Be forewarned about ED... the online portion of this bank went live in Dec 2004 (or roughly that time), and at times, they seem very unprofessional. Their pages look hokey and many features do not work.
I have been waiting since Friday morning for a password reset. The online password form did not work, so I called the CSR and was told to sent an email to emigrant@emigrantdirect.com. No reply since. Very hokey!
OP, please change your title to reflect that this thread is about Western Financial bank's 3.00% Online Money Market account as there are plenty of Money Market accounts out there that are not as interesting as this one!
Western Financial Bank is at 3.25!? I'm hesitant to move my ING account over to Emigrant because I didn't like their website / service. But 3.25 might be too good to pass up, the 5k min is not too bad!
These are the terms for the account now paying 3.25% - 'guaranteed' til end of 2005
Online Money Market Account & Online Money Market Plus Account
Rate information - Your interest rate and annual percentage yield may change. At our discretion, we may change the interest rate on your account daily. Interest rate tiers - $0 - $4,999.99 $5,000 - $9,999.99 $10,000 - $24,999.99 $25,000 - $49,999.99 $50,000 - $74,999.99 $75,000 + We reserve the right to change both the number of tiers and the dollar amount of each threshold. The interest rate may be the same in all tiers. Compounding and crediting frequency - Interest is compounded daily and credited to your account every month at month-end. Interest computation method - We use the daily balance method to calculate the interest on your account. This method applies a daily periodic rate to principal and earned interest in the account each day. ******Effect of closing an account - If you close your account before interest is credited, you will not receive the accrued interest since the previous month-end.******* Minimum balance to open the account - $5,000.00. Statement frequency - Statements are issued at quarter-end. If you have electronic funds transfer activity, statements are issued at month-end. Accrual of interest on non-cash deposits - Interest begins to accrue no later than the business day we receive credit for the deposit of non-cash items (for example, checks). Internet initiated ACH deposits begin earning interest on the day the deposit is credited to the account. Transaction limitations - You may make six transfers from your account per monthly statement cycle, but only three may be payments by check, draft, point of sale, or similar order to third parties. There is no limit to the number of withdrawals in person, by mail, or at a Western Financial Bank ATM. Fees - An excess withdrawal fee will be charged for each transaction in excess of the stated transaction limitations. Account may be subject to closure. Refer to the Personal Banking Fee Schedule for fees associated with excess withdrawals. Non-proprietary ATM transactions - Non-proprietary ATM transaction fees will not be assessed on this account by Western Financial Bank.This does not include surcharges that may be assessed by the company or institution owning the ATM/terminals. Other restrictions - This account is only available online through www.wfb.com. A fee will be charged for in-branch transactions. Refer to the Personal Banking Fee Schedule for fees associated with in-branch transactions. Closing an account - Written authorization bearing an original signature from a signer(s) on the account must be received by us in order to close your account. Upon receipt of such authorization, we will close your account, issue a check payable to the named owner(s) of the account, and mail the check to the address of record.
My experience: good bank, good cust service, be careful when you close account as highlighted above: they will not pay interest for the month in which you close account.
Wow 3.25% until Dec 25 instead of 3.0 until mid year. MM account allow you to write up to 6 transactions per month, and 3 checks per month. That's what I rather take this MM instead of emigrant-direct, I need to write 1-2 checks per month.They have several branches in LA but nothing close to my home so I think I will use either electronic transfer or mail in for deposit.
all168 said:Wow 3.25% until Dec 25 instead of 3.0 until mid year. MM account allow you to write up to 6 transactions per month, and 3 checks per month. That's what I rather take this MM instead of emigrant-direct, I need to write 1-2 checks per month.They have several branches in LA but nothing close to my home so I think I will use either electronic transfer or mail in for deposit.
They say you have to open by internet (not at a branch) and there are extra fees if you ever deal with their branches.
