High Yield Savings

[EmilyFoxSeaton]

I have an account with Synchrony Bank. It is actually doing pretty decently. The interest rate has gone up 2 times since I got it and given how safe my investment is... I have made more than Lending Club and Groundfloor. Though obviously I have put in more money.  Some of the CDs are offering 1.55 % which is more than I have seen in a while. Anyone else ?

[Rob L]

You might want to look through this thread for earlier discussions (it's a bit dated):
http://forum.lendacademy.com/index.php/topic,4212.0.html

A really good web site that tracks bank account rates (mentioned by nonattender in that thread) is:
https://www.depositaccounts.com/
If there are better ones I'd sure like to hear of them.

[SLCPaladin]

I second depositaccounts.com, that is a great site. PenFed Federal Credit Union put out 3.1% 5-year CDs in 2013 for a brief time and I found out about it there and snapped some up. The deal only lasted about one or two months. I check that site at least once a week for the best CD rates. Currently, I'm getting 2.6% at Mountain America Credit Union NCUA insured on 5-year term deposits.

[Rob L]

I second depositaccounts.com, that is a great site. PenFed Federal Credit Union put out 3.1% 5-year CDs in 2013 for a brief time and I found out about it there and snapped some up. The deal only lasted about one or two months. I check that site at least once a week for the best CD rates. Currently, I'm getting 2.6% at Mountain America Credit Union NCUA insured on 5-year term deposits.

I'll bet when you bought those 5 year 3.1% CD's in 2013 that, more likely than not, you thought you would have no problem reinvesting when they came to full term at a higher rate. Not looking like a sure thing at all right now. Very very tough to be a saver these days.

Of course if you are the Federal Government these low interest rates have provided an enormous windfall by massively lowering your interest payments on the national debt. How convenient. We've gone from tax and spend, to borrow and spend, to borrow for ZIRP and spend, all as bipartisan policy.

[nonattender]

A really good web site that tracks bank account rates (mentioned by nonattender in that thread) is:

That guy's an idiot.  Plus, he's even too lazy to provide charts to support his crazy proclamations.

I'm in the market, for this, again, right now, too - still have the 1.5% one, somewhere - but have another at 1.11% that needs updating.  Best I've seen so far, for fully liquid/no-tiny-balance-limits/no-bullshit-use-our-debit-card-90-times-a-month requirements is some Texas? bank offering a MMKT at 1.55% I think...  I'd love it if someone else did the research on this, for me.

Hint, hint...

[SLCPaladin]

A really good web site that tracks bank account rates (mentioned by nonattender in that thread) is:

That guy's an idiot.  Plus, he's even too lazy to provide charts to support his crazy proclamations.

I'm in the market, for this, again, right now, too - still have the 1.5% one, somewhere - but have another at 1.11% that needs updating.  Best I've seen so far, for fully liquid/no-tiny-balance-limits/no-bullshit-use-our-debit-card-90-times-a-month requirements is some Texas? bank offering a MMKT at 1.55% I think...  I'd love it if someone else did the research on this, for me.

Hint, hint...

Depends on what your thoughts are on how quickly rates might jump, and how long you want to lock up your funds. EverBank's 3-year CD is 2%, and that is what I would go with for that term. I've had EverBank CDs and foreign currency CDs and I find EverBank to be a fantastic bank; it is predominantly online only bank with some niche products.

For the shorter term, Veridian Credit Union has a weird but intriguing 17-month term CD at 1.76%.

At 5 year terms, the current best is United States Senate Federal Credit Union at 2.44%

Interestingly enough, there are about 10 credit unions in Utah that are above the nationwide best. I suspect it's because the economy is so hot here. But the tool on depositaccounts.com is easy and the website owner, Ken Tumin, has already done the homework for you. You just put in your state and select the term and it will tell you the best rates.

[SLCPaladin]

I second depositaccounts.com, that is a great site. PenFed Federal Credit Union put out 3.1% 5-year CDs in 2013 for a brief time and I found out about it there and snapped some up. The deal only lasted about one or two months. I check that site at least once a week for the best CD rates. Currently, I'm getting 2.6% at Mountain America Credit Union NCUA insured on 5-year term deposits.

I'll bet when you bought those 5 year 3.1% CD's in 2013 that, more likely than not, you thought you would have no problem reinvesting when they came to full term at a higher rate. Not looking like a sure thing at all right now. Very very tough to be a saver these days.

Of course if you are the Federal Government these low interest rates have provided an enormous windfall by massively lowering your interest payments on the national debt. How convenient. We've gone from tax and spend, to borrow and spend, to borrow for ZIRP and spend, all as bipartisan policy.

Yeah, it's hard to be a saver. I honestly feel like I have no where to go. Don't want to go to stocks or bonds or real estate. Everything seems a bit frothy to me, but I also I worry about inflation eroding my strong cash position. And now LC seems to be less of a sure thing than it was when I started investing 5 years ago. Anil and I have talked elsewhere on this thread and I still have some US Treasury i-Bonds that are getting around 5%; I wish I loaded up back then on those!

[EmilyFoxSeaton]

I second depositaccounts.com, that is a great site. PenFed Federal Credit Union put out 3.1% 5-year CDs in 2013 for a brief time and I found out about it there and snapped some up. The deal only lasted about one or two months. I check that site at least once a week for the best CD rates. Currently, I'm getting 2.6% at Mountain America Credit Union NCUA insured on 5-year term deposits.

I didn't find it there but I found a 3 % rate at Hanscom Federal Credit Union (of which I am a member and federal employee). CU Thrive only allows you to deposit $500 per month and only for a year but I will take it. 

