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Published or updated May 5, 2005. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. Read more about Luke and about Consumerism Commentary.
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Emigrant Direct Limiting Features
You may remember that I opened an account at Emigrant Direct to take advantage of their 3.25% APY. I received ...
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3.30% from UFB Direct
http://www.ufbdirect.com/ufbdirect/
Thanks, MM. I added UFB Direct to the table.
What about tax-exempt money market accounts like Vanguard’s VMSXX at 2.66%, thats equivalent to 3.55% in the 25% bracket. There’s no fees, and a $3k minimum.
UFB Direct offering a $ 25 bonus for opening an account before May 31st.
I added the bonus info to the UCB line. I think I’ll keep Vanguard’s money market fund (MMF) out of the list since it’s not a savings/MMA or checking account. You’d be investing in the MMF and the money wouldn’t be as liquid.
Anybody know which of these offer quicken “direct connect” download? The extra 0.2% isnt worth it to me without quicken.
Another way to get interest on cash is to put some of your savings into a foreign currency CD. Foreign currency accounts are quite liquid. Right now, I believe the NZ$ CD is the highest-yielding, at about 5.4%.
With foreign currency CDs you introduce transaction and exchange fees as well as currency fluctuation risk. Personally, that would not be my choice for an emergency fund.
I am a Marketing Director at UFBDirect.com. I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have concerning any of the deposit products offered on UFBDirect.com.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to inform you about our May special.
We will automatically deposit $25 to all new accounts opened and funded in the month of May with a minimum deposit of $200.
I’d also like to remind you that UFB Direct offers an APY of 3.30% for money market accounts, which is the highest rate in the country according to http://www.bankrate.com (5/9/2005).
I look forwarding to fielding your questions. Feel free to visit the site at http://www.ufbdirect.com or call Customer Care at 888-580-0049.
Sincerely,
Joe Leibrandt
Marketing Director
Affinity Financial Corporation
Joe.leibrandt@affinityfc.com
rev asks a great question. I opened an account with Emigrant Direct a few weeks ago taking only rate into account (theirs was the highest at the time), only to find that they were not supported by my MS Money software. Currently, my emergency stash is in the Capital One account because they have a website that doesn’t suck and support automatic updates into Money. The convenience is well worth the current rate difference to me. Software support would be a valuable extra column in the table above.
Good thought — I’ll have this updated later tonight. Thanks!
Not sure why you say the vanguard MM isn’t liquid…you can do a EFT to/from your bank account at any time, and there’s no minimum holding period. True, it is not FDIC insured, but no MM fund has ever lost value (not to say it couldn’t happen, but its very unlikely).
Thanks for adding the software info to the table, Flexo. I finally have some money in the Capital One account I opened, and can confirm that my MS Money software is able to update my balance automatically. I would like to suggest that this makes CapOne a great choice for lazy people like me.
I’ve received some personal e-mails asking about the May promotion, so I’d like to take this opportunity to clarify my previous statement. Each customer is only eligible for one $25 bonus. You wouldn’t get $25 for each new account you open. Existing customers can fund one new account each to get the $25 bonus, and it can’t be a transfer from an existing account.
There is a $30 fee for withdrawing funds before 120 days have expired.
Thanks for all of your suggestions.
This is an update regarding the ufbdirect High Yield money market Savings account.
I opened an account with them. First of all they cannot initiate ACH transfers from their end. So you have to send your money through Wire transfers, normal postage,direct deposit etc.
In their welcome mail, they mentioned that I can avail of UPS mail boxes facility to send my check for free. But UPS guys didn’t honour the work order form, since it mentioned the mode of shipping as “UPS Ground” and envelopes with a check cannot be send through UPS Ground. The UFB Direct guys told me that they would solve the matter.
But there is no update on their website till now. I am routing my payment through normal mail. So, this is one of the clumsy things at UFB direct.
On another note, Joe Leibrandt(he has put a note in the comments here) has been very helpful in answering my queries.
Good news!
Due to popular demand, we are extending our May Special until the end of August. All previously mentioned terms and conditions still apply, e.g., each customer is only eligible for one $25 bonus, you wouldn’t get $25 for each new account you open, existing customers can fund one new account each to get the $25 bonus, and it can’t be a transfer from an existing account, and there is a $30 fee for withdrawing ALL of the funds before 120 days have expired.
You won’t see the bonus deposited until the end of the month in which you open the account.
Check out HSBC @ http://www2.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/personal/savings/savingsaccounts/onlinesavings
Seems straight forward. $1.00 min balance, no fees, limited to 6 transfers out in each statement cycle (unlimited ATM withdrawls).
UFB Direct’s APY for money market savings is now 3.40%. The APY for Jumbo MMA’s is 3.45%.
We just changed our Jumbo APY again! It is now 3.50%.
Right now Emigrantdirect is paying 3.50%. UFB Direct is paying 3.40% and UFB does not support ACH? Why not ACH??
How do you withdraw funds from UFB? Is having them write you a check or wiring funds the only way (other than the ATM card)?
Check out the demo of our new and improved online bill pay coming this month!
The ways to withdraw money from UFB Direct accounts are ATM, wire transfer, cashier’s check, writing checks, and bill payment.
Our high yield money market savings accounts are up to 3.80% APY and our Jumbo MMA’s ($50K minimum) are up to 4.08%!
Our intro APY of 5.00% for our jumbo money market accounts is good until May 31, so sign up today! The minimum balance is only $50,000 for this offer.
Please see http://www.ufbdirect.com/ufbdirect/ for more details.
Thanks,
Joe Leibrandt
UFBDirect.com