Just when you thought the era of new online banks splashing into the market was over, TIAA-CREF is on the hunt for customers’ deposits. TIAA-CREF Trust Company, FSB was established in 1998, and the bank just began offering deposit accounts in the last month. The products, under the name TIAA Direct, are intended to compete with the best online savings accounts and checking accounts, and as of now, the interest rates are attractive.

I have some of my retirement funds invested with TIAA-CREF’s mutual fund division, and after a frustrating effort with the company to fund my SEP IRA several years ago, I decided to leave the company in favor of Vanguard for my investments.

I initially chose to invest with TIAA-CREF due to their low minimum investment amount and their association, at least in my mind, with the education industry and non-profit organizations. Several companies within the TIAA-CREF family are non-profit organizations, but the government revoked its 501(c)(3) status in 1998. As a result, the company does not enjoy the same tax benefits as other non-profit organizations.

My experience with the investment arm of TIAA-CREF and the lack of a need to open yet another savings account may prevent me from opening a new account with TIAA Direct. Customers who are looking for the best interest rates would do well to investigate the bank further, though. When a new account arrives on the scene, it will attempt to attract new depositors, and that often includes offering a great interest rate for savings accounts.

I’ve found that for the most part over the last decade, banks who offer overly attractive terms and initiate a significant marketing endeavor after their arrival soon lower interest rates. Once the company has received its target amount of deposits, there is less motivation to attract new customers. Some banks have even closed their doors to new customers once their target was reached.

The following details are as of March 20, 2012, and are subject to change at any time.

TIAA Direct is attracting new customers to its basic High Yield Savings account with a 1.25% APY, one of the best interest rates currently available in the United States. This rate is about twice as much as the interest offered by some of TIAA Direct’s most relevant competitors.

There is a $25 minimum initial deposit and there are no fees. The savings account and the companion Money Market account are limited to six non-ATM transactions each month, as mandated by banking regulations. The Money Market account offers the same interest rate and minimum deposit as the High Yield Savings account but also offers check-writing privileges. Both accounts include an ATM card.

The bank is also offering an interest checking account with interest rates ranging from 0.05% to 0.15% APY. Customers will receive free checks, a debit card, and the ability to deposit checks using an iPhone application. Again, there is a initial deposit requirement of at least $25.

Once these accounts are open and funded with at least $25, there is no ongoing minimum balance requirement.

If you’re willing to lock up your savings for a period of time, TIAA Direct is also offering certificates of deposit with maturities of six months, one year, and two years. The interest rates for these accounts are lower than the High Yield Savings account and the Money Market account. You’re better off keeping your money in a savings account earning more interest and keeping your savings liquid until the CD rates exceed the rates earned in the savings account.

There are some finer points to consider; if you expect the savings account interest rate to dip below the best CD interest rate within the next two years, and you expect the CD rate to dip as well, you might be better off locking in the two-year CD rate today. It’s impossible to predict the future though, and you can make these decisions based only on what you know. There’s a good chance that the high interest rate on the savings and money market accounts won’t last, as has been the case for banks looking to make some noise and attract depositors right away.

There’s an indication of a lack of transparency, a troubling sign. There is a fee to withdraw funds from your CD before it reaches maturity, but you can only discover the details of this fee in the disclosure document customers receive only after funding the CD. You have to lock up your money before you’re told how much it’ll cost you to withdraw your cash in an emergency. Other banks typical penalize customers for withdrawing money from a CD by charging a fee based on the interest accrued in the account.

The real tests of a savings account, particularly in an environment where interest rates are low, are whether your money will be accessible when you need it and how well you’re able to work with customer service. TIAA Direct is new on the block, but if it inherits its customer service from its parent company, based on the feedback from hundreds of customers visiting Consumerism Commentary, potential customers may want to steer clear of this bank’s new deposit products.

Note: Richard Barrington from Money-Rates.com has asked for an interview with a spokesperson for TIAA Direct, but the company is saying they are not yet ready to launch these new products. You can, however, open a new account using the TIAA Direct website, and it is open to the public.

