be honest, and my money is going to whatever account makes it easiest for me to work with them.

How about you? What do you consider the best high yield savings account nowadays?

(Photo: refractedmoments)

(Updated 11/6) I’ve been keeping a list of the best CD rates for certificates of deposit in the 12-month to 18-month maturity range, figuring that’s typically the sweet spot for CD rates. If the CD maturity is too short, banks won’t give you a good rate because it’s such a short period of time. If the CD maturity is too long, the customer is taking on a lot more inflation risk than the bank is probably paying out for. However, short term certificates of deposit still have their place:

• You’re setting up a CD ladder and you need CDs to fill up those short period slots.
• You have funds in an account that currently isn’t earning the highest yield for savings, transferring the funds will take time and cut down on your interest earned… so you might as well throw it into a short term CD to get a better rate.
• You simply don’t want to rate chase and open up a new account with each new online bank that offers a high rate, so you might as well hit up a short term rate with the bank you’re worth just to get a little extra.

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