Comments on: How To Chase High Interest Rates On Savings Accounts and Manage Them

By: Investor0329

Investor0329 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:37:04 +0000

What do you think of this new Ally Bank (former GMAC) that I recently heard about?

Also, as a response to Sophia…I’ve noticed that most of these online banks offer CDs as well as savings accounts.

By: Sophia

Sophia — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:28:44 +0000

Are you still chasing interest rates in this economic climate? Ben Bernanke and the Fed keep lowering Fed Fund interest rates and I’m not sure it makes sense to deposit money into savings accounts any longer. So-called high yield savings accounts are no longer really highest yielding accounts. It’s time to look into alternatives like CDs (although bank sponsored and interest fluctating CDs don’t seem too attractive in this market either). Maybe P2P lending alternatives like Prosper or Lending Club? Rates of 9% look good, albeit without FDIC insurance protection….ugh … times are tough for us lifetime savers!

By: Raymond

Raymond — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:08:20 +0000

Ok, I just set up an account with moneyaisle.com to test out the gimmicky high yield auction bidding process.

First I submitted an auction proposal for a simple $5,000 high yield savings deposit. A few seconds later, the best savings account APY offer (out of 59 bidding banks) I received was a measly 3.4% APY with some bank I’ve never heard of before – Beverly National Bank. Now why would I put my money in some bank I’ve never heard of when I can get a better rate with my existing Countrywide Savings Link account or with a more recognizable bank like HSBC?

I did it one more time, but this time with a deposit proposal for $150,000. Same result – only 3.4% APY with some random local bank.

Unless the bid offers significantly skyrocket beyond those already offered by well established high yield banking providers, this new upstart isn’t going to have much success in my opinion. Of course it’s still too early to tell, but then I’ve never been a big fan of these auction type financial services.

By: Raymond

Raymond — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:55:12 +0000

Beata,

I’ve never heard of it before…but the auction style concept seems quite intriguing. Of course, I wonder if it’s just a passing fad – sort of how Priceline’s bidding business model sort of died down over time. After all, why go through the whole bidding process when banks and providers can just get down to it and offer up their best interest rates to begin with? Of course, if high yield banking account customers could somehow lock in certain APY rates for a particular duration – that might be something exciting.

Might be worth checking out just to see what the upstart company amounts to.

By: Beata

Beata — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:26:10 +0000

i’ve been reading your site for a while now — thanks for all the work you put into your blog. i’m de-lurking to ask: have you heard of moneyaisle.com? a friend of mine works there and they just released it — it’s a site where you can get banks to bid on your money if you want to invest in a CD or high-interest savings account. please don’t think this is a spam plug — i just thought you might be interested.