AmTrust Direct e-Money Market 3.50% APY

http://www.amtrustdirect.com/

Hard credit inquiry.

$1,000 to open.

Fund account by mailing check or ACH transfer.

Up to 7 business days hold for initial deposit, future deposits have 2-3 days for out of state checks and no hold for ACH transfers.

No minimium balance or monthly fees.

$1+ to earn interest.

Maximum of 6 external linked accounts.

2 business days to transfer money out.

Free one-time or recurring transfers into or out of your account.

Maximum of 6 withdrawals.

Withdrawals limited to $100,000 per day and $2,500,000 per month.

Interest credited monthly.

Paper statements monthly.

Routing number: 122187212

search for 'amtrust' title only archived messages to read other discussions.

any other info worth mentioning, please post. thanks.
Edit by Moderator: Clarified Title

Hard Pull

opmnxtc said: thanks. which bureau?
The pull was from Equifax when I did a CD with them last last year, Had heard they stopped doing pulls but according to Banking at Bank Deals they are still doing them
AmTrustDirect Raises e-Money Market Account Rate to 5.26%

AmTrustDirect just raised the rate of its e-Money Market account from 5.15% to 5.26% APY. The APY applies to balances of $1 and higher. There are no minimum balance requirements, however, there is a minimum initial deposit requirement of $1,000. This is a new savings account that I first reported on in an August. It seems to have many nice features such as ACH transfer capability. Some of the drawbacks include no ATM card or check writing. Also, there may be a hard credit pull. Refer to my August post for more information about this account.

There was also a minor CD rate change at AmTrustDirect. The 12-month rate went from 5.68% to 5.60% APY. Other rates remain the same. Their longer term CD rates had already fallen from 5.68% to 5.50% over the last few weeks which was similar to the rate drops seen at many other banks. In July I was told that they ended the practice of pulling hard credit pulls for CD applications. However, a reader just informed me that there was a hard credit pull made on his Equifax credit report after he had opened a CD. So you should probably assume that a hard credit pull will be done. I'm looking into this to see if that is the official policy.

Hard pull on EQ here as well, under 'Ohio Savings Bank'

ajulius said: Opened account a few days ago. They never took out funds yet. Guess it will take a few days before I hear back from them. Havent heard anything back nor seen my money taken out.

Ohio Savings Bank is a very reputable big money bank so I am not worried. AmTrust is BIG down in Florida and has huge assets. It also owns branches elsewhere with both the AmTrust and Ohio Savings name.
I applied on Friday. Credit Pull was dated saturday. ACH pull is showing temp on my Citi e-savings as of today (this is a def + compared to Amboy and Emigrant - it is fully allowed to do ACH with savings accounts). Sounds like they are pretty quick at it.

I guess I'll have to wait for my letter from them with login info.

Any idea if this rate is tied to the MFR?

the rep told me the initial deposit can have up to 7 business days hold. for future deposits, out of state checks can have 2-3 days, and ACH transfers have no hold.

Are we limited to 6 billpays because it is a money market account?

Also what is weird is I was supposed to get a validation email and I never got it yet. Will see if it hits my mailbox otherwise I will call up the bank.

Just got the validation email. Seems like it was delayed.

Well, ajulius, guess it's time to dump your HSBC account, now that you found someone to give you an extra .21% of APY

Me, i will stay with my nice 5% at WAMU.....not a rate chaser like some of you FW fanatics....as long as WAMU stays "in range" (and i am sure they will)....it's just not worth fussing over....but, to each his own!

I prefer Yodlee too actually and my account is with Yodlee (my local accounts). But, I was under the impression you had to use the MoneyHQ to transfer funds.

Seems like with AmtrustDirect you have 2 funding options, one is directly with Amtrustdirect and its in a different part of the website and also does higher transfer limits than using MoneyHQ.

What is weird is that my account that I used with Amtrustdirect to fund initially is not there so I have to add that again with trial deposits.

