“Excessive Transactions Fee: Federal regulation for savings accounts mandates a maximum of 6 withdrawals per statement cycle. There is a $10 charge per withdrawal transaction for withdrawals beyond the allotted six per statement cycle.”

You can view it yourself at their website.

The best way to avoid the charges is to avoid making more than 6 withdrawals per statement cycle (usually 3-4 months.) If you can’t avoid making numerous withdrawals, then you may need a different type of account besides this.

“To be eligible for the 10% annual match on your Upromise earnings from Upromise you must link your High-Yield Savings Account to your Upromise Account and, within 90 days of opening your High-Yield Savings Account, either: (1) set up an Automatic Savings Plan with a monthly deposit of $25 or more, or (2) fund the account with $5,000 or more. Upromise will match 10% of your Upromise earnings posted as “funded” to your Upromise Account during the calendar year of January 1 through December 31. Your 10% annual match will be deposited into your High-Yield Savings Account in February of the following year provided that both accounts remain active and are in good standing at the time of transfer. Visit the FAQ’s to Learn more. Upromise may change or terminate the 10% annual match offer at any time without notice. Other terms and conditions may apply. Upromise Accounts are not FDIC insured, carry no bank guarantee and may lose value. ”

You can make deposits by linking to another bank account by transferring funds electronically via ACH transaction or by mailing a check to them. Unforutnately, the downfall is that they will ‘hold’ all deposits from 5-10 days (10 days for initial deposits and for amounts over $5000.) Other than that, having a Sallie Mae account has been good to me so far.

“In what year was the construction on your building XXX Xth Street completed?
A. 1995
B. 1990
C. 1900
D. None of the Above”

I was baffled- I live in a high rise building. So, I randomly picked one and of course my application failed and I had to call. It was such an odd question. Who knows these things?

I called Sallie Mae and was impressed with the Customer Service, believe it or not. Carlos put me on hold when he didn’t know the answer to my question (why am I being delayed?, he must be in training) and then gave me the correct answer – “No, you aren’t going to be denied a savings account because you once defaulted on your SL. Yes, you should recieve your confirmation email in the next few days.”