HOT MAMA! Where To Put Your Money If It's Just Sitting In a Checking Account

[Aarondeep]

Originally posted by: zervun
Anyone know what the easiest way is to transfer money from a checking account into say HSBC? I have both ING and HSBC account and went to wellsfargo to do a electronic transfer and they said it would cost like 30 bucks...

Maybe a cashiers check? There might be a fee, but probabally not 30 bucks.

 

[BlackPear1]

Some banks will allow you to fund new accounts with a free electronic check.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: tigerslicer
Dont forget US savings bonds. I-bonds are at 6.73% right now. Noticed it while i was working yesterday (I work at a bank).
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/products/ibonds_glance.htm

EDIT: Information on redeeming.
* Minimum term of ownership: 1 year
* Interest-earning period: 30 years
* Early redemption penalties:
o Before 5 years, forfeit 3 most recent months'interest
o After 5 years, no penalty

The problem with current I-bonds is the guaranteed portion of interest is very low. If inflation were to tank, I-bonds would reduce interest to a very small amount. Of course, with gasoline/energy prices pressuring the economy and inflation, it might not be a problem.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: aarondeep

Originally posted by: zervun
Anyone know what the easiest way is to transfer money from a checking account into say HSBC? I have both ING and HSBC account and went to wellsfargo to do a electronic transfer and they said it would cost like 30 bucks...

Maybe a cashiers check? There might be a fee, but probabally not 30 bucks.

You can link checking accounts to your HSBC account. Transfers are free and take about 3 days.

 

[ECartman]

Originally posted by: zervun
Anyone know what the easiest way is to transfer money from a checking account into say HSBC? I have both ING and HSBC account and went to wellsfargo to do a electronic transfer and they said it would cost like 30 bucks...

They probably were referring to a wire transfer.

An electronic ACH transfer is free.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: zervun
Anyone know what the easiest way is to transfer money from a checking account into say HSBC? I have both ING and HSBC account and went to wellsfargo to do a electronic transfer and they said it would cost like 30 bucks...

When you're setting up the HSBC account, they allow you to do an electronic transfer (initiated by HSBC) by inputting your Wells Fargo routing and account number. They explain how to read these numbers off of your check.

As a heads up, after this initial deposit it's going to take about another month before you're able to set up the HSBC account to link your Wells Fargo account to do more transfers.

With respect to your electronic transfers costing $30 from Wells Fargo: I know it costs $25 to do an electronic transfer of funds from Citibank account. I did this when I bought a ring from Blue Nile a couple of years ago. However, transfers to and from my Citibank account to my ING and HSBC accounts (initiated by ING and HSBC) are free and much less complex than the electronic transfer that I used to buy the ring.

Good luck.

 

[weepul]

see why i'm pissed at ING:

http://www.krunk4ever.com/blog/?p=454

other reasons why ING sucks is you can't electronically link accounts unless you mail them a check. their routing number isn't accepted by anywhere else, while HSBC's routing # is. HSBC allows me to link as many accounts online as I want. If you want to link a savings account to ING or a checking account you don't have checks for, it's pretty much impossible (unless that was the account you setup originally)

//krunk (^_^x)

 

[crypticlogin]

GMACbank is at 4.70% APY on Money Market Savings ($500 minimum to avoid fees). Their 6 month CD is at 5.0% APY, and their 12 month @ 5.20% ($500 minimum)

 

[adamRB12]

could someone tel me how intrest works. it seems like if say your intrest rate is 4.0% and you have say $8000 in your account wouldnt it be figured by 8000x.04= $320 in intrest in the first month. i know this is wrong because this amount is way to high, but that seems to me the logical way to figure it out. Help me understand plz n thank u.

 

[wedi42]

Originally posted by: adamRB12
could someone tel me how intrest works. it seems like if say your intrest rate is 4.0% and you have say $8000 in your account wouldnt it be figured by 8000x.04= $320 in intrest in the first month. i know this is wrong because this amount is way to high, but that seems to me the logical way to figure it out. Help me understand plz n thank u.

interest rates are almost always figured annually, but paid monthly
so take 4%/12 = .00333333333% per month
so $8000 ~ $26 a month.

 

[Lurknomore]

Stupid question- are these rates simple or compounded?
If they're compounded, are they compounded monthly or annually?
Thanx.

