Note: As of October 28, this deal is no longer available.

This is just a quick reminder that the promotion for the $25 bonus offered by E*TRADE Bank ends today. In order to qualify for the $25, you must open your account by today and fund the account with at least $5,000 by Monday, November 10.

A number of people reported that referral bonuses offered by E*TRADE Bank pay $25 and have no minimum balance requirement. If you can find someone to refer you, that is definitely a better deal. However, if you plan on keeping $5,000 at E*TRADE anyway, these two promotions offer the same benefit. Here are further details and here is the application.

Note: As of October 28, this deal is no longer available.

E*TRADE Bank is currently offering a $25 bonus for opening a new savings account, but the promotion is ending soon. If you’re interested in earning this easy money, there are a few dates you should know:

Monday, October 27, 2008 is the deadline for opening the bank account. Your application must be submitted online by this date.

By Monday, November 10, 2008, your bank account balance must be $5,000. You don’t have to open the account with this amount of money, but the balance must be at this level or above by this date. If your balance is below $5,000 on November 10, you will not qualify for the $25 bonus. This is higher than most other requirements for a cash bonus, but ACH makes it fairly simple to move money from one bank to another.

On or before Monday, November 24, 2008, E*TRADE Bank will credit your account by $25, as long as you met the above requirements.

When you view the account opening application, look for the ”$25” bonus notification at the top right of the screen. If you don’t see it, either you missed the deadline or you’re using an incorrect link. This bonus is only available through Consumerism Commentary.

Since July 2, E*TRADE Bank’s current interest rate has yielded an annual 3.30%. If you keep $5,000 in the account for a year (which you do not have to do after qualifying for the bonus), the extra $25 effectively raises your interest rate significantly.

Note: As of October 28, this deal is no longer available.

I’ve been waiting for the right time to open an online savings account at E*TRADE Bank. My company stock is held at E*TRADE, and as soon as I sell my stock purchases from the past twelve months, I will move the proceeds into a savings account with the brokerage’s banking division. E*TRADE’s online savings account is currently offering one of the top interest rates, 3.30% APY, and is insured by the FDIC.

For the next few weeks, E*TRADE is offering a $25 bonus to new customers who open an online savings account by October 27 with a $5,000 minimum balance by November 10. At that point, if you meet the qualifications, you will receive the bonus by November 24.

Like most online banks, you can link external accounts to E*TRADE in order to transfer your funds quickly to and from another bank. Unlike other banks, E*TRADE’s transfer process is reportedly quick; you won’t lose any interest while your ACH deposit is “in transit” like with many other institutions.

For those who want to be among the first to know when E*TRADE Bank changes its interest rate, the company has a listing on the microcommunication website Twitter. You can “follow” etrade to be notified of any interest rate changes. A quick look shows that the interest rate on the savings account has been updated four times: 3.45% on March 12, 3.01% on April 1, 3.15% on May 8, and the current rate of 3.30% on July 2.

Please spread the word about this exclusive $25 bonus. At this time, you can only receive the bonus through Consumerism Commentary. To apply for the E*TRADE savings account and qualify for the bonus, use the link below.

With some anticipating rate increases from the Federal Reserve, we might start seeing more banks increasing the interest rates offered on savings account. E*TRADE Bank is ready, and they’ve announced an increased from 3.15% to 3.30% APY starting tomorrow, July 2.

I keep my company stock purchase plan investment with E*TRADE, though not by my choice. I haven’t had any problems with the investing arm of the company. When I sell more company shares, I plan on opening an E*TRADE Bank savings account. I’ve held shares for the last nine months or so, waiting for the company’s stock to head upwards.

Active stock trading has more in common with gambling than it does with investing. On top of that, it’s expensive gambling. When you step up to a quarter slot machine, you know each bet will cost a quarter. You don’t lose a nickel on each spin as a “transaction fee.” In order to play the stock market, with “play” being the operative word, you lose money right off the bat in the form of commissions.

So if you’re going to invest in stocks, it makes sense to find the least expensive option. Here are some of the more popular choices, updated October 5, 2008 to include TradeKing. What are your experiences with these brokerages?

TradeKing. This online brokerage features low $4.95 online trades. SmartMoney Magazine has awarded TradeKing the award for Best Discount Broker in 2006 and 2007 and Best Customer Service among discount brokerages in 2008. New account holders can qualify for a $50 bonus by maintaining a $2,500 minimum and executing one trade within six months.

