Virtual Bank has quite a few options for online accounts. Their Virtual Savings account only pays 1.35%APY and requires a minimum $1000 to open. It's recommended on their web page as being a "good starter account for cihldren." In fact, for children, there's no minimum balance or monthly service charge, and it's FDIC insured as per all savings accounts. There's not much other info, unless you scour through the disclosures (PDF format).
Two other accounts of interest are the Premium Money Market, which ranges from 3.25% APY to 3.50% APY (min'm $5000 to open), and the eMoney Market. The latter ranges from 4.60% to 5.13% APY, depending on your balance. The minimum to open is only $100. Balances under $10,000 pay 4.60% APY. While there are several balance brackets, at the time of writing, they all paid 4.60% below $50,000. From $50K to under 100K, it's 4.86%APY. The bracket where your balance is $100K and above pays 5.13%APY. However, there's a note underneath saying "Balance limited to $100,000 per client." I assume that this refers to the maximum FDIC insured amount.
The eMoney Market account has no monthly fees, free online statements, and free electronic deposits and withdrawals. There's no charge for online transfers from an existing personal checking account (from any bank).
Sign up requires, as they put it, a minimal of personal info, but including a driver's license number. (I didn't check to see what you do if you don't have one.) To link your checking account (wherever) to your Virtual Bank eMoney Market account, you enter your bank info, including transit number, account number, etc.
Once you're registered, they make two small deposits into your linked checking account. When you receive them, you login to your Virtual Bank account and enter those amounts to verify that you are who you say you are. This is in fact pretty standard practice. When I linked my Paypal account to my bank checking account, I went through the same verification process.
As for further information, they've buried a lot of details in their Disclosures section in PDF files. Upon scanning fairly quickly, I noticed that one indicated the following (emphasis mine):
A. Transfers and Withdrawals: If your Account is a savings or money market deposit account, federal law requires that an Account Holder may make no more than six (6) transfers and/or withdrawals during any one (1) calendar month or statement cycle (the period from one statement to the next) or similar period of at least four weeks, to another of your accounts with us or to a third party by means of a preauthorized or automatic transfer, or telephonic (including data transmission) agreement, order or instruction. No more than three (3) of the six (6) transfers may be made by check, draft, debit card, or similar order made by you and payable to third parties. If you exceed more than three (3) such transfers, we need not honor the item. A "preauthorized transfer" includes any arrangement by us to pay a third party from your account upon written or oral instruction (including an order received through an automated clearing house (ACH) or any arrangement by us to pay a third party from your account at a predetermined time or on a fixed schedule.
I've not previously seen that kind of information at the websites of banks I've previously reviewed, but I may have just missed that info. The net result of the above rule potentially means that your savings may not be as liquid as you'd like, under certain circumstances. Of course, it's always a good idea to read the fine print before you actually apply. Find out more at their website.
Compare the Virtual Bank terms and conditions with online savings accounts for Ing Direct, Emigrant Direct, or HSBC Direct. At the time of this writing:
- 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 string. Note that their terms and interest rates may change by the time you read this.
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