High-yield online savings accounts
If any of you guys don’t have any money in online savings accounts, I would recommend doing it. It’s a great place to park any money you don’t need. I’ve been using 2 different online savings accounts (ING Direct and Emigrant Direct). All of the aforementioned banks are FDIC insured. You do need a brick and mortar checking account that you can transfer the money to and from. Basically, these banks offer you higher interest rates while not requiring you to have a minimum balance that many money-market savings accounts from regular banks do. The only downside that I can think of is if you need the money in a hurry (it takes a few days for the money to transfer back into your brick and mortar account). ING Direct has a 4.75% APY for new customers until April 15. (3.80% afterwards) Sadly, I’m not a new customer, but their regular rate is 3.80%. EmigrantDirect has a 4.25% APY.
Today, I’m signing up for a 3rd bank - HSBC Direct. They’re giving you a 4.80% APY until April 30, plus a $25 signing bonus for new accounts with code START. Another, good thing about HSBC is that you can use your ATM card if you have a regular account with them, or they will issue you an ATM card that you can use.
After you have your money set up in the online accounts, you can just transfer the money from bank to bank and follow the higher interest rate. Questions? Good.