ShareBuilder. ShareBuilder’s lowest commission fee on an account without a monthly fee is $4. Last year, ShareBuilder was incorporated into ING Direct. Out of all the discount brokerages listed here, ShareBuilder is the only one with which I’ve had direct experience, and I haven’t had any problems. I currently have three investment accounts, each initiated with free money from account opening bonuses. I invested in one exchange-traded fund and two stocks, MSFT and AKAM. The accounts haven’t fared well, but since I’m playing with small amounts of free money, I am not shouldering much overall risk to my portfolio.

If you trade more often, ShareBuilder is willing to give you a discount on your commissions and some free trades, but you’ll have to fork over $12 or $20 each month. Keep in mind that the low commission will only qualify you for a bulk purchase. That is, if I place a $4 order today, it won’t be executed until next Tuesday with all this week’s orders. If I wanted to purchase a stock in real time, I’d have to spend $9.95 for a real-time purchase.

No matter which monthly plan you join, you’ll have to pay a $9.95 fee for selling.

Zecco. Zecco offers up to ten free trades every month if you maintain a minimum of $2,500 with the brokerage. Otherwise, each trade costs $4.50. These are all real-time transactions, not bulk, like ShareBuilder. Zecco charges $10 if you want to buy a no-load mutual fund, however. That’s an unappealing fee, and it’s a reminder than one should keep holdings in an appropriate account. Zecco might be a good low-cost option for stock trading, but Vanguard and Fidelity might be more appropriate for mutual funds.

Both Zecco and ShareBuilder will not charge you for inactivity. It doesn’t hurt to let your account sit if you decide to stop trading, at least until they change their terms and decide to begin charging an inactivity fee.

E*TRADE. If you have less than $12,000 at E*trade, this brokerage will charge a $12.99 commission fee for each trade. Additionally, E*TRADE will charge a quarterly fee unless you meet one of the many conditions described here.

My comapny stock purchase plan is maintained by E*trade, and due to the market’s poor performance, I’m waiting until the stock is higher before selling my shares acquired over the past two quarters. By combining more share sales in one transaction in the future, I’m also saving on transaction fees. It costs $19.95 every time I sell ESPP shares, so I can save money by not selling four times a year (and also, I hope, waiting for the stock to rise).

Scottrade. Three years ago, Wachovia announced they were adding a $50 annual fee to my discount brokerage account. I tried to get the fee waived, but my protests fell on deaf ears. Rather than paying the $50 fee once and continuing to do so every year, I opted to pay the $75 account termination fee to move my funds to Scottrade. Scottrade offers no account fees other than the $7 commission for online trading. As I was holding only one mutual fund and I didn’t plan to do any trading, the account was free for me.

When I opened up my new Scottrade account, I was referred to a “local” branch. The closest branch was an hour away. I didn’t have to visit the branch to open my account and transfer the mutual fund shares, but they did call me quite often until they realized I wasn’t planning on buying any more products.

TD Ameritrade. TD Ameritrade is “that broker with the actor spokesperson,” formerly TD Waterhouse. To trade stocks online, TD Ameritrade charges a $9.95 commission.

These are the low-cost stock trading brokerages I am familiar with, though I’ve had personal experience with only a few. If there are any others I should know about, please leave a comment with some information. Also, please share your experiences and reviews.

Following E*trade’s announcement that they were slightly increasing the interest rate on their Complete Savings Account to 3.15%, I’ve updated the list of savings and checking account interest yields. There have been a number of changes since the last update, including the following.

• UFB Direct dropped from 3.35% to 3.01%.
• Kirkpatrick Bank’s Savings Square dropped from 3.25% to 3.05%.
• E-Loan increased from 2.75% to 3.01%, plus they are offering a short promotion for new money at 3.75%.
• Presidential Bank decreased from 2.75% to 2.6%.
• VirtualBank decreased its entire hierarchy of rates with the lowest level down to 1.77%.

Due to popular demand, I’ve added iGoBanking to the list. This bank’s savings account is offering 3.28% APY currently, placing them towards the top of the list, below only OneUnited and Washington Mutual.

On Thursday, E*Trade Bank will increase the interest it pays on the Complete Savings Account from 3.01% to 3.15% APY. It’s a small move but it could be a good sign for savers if other banks follow suit.

My company stock purchase plan account is held at E*TRADE and I plan on opening a savings account there the next time I sell my shares later this year.