I do think interest rates will be coming up. Not a whole lot but I think we could be seeing more and more 3%s soon.

[nonattender]

Depends on what your thoughts are on how quickly rates might jump, and how long you want to lock up your funds. EverBank's 3-year CD is 2%, and that is what I would go with for that term. I've had EverBank CDs and foreign currency CDs and I find EverBank to be a fantastic bank; it is predominantly online only bank with some niche products.

re outlook, up - ergo, not long on lockup (thusly staying pretty liquid w/cash parking options - no cd's for me, atm)...

everbank has been fun - started with them a cpl of yrs ago at 1.6% intro, but that ran out, then did a year of their other yieldpledge thing for 1.11% - but that's running out... I sent CS a note asking for a courtesy/retention bump to at least 1.21 apy to keep me from having to move a bunch of money somewhere else, but whomever replied basically quoted me the terms of their current "new customers only" promotion and said "denied" --- so, Everbank's been fun, but, after that curt brushoff - gotta take my money run!

For the shorter term, Veridian Credit Union has a weird but intriguing 17-month term CD at 1.76%.

Weird also is Ally's 11 month CD @1.5% APY with NO early withdrawal penalty.  I tried to open that, since they recently bought out a company that had an old brokerage account of mine in it and I thought it would be painless - nope, nine screens of badly programmed bullshit that hung up on like step 8 of what should have been a "one-button" process (since I was already a customer) - and then a few days later some dude calls me and says, hey, we want to open that thing for you, but we need you to fax a paper copy of your DL and --- "no thanks, I'm not going to play with a fax machine - you should have all this KYC stuff since you've got like $60k of my money, anyway" --- Ally, I suspect, might be having some problems integrating its most recent acquisitions - that or it's always been a pain in the ass.

At 5 year terms, the current best is United States Senate Federal Credit Union at 2.44%

Do I get to vote for new Senate leadership if I join?  (too long)

Interestingly enough, there are about 10 credit unions in Utah that are above the nationwide best.

Now you're talking.  I can probably be from Utah.  Utah loves me.  I love Utah.  What are these Utah CU's and what are the rates?
(I looked on depositaccounts - nothing special popped out at me, even when I selected Utah and claimed I was in every possible industry / SEG / FOM imaginable...)

[Rob L]

Weird also is Ally's 11 month CD @1.5% APY with NO early withdrawal penalty.

I did some of those. Except for my own snafu no hassles. Probably made easier as I deposited the cash into a savings account there first (1.15% APY), then used it to fund the 1.5% 11 month CD's. My snafu was that I bought 9 CD's and violated the maximum of 6 transfers in a statement period for my savings account. The extra 3 cost me $10 each. My bad.

Brokerages (read Fidelity in my case) make a killing on uninvested cash in their accounts. They will sweep it into an FDIC bank that pays as close to zero APR as possible. If I could find a brokerage that quickly swept my cash into and out of an FDIC bank paying 1% or so I'd move everything there. Don't think it exists. For IRA funds it takes weeks to move things around. That's not an accident. I'd actually call a brokerage that  embraced this high interest rate sweep strategy as "disruptive" and they would probably be overwhelmed with deposits. Surely (don't call me ..., okay!) they would be able to more than make up for the lost "float" interest with higher upfront charges and fees. Never happen ...

[nonattender]

Weird also is Ally's 11 month CD @1.5% APY with NO early withdrawal penalty.

I did some of those. Except for my own snafu no hassles. Probably made easier as I deposited the cash into a savings account there first (1.15% APY), then used it to fund the 1.5% 11 month CD's. My snafu was that I bought 9 CD's and violated the maximum of 6 transfers in a statement period for my savings account. The extra 3 cost me $10 each. My bad.

Brokerages (read Fidelity in my case) make a killing on uninvested cash in their accounts. They will sweep it into an FDIC bank that pays as close to zero APR as possible. If I could find a brokerage that quickly swept my cash into and out of an FDIC bank paying 1% or so I'd move everything there. Don't think it exists. For IRA funds it takes weeks to move things around. That's not an accident. I'd actually call a brokerage that  embraced this high interest rate sweep strategy as "disruptive" and they would probably be overwhelmed with deposits. Surely (don't call me ..., okay!) they would be able to more than make up for the lost "float" interest with higher upfront charges and fees. Never happen ...

That's an intriguing idea...  ETA:  Think that's what ally is going for - but, for the moment, banking+brokerage are not well integrated - even have 2 different logins.... put all that crap on one interface (and let me open both types of accounts with no hassle - ONE CLICK) and it's a (future) winner.

What I do, wrt FDRXX (or whatever they're sweeping into now, I keep getting new letters every few weeks saying they're gonna change it - or did - or are about to do so, again) - Fidelity offers a bunch of brokered CD's (no fee) in $1k increments, many with 1mo duration...

It beats .007... (never say never again!)

[jheizer]

I keep my brokerage cash in my purepoint savings getting 1.3%. When I want it back into the account etrade credits my account as soon as I initiate the transfer so it's only an extra minute to access the cash.

[nonattender]

I keep my brokerage cash in my purepoint savings getting 1.3%. When I want it back into the account etrade credits my account as soon as I initiate the transfer so it's only an extra minute to access the cash.

Hmmmph... Now I feel like "Fidelity" doesn't trust me.

[Rob L]

I keep my brokerage cash in my purepoint savings getting 1.3%. When I want it back into the account etrade credits my account as soon as I initiate the transfer so it's only an extra minute to access the cash.

Are you talking about IRA account transfers (savings <-> brokerage), or non-IRA?

[jheizer]

non-IRA.  And sadly I fall in all the exceptions to where I am pretty much SOL on IRAs and have no work retirement account.