amboydirect 5% for 3 months then 4.0% afterwards balance $30K or more

Link to offer

If ED does not increase it rates or HSBC soon the blended rate over 1 year would be 4.25%. While not the hottest deal 5% for first 3 months is not bad. I guess you can close the account out after 3 months. Also This bank support ACH in and out so moving the money is not a big deal.

Also there no montly fee or balance requirement.

Seems nice, but I think the catch is that you only make 1% on all of your money up to $30,000 and the 4 or 5% applies only to the top half of your money. Since nobody in their right mind will keep any more than 100k in this account (FDIC limit) you are effectively making at MOST 3.8% only if you have the full 100k in there, and this is only for the 3 month promotional period.

The verdict: stick with Emigrant/HSBC and make greater than 4% return on ANY amount of money.

I might be wrong but I read the offer as "5% introductory bonus" instead of "5% interest rate".
Therefore I think the interest rate is 4%*105%=4.2%, corresponding to a 4.28% APY.

The details can be cleared up with a call to the bank. A 5% APY (not bonus) is for the entire balance if it is 30K or above. It is for 3 months after that, a 4% APY applies. The 4.28% APY is calculated based on a year ie. 5% for 3 months and 4% for 9 months combined equal 4.28%.

There is no early withdrawal fee so you could presumably keep the money there and then withdraw after 3 months even though 4% APY is still quite competitive relatively speaking.

In addition, the opening process is quite fast in fact faster than any banks I've dealt with so far. Filled out an on-line application on 12/19 which specified a linked account (Meadows CU 4% APY). On 12/21 received an e-mail with the account number to use with the password created at application time. 2 small deposits were made to Meadows CU to be verified for on-line access. The deposit was withdrawed from Meadows on 12/20 and started earning interest at Amboy on 12/20. All in all time lapses are 1 day to open the account with fund already deposited and earning interests and 2 days to have access on-line. Bank is rated 4* by Bauer Financial. Assuming 100K, it's $250 more for 3 months between a 4% and 5% account and hardly any hassles of giving up any interests by time in the mail or account opening and closing since the linked account is automatically established for for deposit and on-going transfers.

bafman said: In case the previous code goes dead.....

Additional reference code for bonus rate : 51211 (seen in Local NJ paper)
Their web site says:

Amboy Direct Money Market Maximizer is not available at Amboy branches. Only one Amboy Direct promotional account per household. Offer good until 01/15/05.

Offer good until what?

from Amboy website:

Electronic deposits made to your Money Market Maximizer account will begin to accrue interest 2 business days after the deposit is made and will be available for withdrawal after 5 business days. Every day is a business day, except Saturdays, Sundays and Federal Holidays.

stfs said: The details can be cleared up with a call to the bank. A 5% APY (not bonus) is for the entire balance if it is 30K or above. It is for 3 months after that, a 4% APY applies. The 4.28% APY is calculated based on a year ie. 5% for 3 months and 4% for 9 months combined equal 4.28%.

There is no early withdrawal fee so you could presumably keep the money there and then withdraw after 3 months even though 4% APY is still quite competitive relatively speaking.

In addition, the opening process is quite fast in fact faster than any banks I've dealt with so far. Filled out an on-line application on 12/19 which specified a linked account (Meadows CU 4% APY). On 12/21 received an e-mail with the account number to use with the password created at application time. 2 small deposits were made to Meadows CU to be verified for on-line access. The deposit was withdrawed from Meadows on 12/20 and started earning interest at Amboy on 12/20. All in all time lapses are 1 day to open the account with fund already deposited and earning interests and 2 days to have access on-line. Bank is rated 4* by Bauer Financial. Assuming 100K, it's $250 more for 3 months between a 4% and 5% account and hardly any hassles of giving up any interests by time in the mail or account opening and closing since the linked account is automatically established for for deposit and on-going transfers.

You are not eligible for a bonus on this account if you already have a bonus eSavings account with them. The maximizer has a non-promotional rate of 3.93% yielding 4.00%.

Yes to all. Good service.

qwe123 said: from Amboy website:

Electronic deposits made to your Money Market Maximizer account will begin to accrue interest 2 business days after the deposit is made and will be available for withdrawal after 5 business days. Every day is a business day, except Saturdays, Sundays and Federal Holidays.
stfs said: The deposit was withdrawed from Meadows on 12/20 and started earning interest at Amboy on 12/20. All in all time lapses are 1 day to open the account with fund already deposited and earning interests and 2 days to have access on-line.

Guess it's different with the initial deposit when initiated by Amboy. The deposit did start earning interest on 12/20 not 2 days later based on the info displayed in the account as of yesterday 12/29. It's for 9 days @ 5% APY for the entire balance not just what's over 30K contrary to some recent incorrect posts still floating around.

