One of the biggest complaints with Emigrant Direct is their website, which is less than innovative when compared to others, like ING Direct. Today I received communication (well, a letter) with some good news:
Our new website and “state of the art” new security system will be activated in June. The enhanced site reflects comments received from our customers and sets a new industry standard combining ease of use and expanded capability as well as enhanced security and protection for you and all our customers.
The letter lists a number of new features, including scheduling transfers, linking additional external accounts, and self-created security questions.
Interestingly, the bank will mail customers a secure access code which will be necessary to gain access to the new site. If your current address is not updated correctly in your profile, this code may never be delivered, and you will not be able to access Emigrant Direct online. So watch out for that.
The launch date will be announced soon.
Emigrant Direct is currently offering 4.65% APY on its savings account, which is in the middle of the online account pack.
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8:02 pm (reply)
A bit off topic, I initialized the process of opening my Emigrant Direct account on 5/26, verified the “2 small deposits in my checking” account to verify my checking acct. with them on 5/31. How long does this whole process take in your estimation? They have not transferred the initial funds from my checking to the Emigrant account yet. Any ideas? Could you by chance email me this answer? Thanks!
9:45 pm (reply)
My email to you bounced, Mike.
It did take me more than a week to verify my Emigrant Direct account when I opened it. Maybe close to two. If you don’t see the deposits after two weeks, contact their support. There’s no need for the process to take that long, though.
12:10 am (reply)
Thanks for the info. I will contact them directly if I have to wait another week. Thanks again and great site!
8:58 pm (reply)
I suppose Emigrant Direct is responding to the complaints on the internet about their interface.
10:32 pm (reply)
anyone of you here have an emmigrant direct bank account?
it says here “However, if you put that same $15000 into an Emmigrant Direct Savings account yielding 4.65% interest, you will have made $675 in a 1 year period. Therefore, $675 – $75 = $600 more with the Emmigrant Bank Savings account!”
is 4.65% too good to be true? how do i open such an account?
6:41 am (reply)
Adam, there is a link above about opening an Emigrant Direct Account.
As far as the upgrade, I hope they make it so that you can add accounts online via the two small deposit routine. Its easier that way and it allows you to link non checking accounts. It kinda sounds like they will just increase the number of accounts you can have linked, though.
12:49 am (reply)
Their site was pretty shady. I deal in fraud recognition and I had to give a long test run before transfering anything substantial. One problem with mutltiple linked accounts is it allows a theif to add a second account to your savings, with which to withdraw funds. As it stands now, money can only go in the way it came out. I think they should retain that model for security.
7:17 pm (reply)
The whole emigrant system is retarded. I saw the new website last night- could not log in, but now the website reverted to the old one. What is going on? I also cannot transfer to/from the account, and it is not because of the waiting period- that was a long time ago. I really dont want to wait on infinite hold with some call center in bangladesh. The whole thing does not inspire confidence, so I will probably go back to ING.
8:09 am (reply)
When is this new web site being launched?
9:10 am (reply)
The latest I’ve heard from Emigrant is the website will be activated in June. There should be a follow-up mailing but I haven’t seen it yet.
2:11 pm (reply)
Emigrant Bank was founded by Irish emigrants as a mutual savings bank in 1850 and it mostly does business in New York.
3:46 pm (reply)