Broke-Ass Student

Here are current rates of some online savings accounts, as of February 24, 2007.

iGObanking 5.30% APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded daily)

Grandyielddirect 5.27% APY ($1 to open, no minimum fees, FDIC insured, compounded daily)

E*Trade 5.05% APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded daily)

EmigrantDirect 5.05% APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded daily)

HSBC Direct 5.05% APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded monthly)

ING Direct 4.50 % APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded monthly)

In the frenzied competition of online savings accounts, HSBC Direct is throwing a phenomenal limited time offer on savings accounts.  6.00% APY is now being offered to new customers on new money through April 30, 2007. Check out HSBC Direct.com for complete details.

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Another iGObanking Customer Service Experience

An opportunity once again presented itself for me to utilize iGObanking’s customer service.

I had transferred a small sliver of money from my checking account into my iGObanking savings account a week and a half ago. The transaction took around three business days to reach my iGObanking account. However when I logged into my account, it showed two different dollar amounts; my account balance and my available balance.

My account balance was much higher than the available balance and included the transferred funds. I couldn’t access the newly transferred funds yet though.

After a week had passed and the separate numbers persisted, I wondered how long it officially takes for newly transferred money to clear and completely merge into the available balance.

I set out to discover an answer and called iGObanking on Wednesday around 11:30ish in the afternoon. After roughly six minutes on hold, a female customer service representative answered. She had a thick accent and was a bit hard to understand at moments. I had to ask “Pardon?” and “Could you repeat that please?” a few times in order to make sure I understood all the information correctly.

She patiently and slowly explained that money transfers take roughly three to five business days to reach my savings account from an outside source. Once the transfer has arrived in my iGObanking savings account, interest begins to compound on the entire amount immediately.

However, it takes an additional three to five business days for the new amount to clear before it may technically be used.

If you’re looking to swap money around quickly from one source to another, be aware that it may take up to ten business days total for funds to become available - up to five business days for transfer completion and up to an additional five business days for the amount to properly clear once it reaches your iGObanking savings account.

I personally have no problem with this added time cushion on incoming funds since the intention of my savings account is for nest egg and emergency purposes only. The less liquid the funds, the less tempation I’ll have dipping into it for unnecessary expenses.

If you’re interested in additional information, you can nip around in my archives for all my past experiences with iGObanking. Simply click on a specific post title to bring up the entire article.

By automatically taking out at least 10% of my paycheck, so far my current savings have reached $350 (with the end goal being $1,000).

Slowly but surely getting there!

~†~ Baby Steps are Key ~†~

=^..^=

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