Best high yield savings account for emergency fund?

[ponyo]

I like credit card rewards because unlike banks checking/savings account opening promos and interest, you don't usually get 1099 INT form from credit card banks. So it's tax free money.

 

[RossMAN]

Kind of sleazy and with a set of hoops:

https://www.lmcu.org/banking/checking/checking_max.aspx

"Easy monthly usage requirements:
Direct deposit into any LMCU account
Minimum of 10 posted debit card purchases per month
Minimum of 4 logins to home banking per month
Sign up to receive eStatements/eNotices

* Annual percentage yield. Rate subject to change. Interest not paid on balances over $15,000. Some requirements apply."

If you fail the minimums, you lose the 3% and get charged who-knows-what.

2 types of accounts:

Standard "higher" yield savings accounts.

Checking accounts with special privileges that give you ~2-3% APR Yield on your first ~$10,000 if you make ~10 debit card purchases that month.

Personally, I hate debit cards. I socked away my funds in Discover Online savings accounts thanks to their $300 promos.

I have one of these "jump through 4 hoops a month" high yield checking accounts but it's worth it.

They all have the same minimum requirements:

Login to CU website at least once a month
At least one direct deposit
Paperless statements
At least a dozen debit card transactions
$25k - $30k account limit

If you're willing to go through all that you should be able to get 2.00%+

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/checking/high-yield-credit-unions.aspx

https://www.depositaccounts.com/checking/reward-checking-accounts.html

http://www.findabetterbank.com/high_yield_interest_rewards_checking.html

 

[Svnla]

Some of the reward checking accounts are horrible. Not only you have to do all of the requirements, now you MUST have minimum amount for direct deposits and debit usage.

Here is one - 3.00% APY1 on up to $15,000

Minimum balance requirement of $250.00
Must have one direct deposit of at least $500.00 that posts during the monthly statement cycle
Must complete one ACH debit for any amount that posts and clears the account during the monthly statement cycle
Must receive imaged checks in a monthly E-Statement
Must complete at least 15 signature debit card transactions of at least $5.00 or more that post (each debit transaction MUST be $5 dollars or more) and clear the account during the monthly statement cycle

 

[RossMAN]

Some of the reward checking accounts are horrible. Not only you have to do all of the requirements, now you MUST have minimum amount for direct deposits and debit usage.

Direct deposit minimum I'm OK with but the debit card minimum?

:thumbsdown:

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Direct deposit minimum I'm OK with but the debit card minimum?

:thumbsdown:

Yeah the debit cards is what gets me. I can do 5-7 debit transactions but not 15. For fucks sake, some months I don't even have 15 purchases. Though I hear some people go to gas stations and fill up multiple times... I don't have the patience and the one time I tried it declined my next transaction based on using the same card 5 seconds ago.

 

[Hacp]

The best one is NetSpend. It has the easiest hoops to jump through(set up two automatic transactions). It's a good place to park an emergency fund to ensure you get at least SOME money earned at these interest rates.

 

[cubby1223]

Yeah the debit cards is what gets me. I can do 5-7 debit transactions but not 15. For fucks sake, some months I don't even have 15 purchases. Though I hear some people go to gas stations and fill up multiple times... I don't have the patience and the one time I tried it declined my next transaction based on using the same card 5 seconds ago.

I'm sure the higher interest rate comes from the fees they charge merchants per debit-card use. More fees the CU gets to bring in, the more interest they can offer out.

 

[kranky]

Gold has been trending upwards since the gold standard ended in 1933. Seems to be a bit a longer trend than the 3 year window you base your investments on

As far as selling gold, it's pretty easy to get above spot price for gold in small domination. It's even easier if you have large bars. You can easily get $200/ounce over spot if you have gold in large denominations/bars with gold brokers, as demand for gold bars is quite high.

Could you point me to one place that is paying even $100/oz over spot for bars? I called a couple friends in the business and they don't know of anyone paying that kind of premium. Or is $200/oz over spot only doable for sales to end customers?

 

[Svnla]

Direct deposit minimum I'm OK with but the debit card minimum?

:thumbsdown:

I can do small amount debit transactions x 12 to 15 times per month but at LEAST $5 per EACH debit transaction and the high yield for ONLY $15,000? No go at that financial institution for me.

My other reward checking accounts pay higher rates and for higher limit ($20K-$25K). Too bad I am using all of them around here, none of them left..hehehehhe.

 

[SketchMaster]

If you want a set-and-forget emergency savings, I'm a big fan of Barclays Dream Account.

https://www.banking.barclaysus.com/dream-account.html

1.05% base plus you get a couple small bonuses every six months for auto-deposit and not pulling out money. We're talking pennies on the dollar, but it's still free money and helps you keep your fingers out of the jar.

There is no ATM card, but it's stupidly easy to set up transfers to and from your daily use bank. If you need to pull money out of your savings account so often that you need an ATM card connected to it, you're not saving correctly.

 

[TallBill]

Gold has been trending upwards since the gold standard ended in 1933. Seems to be a bit a longer trend than the 3 year window you base your investments on

As far as selling gold, it's pretty easy to get above spot price for gold in small domination. It's even easier if you have large bars. You can easily get $200/ounce over spot if you have gold in large denominations/bars with gold brokers, as demand for gold bars is quite high.

Gold is a terrible choice for an emergency fund or investment. Precious metals are a good hedge against deflation and that's about it.

 

[Cozarkian]

CD Ladder at a bank with no more than a 6 months simple interest penalty on early withdrawals. It is a fully liquid, FDIC savings option with higher gains than a so-called high yield savings account.

Compare a $1,000 investment in a savings account paying 1.05% APY and a CD with 2% APY (You can find this at Synchrony formerly GE bank). Assuming an emergency occurs and you withdraw the money after 1 year, the savings account has $1,010.50 and the CD yields $1,020.00 - $10 penalty = $1,010.00. That's a piddly loss of 50 cents. However, if you have an emergency after 1.5 years, the CD will provide a higher return and after 5 years the net gain will exceed $50. Since the goal of an emergency fund is not to use it, why not commit to an account that rewards you for not using it but allows you access to the funds if you absolutely need them?

 

[zinfamous]

Mango money is something like 7% up to $5k, but that requires a lot of hoops with difficult-to-access money, and drops to something like 0.05% after you surpass $5k

ING or AMEX savings (0.9%) with no hoops and easy online transfers is the way to go for that, imo.

 

[dullard]

CD Ladder at a bank with no more than a 6 months simple interest penalty on early withdrawals. It is a fully liquid, FDIC savings option with higher gains than a so-called high yield savings account.

Then when you get to higher dollar values, don't even cash out any of the CDs early. Use your ladder as collateral to borrow against. Why pay hundreds/thousands of dollars in early closing fees when you can pay a few dollars to get a loan from that same bank. It is virtually zero risk to the bank since they already have your money, so the interest rate in case you do have that emergency is very small.