Thanks, OP. Planning to move ING fund over. Applied on-line without any problem. Good find! Edit to update status: You have to call to activate the account. CSR did a credit 'soft inquiry' to verify identity. Fund(s) is set up to ACH from bank account(s). Take about 3 business days. An email will be sent with account information and then you can access it on-line. Welcome package will be sent via US mail to receive in the standard 7-10 business days. Only thing is that if you want checks- 30 checks will cost 7.50. Online bill payment is 4.95/month. Since I don't plan to do anything with this account, this is not a problem but something to consider for those who do. Took about 15 minutes on the phone fairly painless, will see how the email and online access turn out.
tylr said:Thanks, OP. Planning to move ING fund over. Applied on-line without any problem. Good find! Edit to update status: You have to call to activate the account. CSR did a credit 'soft inquiry' to verify identity. Fund(s) is set up to ACH from bank account(s). Take about 3 business days. An email will be sent with account information and then you can access it on-line. Welcome package will be sent via US mail to receive in the standard 7-10 business days. Only thing is that if you want checks- 30 checks will cost 7.50. Online bill payment is 4.95/month. Since I don't plan to do anything with this account, this is not a problem but something to consider for those who do. Took about 15 minutes on the phone fairly painless, will see how the email and online access turn out.
tylr, since you already opened an account, do you know what happens if the balance falls below $5000? Do they charge any low balance fee? Do they close an account? Also , how do you move money back and forward? Is it like ING, where you link it with your checking account? If it is how many checking accounts can you link it with?
chrnkm said: tylr, since you already opened an account, do you know what happens if the balance falls below $5000? Do they charge any low balance fee? Do they close an account? Also , how do you move money back and forward? Is it like ING, where you link it with your checking account? If it is how many checking accounts can you link it with?
According to the CSR, if balance falls below 5K, you don't earn any interest, no fee. Did not ask whether they would close the account or not. There is no option to link to external accounts from WFB but that's why I ordered checks so that I can either link the WFB account from ING/VB or just deposit the check to my day-to-day bank account. By the way, there is a comment from a poster in Cheap's HY Banks thread about this being a 'promotional' rate; JMO but most of top HY banks (Superiors, ED etc.) have similar or less timeframes for guaranteed rates. I'll take the end of '05 anyday with only 90 days early closure limit vs. 6 months for some banks. Will see in 3 days how seamless or not this process and online access are.
If you don't want to spend the 7.50 for checks, and there are no externally linked accounts, how do you withdraw your money? (you'll get hit with a fee if you go into a branch)
Excellent question. Supposedly you can use their ATMs at no charge, but if you're not near a branch you're likely not near one of their ATMs so you'd be hit with a surcharge (only one though since they say they don't charge). Also it's $1.50 to do an in-branch transaction with this account. Doesn't sound so great.
Thank you for opening an account with Western Financial Bank. This is a confirmation that your Online Money Market Plus account has been opened and that the electronic funds transfer you authorized on 2/1x/2005 from your account number ending with xxxx was processed on your behalf on 2/1x/2005.
You will be receiving a welcome package in the mail with account information and a signature card. Please remember to complete the signature card and return it as soon as possible. Once we receive the completed signature card, access will be provided to your account.
Please take the time to let us know how you rate our service by clicking the following link:
http://www.elisten.com/web30/surveys/xxxxx
If you have any additional questions, please don't hestitate to call us at 1-877-WFB-1234.
Thank you.
I did mine in mid-Feb and still haven't recieved my packet. I didn't get any account info, I think we have to wait on the packet and from my experience it will be at least 2 weeks.
And tylr, I agree about the whole teaser vs promo vs guarantee rates. I posted a response in my thread but if there is need for more discussion we can do it in this thread since it is in regard to this deal.
ucsdgaspasser said:If you don't want to spend the 7.50 for checks, and there are no externally linked accounts, how do you withdraw your money? (you'll get hit with a fee if you go into a branch)
When I was talking to the CSR I was told that I could transfer money online so I thought there would be linked accounts. But I don't have proof yet.
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