Also, what are IRA CD's?
Valley National near where I work is having a 5yr. %5.5 IRA CD promotion till April 17th.
From what I've heard, FDIC will now insure amounts upto $250,000 starting April 1st.

 

[Kwad Guy]

A lot of these high interest banks are s--t banks that, if congress weren't in the pockets of the banking lobby, wouldn't qualify for FDIC insurance. If the economy goes into a tailspin, these are the banks that will collapse, taking your tax money with them as the FDIC bails them out.

Why do you care? Well, if you're a small investor with <$100k, you don't--too much. There is the little matter of the lag time between bank failure and FDIC reimbursement. This can be a substantial amount of time, so if you need your money right away, you can find yourself in a fix.

This is more significant to those with serious assets to invest (>$100K). FDIC insurance only covers $100K at any single bank. There are ways to create multiples of this by opening additional accounts at the same bank, but most people don't properly understand the caveots in this approach and if you think you're not one of them, make sure you ask someone else who really knows...Remember that the FDIC is the final adjudicator in the case that they have to step in, and if they say "uh, no, you don't qualify for X multiples of $100K just because you opened X accounts..." you bite it.

So if you have serious assets, thing VERY hard about whether you want to risk them in a bank that barely deserves to exist, when for a very small hit in interest you can put your money in a bank that is fundamentally sound. (Or spread your money around multiple banks, of course).

Kwad

 

[JFKJr]

Originally posted by: Lurknomore
Stupid question- are these rates simple or compounded?
If they're compounded, are they compounded monthly or annually?
Thanx.

Also, what are IRA CD's?
Valley National near where I work is having a 5yr. %5.5 IRA CD promotion till April 17th.
From what I've heard, FDIC will now insure amounts upto $250,000 starting April 1st.

APY = Annual Percentage Yield = Compounded (will the higher than APR)
APR = Annual Percentage Rate = Simple/Uncompounded (will be lower than APY)

Most banks do daily compounding, but pay out monthly. So, to compare apples to apples, always compare one bank's APY to another banks APY. It doesn't matter whether they compound daily or monthly, all that matters for Savings/Checking/CDs/etc is that they get the highest FINAL APY. You only care to ask how often they compound if all they tell you is the APR.

Banks will always advertise their APY for savings/checking/CD accounts, since this will always be higher than the APR. The exact same banks will then in turn always advertise their APR when they talk about Credit Card/Lines of Credit/etc. in order to dupe the majority of financially un-educated Americans.


IRA CDs are Interest Retirement Account Certificates of Deposit...a horrible choice of investment for IRAs for anyone under 50 (they should be taking more risk with stocks/mutual funds at that age in order to have the money appreciate at a higher rate in the long term). It would be too long of a discussion to discuss what an IRA is and it's tax advantages in comparison to other retirement account vehicles.

I suggest that those of you who are financial Noobs read Suze Orman's columns on Yahoo Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/archives/headline/moneymatters/2006/1 . They're great for the 80% of Americans who are financially illiterate.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

HOT MAMA!!

 

[JackBurton]

Nice post man!

 

[10Gauge]

Paypal ?

They, and most, if not all, Corporate MMs are NOT FDIC insured,
and may not be insured at ALL.

correct me if I am wrong....

 

[kindlr]

"A lot of these high interest banks are s--t banks that, if congress weren't in the pockets of the banking lobby, wouldn't qualify for FDIC insurance. If the economy goes into a tailspin, these are the banks that will collapse, taking your tax money with them as the FDIC bails them out. "

HSBC has been around for forever and is the world's 5th largest company according to Forbes.

Oh, and all banks say that their rates are as of a certain date and are subject to change. Every single one of them.

 

[MechaSheeba]

Ok so, with a CD is the rate locked, and are all CDs FDIC insured? I'm lookin at the UmbrellaBank 5.25%/yr or 5.3%/2yr CD. If I were to put down 1K, at the end of the year I'd get $1052.5 guaranteed, or can that rate fluctuate?

And can you deposit more money into the same CD as time goes on? And if so how do they calculate the change?