Another satisfied customer , I have oppened an account , very smooth process and I didn't loose a single days interest.
Also in HSBC you loose somewhere between 2 to 4 days of interest ( there is a thread which talks about how to optimized in HSBC) .

Interest is 5% for first three months .. so if you have 50K siting in HSBC you get $31 more interest per months , for Emigrant Direct you get $41 more interest per month , for INGdirect $50 more interest per months for three months .. and since ACH in-out is fast in Amboy and we can always tranfer the money to the highest interest earning account after 3 months .. Its a easy decision ..

AugustFour said: ohtrap said: Another satisfied customer , I have oppened an account , very smooth process and I didn't loose a single days interest.
Also in HSBC you loose somewhere between 2 to 4 days of interest ( there is a thread which talks about how to optimized in HSBC) ...

Where's the thread at?

Thanks!

Text

Does anyone know the routing number of the amboy esavings bank ?
I called the CSR , she told me that I can't do ACH in other than from my linked account.
Anyone successfull in doing ACH in from external account other than the checking account linked with Amboy Direct?

Great! I have been touting this bank all the time, seems it doesn't aquire enough attention....


stfs said: Just received the monthly statement and get a pleasant surprise. It turns out that it's 5% interest rate but 5.12% APY so the account is 1.12% not 1.00% APY more than those with 4.00% APY. With the super speedy account open process and linked account established at the same time to boot, the argument on jumping thru hoops to chase high yield doesn't seem to be applicable here since there's virtually no hoop(ie. time to open the account or loosing interest) and the yield is pretty good considering! 3 months totally liquid fund for 5.12%.

ohtrap said: ohtrap said: I tried again today , got a new CSR ..
She said yes in-cooming ACH from non-linked account should work.
Routing number is 021204416

I tried to link it from HSBC .. according to HSBC Amboy has refused to accept the small desposite ( HSBC verification) so it seems we can't link the HSBC abd AmboyDirect.

I called again , initially they told me that it should work .. but then the Maneger told me no for MMM account its not possible.

Can't you do it in the other direction, i.e. link the HSBC account from the AmboyDirect account?
For existing customers, how many external accounts does AmboyDirect allow to be linked ? (e.g. ING has a limit of max 3 external accounts)

ohtrap said: Amboy only allow you to link one checking account where you need to send a void check.

( HSBC savings is not an option)
Most probably I will link the HSBC checking as soon as my checking account is opened in HSBC.

From the description of the opening procedure for the MoneyMarketMaximizer: an account can be opened by Internet making an initial deposit and then verifying the two small deposits in your checking account. Do you still need to physically send a voided check? I interpret this description as an Internet-exclusive procedure, so using an HSBC savings should work (since it has a routing number). When ING was allowing linking external accounts online, they also describe in words that only checking accounts could be linked, but people had no problem linking HSBC savings accounts.

ohtrap said: You can do that only with when you are opening the account ( I did that and linked my ing account) but now I want to change as I want to transfer from my HSBC savings account.
The problem is not in HSBC site , its that Amboy direct MMA doesn't accept incoming ACH if it is not linked account.
Even I asked for direct deposite from payroll they will not accept that also.

Got it. Thanks, ohtrap!

I call that 'common sense'

So this is basicly the same 3 month deal as everbank.

Which should I go with ?

Yeah, I have more than $30k right now. Lots more.

Cant find stocks Im comfortable with.

Bought one REIT thats up about 20% in a few months and still yields about 6%.

But, cant find others with multiple significant insider buys so Im stuck trying to maximize my cash.

Oh, and I also have $93k out on 0% credit card offers.

crix2001 said: fw201 said: So this is basicly the same 3 month deal as everbank.

Which should I go with ?

I assume you have over 30K to deposit? Then Amboy might be better, since they have a higher rate after the 3 month promotional period...

Yeah, but the hassel factor is worth something. Thats why I was so disapointed with ING not staying competitive after I get comfortable with them.

Boiler said: crix2001 said: fw201 said: So this is basicly the same 3 month deal as everbank.

Which should I go with ?

I assume you have over 30K to deposit? Then Amboy might be better, since they have a higher rate after the 3 month promotional period...

After 3 months, go to Everbank, or whoever has higher teaser rate...

AlexS said: Just a warning to those who did not read the disclosure carefully for the Maximizer account.

.....

At this time I am unable to find the disclosure with those terms on the website. I suspect the only way to get that disclosure is to apply for a new account. At the moment I lost more than $100 in interest.

The best I could get out of CSR was that her supervisor will contact me. I will post the update once this matter is closed.

The terms and conditions are at https://www.amboydirect.com/secure/perstermsemm_msg.asp.

I suspect they're referring to the following two statements:

Closing an Account: Either you or we may close your account at any time and for any reason. We may close your account without advance notice.

Effect of Closing an Account - If you close your account before interest is credited; you will not receive the accrued interest.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.