Starting tomorrow, Washington Mutual is increasing the interest rate offered on its online savings account to 3.75% APY. This jump will put this account on top among the best-known online savings accounts. This is a wide enough margin over ING Direct to convince me to open an account and give it a try even though I’m far from a “rate-chaser.”
I foresee more interest rate increases in the near future.
Updated June 16, 2011 and originally published July 30, 2008.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I have that account. It’s great, though it was earning around 5% when I opened it a year ago. It’s been down at 3.3% lately.
The only thing that concerns me is with all Wamu’s troubles this year and now them raising that rate — it could be a sign they’re in trouble. But as my dad said, “That’s a great deal for them (getting to borrow your money at 3.x%) because no one else is gonna lend to them at such a low rate nowadays.”
But the best thing about Washington Mutual still has to be their color-consciousness! Check out those ads :-D
Pascal,
I noticed that Washington Mutual operations two separate companies, insured separately by FDIC. One WaMu (based in Utah) has a CAEL rating of 1 (best) and the other (based in Nevada) has a rating of 5 (worst). I think overall you and other online account holders should be ok.
Ahhh…I got money in this one…VERY happy about this.
And yes, I agree with Flexo: I think that we’ll see some more rate increases in the future. We’ll see ’em slowly but they’ll come.
Did you talk about WaMu, the biggest bank in line to go bankrupt?
Walked into Wamu 8/12/08 got 4.17% APY 4.25% on 8mo CD/ what the heck. Support them and they might make it. Keep it under a grand and it should go ok…….
I used to hold Wamu in high esteem, but lately I think they’ve gotten greedy. Today I posted about their stingy overdraft protection policy on my blog, The Daily Asker: http://thedailyasker.blogspot.com. I recommend choosing another bank and researching the fees before signing up! Even with this nice interest rate, I’d opt for a bank that’s more secure, and less obnoxious.
Cheers!