Photo: frankh

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Just when you thought it was safe, Bank of America and other large, national banks, are still finding ways to charge customers new fees. Only a few months ago, word of a new $5 monthly fee for debit card users sent Bank of America customers into a frenzy, threatening to move money away from the financial giant. Bank Transfer Day was largely a success, despite the complicated process of switching banks in today’s automated banking environment.

Hundreds of thousands of customers enrolled in credit unions, smaller organizations that are generally more consumer- and community-friendly than national institutions. Fees like Bank of America’s $5 debit card fee hit mainstream news outlets, bringing personal finance into the consciousness of the public once again. Bank of America eventually dropped its proposal for the new fee, but the bank didn’t stop looking for more methods of extracting funds out of its customers.

For the last generation, customers have grown accustomed to free or mostly-free checking and savings. These are considered deposit accounts. Depositing your money with a bank is more beneficial for the bank than for the customer. Doing business with a bank does the company a favor. The institutions should be paying customers for the banks’ benefit of holding the customers’ money. Sometimes banks do pay consumers, through interest on savings accounts, which as most people know have been at pathetic rates for the last few years.

With money on deposit, banks can go out and offer loans to businesses and individuals, earning money on the interest charged on those loans. That’s where banks should make money from their customers. Savings and checking customers are doing banks a favor.

Lately, the problem has been that banks aren’t making as much money from lending as they had previously, and shareholders demand consistently growing profits. That pressure results in even more fees. And banks are now counting on the fact that last year’s outrage has subsided, and the public is now willing to live with the idea that basic banking is not free. Additionally, it’s fair to say that the cost for a bank to manage checking and savings accounts may have increased, due to research and development into technology to provide all the banking conveniences (online access, mobile apps, person-to-person payments, etc.) that consumers have come to expect, although one could argue the lowered reliance on tellers and live customer services representatives should offset that cost.

Furthermore, the latest round of fees are designed to hurt lower income households more than those with higher net worth amounts. It’s been true in investing for a while that the better rates and lower fees are available to those with higher balances. This is due to the attempt to convince customers to invest as much money as possible with any one particular institution or brokerage. The same is true with fees; the more money you have, the more leverage you have to demand lower costs for the services you buy.

This leaves low-income families in a tough spot. If you can’t maintain a minimum balance in your checking account, a monthly fee will reduce that low balance even further, possibly even below zero, so you end up owing money to the bank or the bank decides to close your account. While the balance minimums encourage customers to leave more of their money with one institution, not all customers have more money to deposit.

Here are a few recent examples of how the latest round of new fees from big banks penalize those without the means to deposit more.

• Some Wells Fargo customers have been subject to a new $15 monthly fee if unable to maintain a $7,500 balance. And they’ve recently changed policies to prevent customers from suing the bank or being part of a class-action lawsuit.
• Citibank increased its minimum balance to avoid a $20 monthly fee from $6,000 to $15,000.
• Bank of America is testing new monthly fees of $6 to $25 in three states (Arizona, Georgia and Massachusetts).

At the same time, an informal poll of fans of Consumerism Commentary on Facebook and followers on Twitter indicates most engaged Consumerism Commentary readers, who generally earn more than the average internet user according to basic demographic research, pay nothing for their checking account, though some are still subject to a minimum balance or enrolling in direct deposit to avoid a fee. Finding free checking is still possible, especially with credit unions, but non-students still need to occasionally jump through hoops with major banks.

New regulations are often cited by the financial industry as the trigger for punishing low-income customers for handing their money to banks for safekeeping and lending. Others see these new fees as a way for banks to increase profits while using regulation as a convenient scapegoat. Of course, opinions on the matter are generally divided along political party lines as well as between industry lobbyists and consumer advocacy groups.

Low-income families might continue to avoid the banking industry, which may be the unstated goal of financial institutions in the first place. Unfortunately, that leaves little choice for low socio-economic status communities other than turning to non-bank financial products, like expensive payday loans and check cashing services. Not only do these communities need better financial role models (education alone will never solve the financial literacy problem), but they need to be guided toward better products and services.

There’s a real market opportunity for better products and services, for smart entrepreneurs who are looking to make a difference. In the mean time, here’s how to close your Bank of America savings or checking account when walking into the branch won’t work for you.

Photo: MoneyBlogNewz
KVAL / AP

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