 

[DAM]

Actually from what I've read these banks (well some, not sure about all) are reputable institutions who just chose to invest heavily in the internet. For example, Emigrant bank has been around for ages, the problem with B&M banking is the cost of keeping a store front. Maybe a good comparison would be:

newegg = ing
best buy = wells fargo


dam(d)

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: MechaSheeba
Ok so, with a CD is the rate locked, and are all CDs FDIC insured? I'm lookin at the UmbrellaBank 5.25%/yr or 5.3%/2yr CD. If I were to put down 1K, at the end of the year I'd get $1052.5 guaranteed, or can that rate fluctuate?

And can you deposit more money into the sane CD as time goes on? And if so how do they calculate the change?

CD rates are guaranteed for the life of the CD. Also, you can buy more CD's (rates may be different when you buy), but you can't add to them. They are a fixed amount purchased and have a contract period (6 months, 1 year, etc) that doesn't change.

Edit: And yes, at the end of the year (assuming a one year CD), you would indeed have $1,052.50 after interest paid.

 

[crystal]

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: MechaSheeba
Ok so, with a CD is the rate locked, and are all CDs FDIC insured? I'm lookin at the UmbrellaBank 5.25%/yr or 5.3%/2yr CD. If I were to put down 1K, at the end of the year I'd get $1052.5 guaranteed, or can that rate fluctuate?

And can you deposit more money into the sane CD as time goes on? And if so how do they calculate the change?

CD rates are guaranteed for the life of the CD. Also, you can buy more CD's (rates may be different when you buy), but you can't add to them. They are a fixed amount purchased and have a contract period (6 months, 1 year, etc) that doesn't change.

Edit: And yes, at the end of the year (assuming a one year CD), you would indeed have $1,052.50 after interest paid.

It is really depend on the banks that sell CDs. For example, becu.org sells CDs where you can add funds to it by weekly/bi-weekly/monthly. A great way to save for something big down the line. Only bad thing is, their rates aren't as good as some posted here.

 

[shoRunner]

Originally posted by: Kwad Guy
A lot of these high interest banks are s--t banks that, if congress weren't in the pockets of the banking lobby, wouldn't qualify for FDIC insurance. If the economy goes into a tailspin, these are the banks that will collapse, taking your tax money with them as the FDIC bails them out.

Why do you care? Well, if you're a small investor with <$100k, you don't--too much. There is the little matter of the lag time between bank failure and FDIC reimbursement. This can be a substantial amount of time, so if you need your money right away, you can find yourself in a fix.

This is more significant to those with serious assets to invest (>$100K). FDIC insurance only covers $100K at any single bank. There are ways to create multiples of this by opening additional accounts at the same bank, but most people don't properly understand the caveots in this approach and if you think you're not one of them, make sure you ask someone else who really knows...Remember that the FDIC is the final adjudicator in the case that they have to step in, and if they say "uh, no, you don't qualify for X multiples of $100K just because you opened X accounts..." you bite it.

So if you have serious assets, thing VERY hard about whether you want to risk them in a bank that barely deserves to exist, when for a very small hit in interest you can put your money in a bank that is fundamentally sound. (Or spread your money around multiple banks, of course).

Kwad

you consider HSBC, ING, and even ED to be "s--t banks," ING and HSBC are public traded companies with billions in assets and are worldwide corporations....not exactly "s--t banks" in my opinion...ED is also quite well established...but hey, we all get to have our own opinions. oh and citi is what...like the largest bank.

 

[Acanthus]

The one thing ive never understood about CDs, how often is the interest compounded? monthly?

Edit: Nvm already answered in this thread.

 

[Kwad Guy]

Originally posted by: shoRunner
[

you consider HSBC, ING, and even ED to be "s--t banks," ING and HSBC are public traded companies with billions in assets and are worldwide corporations....not exactly "s--t banks" in my opinion...ED is also quite well established...but hey, we all get to have our own opinions. oh and citi is what...like the largest bank.

Oh yeah, I forgot: Publicly traded big companies are by definition safe and sound. I think I'll go buy some Enron today.

HSBC of Delaware has Bankrate and Safe & Sound ratings of 3, which are quite average AT BEST. A good bank should have ratings of 2 and 4, respectively, and a great bank would have ratings of 1 and 5, respectively.

Exact same thing for the ING bank.

If you think "publicly traded", "billions in assets", and "worldwide corporation" mean anything with regard to how good a bank is, then I expect you don't have enough money to need to worry about this, anyway.

Kwad

 

[Topplayer]

1 Year - UmbrellaBank.com 5.25% ( minimum of $1k ) FTW