Talking to Chuck?

[ccsauer]

Hey all, I recently bought a house...well, I should say I'm under contract for a house and will be closing mid-july...and I've decided to take the $500 hit and go without an escrow account. So, of course, I've been looking into some nice savings options for that money to make my own "escrow" account. My question is, there seem to be a lot of checking accounts that are offering 4.25% or more in rates (schwab), and I was curious to see if anyone had a pros versus cons list for such an account. I spoke with a guy at Charles Schwab, and after asking him a million questions, my thought is that the only downside is that deposits will not be available for 5 days after deposit. This is fine for an account I'll only need to withdraw from twice a year, so, anyone know any other issues with these accounts? anyone know any with good rates and quicker response times? -C. S.

[Anonymous]

BoA has savings accounts that are tied into checking accounts.  Online transfers from one BoA account to another are immeditate.  That might be an option.  Let us know how you make out. 

[Anonymous]

BofA savings are only .5 % The Schwab account sounds like 6 month CD Rates - are there penalties for early withdrawls out of the account? What is the down side there???

Thanks for the information.

Rob

[Anonymous]

WAMU has a 5% apy savings and free checking on their web site. I opened both. HSBC has a similar offer for savings.

[Anonymous]

HSBC is paying me 5% unless I am mistaken. When I opened my savings/checking account they were paying a little over 6, but was a limited time offer on new deposits.

[Anonymous]

I've been with www.gmacbank.com for years.  They pay high rates (currently 5.3% APY, I think) and they provide quick transfers.  You could die waiting for HSBC to transfer funds.

[Boswd]

FICO_Focused wrote:

BofA savings are only .5 % The Schwab account sounds like 6 month CD Rates - are there penalties for early withdrawls out of the account? What is the down side there???

Thanks for the information.

Rob

It may be true that BoA savings is only 05% but they do have the " Keep The Change" program which I love.     Whenever you use your debit card, BoA will round up to the nearest dollar and put that difference into your savings account.  so if you are a heavy debit card user, which I am, you get an awesome return.    And BoA doesn't hit you with fees for using your debit card.    Plus they will match your first three months.  

It's a cool setup.

[Anonymous]

Yep

Pretty cool and I signed up for it when they sent the "Tickler Message to my e-mail." I like BofA.

Rob

[Boswd]

I do too,  I like them alot.  Customer service is second to none,    Keep the Change Rocks!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

You can also search CD rates at Bankrate.com