Countrywide Bank's Savingslink account offers one of the highest rates for online savings accounts (5.25% APY at the time of this writing, and subject to change). However, to get that rate, you need a $50,000 balance. They do have a tiered structure for rates, dependent on your balance. Though to get any interest at all, you must have at least $1,000. Oddly enough, if you go over $2,499,999, they drop their rate to less than 2%. This is probably in hopes of encouraging longer-term investments in their CDs (Certificates of Deposit) or other options.
Deposits are FDIC insured, as per usual, up to $100,000 for an individual account. Access is 24-7, and money can be transferred to the account one-time or on a repeating schedule. You are only allowed six withdrawals in a month. Interest is actually compounded daily, unlike a lot of other online savings accounts.
Overall, the Countrywide Bank Savingslink account seems geared to large investors who want to park their money. Personally, if I had $50,000 and wanted a safe investment, I'd put it into a money market fund or a CD. The latter typically gives you a larger interest rate but locks you in to a deposit term. The former might give you a better rate, but you often will not have to pay a great deal of service charges.
Countrywide has a giant list of service charges. Basically, if your balance drops below $1,000, just close your account, or the value of it may suffer from service charge attrition over a couple of years. In fact, not only do they not give you any interest, they penalize you with a variety of charges. Note: some of these charges also apply to any balance below $2,500,000.
The Savingslink account can be linked with an account from another institution, including "checking, money market, or investment accounts".
Compare the Countrywide terms and conditions with online savings accounts for Ing Direct, Emigrant Direct, or HSBC Direct.
- Emigrant Direct has no minimum balance requirement and no setup or monthly fees. You can link up to two accounts to their online savings account.
- Ing Direct similarly has no fees and allows up to three other accounts to be linked to their online savings account.
- HSBC Direct has no fees, service charges, or minimum balance requirements. You can only link one bank account to the online savings account, with transfer preference given to an existing HSBC checking account. That is, transfers between their online savings account and accounts at other banks may take longer.
These three are amongst the most flexibile online savings account offerings, and have the least strings. Note that their terms and interest rates may change by the time you read this.
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