AmtrustDirect is MUCH better than EmigrantDirect and with a higher rate to boot as well as flexibility to add linked accounts without mailing in cancelled checks.

craig10x said: Xeon852 said: craig10x said: Well, ajulius, guess it's time to dump your HSBC account, now that you found someone to give you an extra .21% of APY

Me, i will stay with my nice 5% at WAMU.....not a rate chaser like some of you FW fanatics....as long as WAMU stays "in range" (and i am sure they will)....it's just not worth fussing over....but, to each his own!

As much as I mock him for rate-chasing, when its new money I don't really see any reason not to (since I have no Wamu, Citi, nor HSBC ATM/branch local).

LOL..well, then i don't blame you....in your case, since you don't have WAMU/CITI/HSBC in your area, might as well go for the highest....Actually, with Amboy i was getting a bit more (5.25%) and with WAMU it's 5%....but since i have plenty of WAMUs where i am, i liked the convenience/flexibility factor of having a local bank, free checking, nice online banking and a good bill pay directly hooked up to a high yield account...so i went for it! Otherwise, i would have probably looked into Amtrust, myself....Amboy is quite good...but they only let you add 1 ach link...and if you change it, you have to mail them a voided check....so, this sounds a bit better...

That is why I chose HSBC as my local bank. So now I get the best of both worlds. HSBC + AmtrustDirect. I was using EmigrantDirect but will close out the account in all likelyhood.

"That is why I chose HSBC as my local bank. So now I get the best of both worlds. HSBC + AmtrustDirect. I was using EmigrantDirect but will close out the account in all likelyhood."

Amtrust looks quite appealing...i'm familar with them because i see their branches when i visit my dad in south florida...i do like the multi-links factor over Amboy....although, as i said, other then that Amboy was quite good to me....and i liked them better then Emigrant (which i had quite a while ago...in fact, it was the first high yield account i ever had)....

For me, though, i like to "keep it lean" i try to go the simplicity route whenever possible...which is why i like the Wamu package so much....But, i do round it out with my TD Banknorth NO ATM FEES debit/atm card....to give me that free ATM flexibility "edge"....

My deposit cleared today, which would be normal for a 3-day ACH started on Monday. Hopefully future deposits will be quicker.

ajulius: Have you tried doing transfers through MoneyHQ? I was just setting stuff up using their system that you get to by clicking the "external transfer" button. Does MoneyHQ allow unlimited accounts?

I just did a billpay to myself, and it seems to have gone through (account was debited by the ammount).

you will get an equifax hard pull.

money hq has fees, external transfer button is free.

Xeon852 said: My deposit cleared today, which would be normal for a 3-day ACH started on Monday. Hopefully future deposits will be quicker.

ajulius: Have you tried doing transfers through MoneyHQ? I was just setting stuff up using their system that you get to by clicking the "external transfer" button. Does MoneyHQ allow unlimited accounts?

I just did a billpay to myself, and it seems to have gone through (account was debited by the ammount).

MoneyHQ does NOT appear to be the way to go. Use the external transfer mechanism. I think the MoneyHQ transactions could take longer and/or have fund limitations or something, I am not sure.

AmTrust uses the ORCC interface which is one of the better interfaces for online banks. Much better than EmigrantDirect's interface. HSBC comes with Yodlee which is quite good, but its system has some limitations as opposed to ORCC.

I will use Yodlee over MoneyHQ as it is much nicer.

The problem with the 13 digit account numbers has been fixed.

ajulius said: Amtrust comes with ALOT for 5.26%.

Is this account limited to 6 billpays a month?
Yes, It is very clearly stated. You should never do more than 6 with any bank. It is a Federal Rule and banks cannot do different. Have seen a few times here where people have been charged fees or had accounts closed for going over 6

External Funds Transfer
Set-up external bank account(s) and transfer funds to and from your AmTrust Direct e-Money Market account and accounts held at other financial institutions.
Maximum of six (6) external transfers per statement cycle

Why does their site say rates are at 4.50%?

www.amtrustdirect.com, not www.amtrust.com. Same bank, one is the online divison which has higher rates.

If I log into my account it correctly gives the higher rates. Oddly enough I did NOT receive a welcome packet yet in the mail even though I can log in and everything is fine.

Am I seeing this correctly, the E-Money Market Account is up to 2.75%?