Provident Direct
High Yield Savings Account
Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time
1-888-TOP-BANK (1-888-867-2265)
Press 3, ask for e-banking

Current APY Yield / Rate 3.75% / 3.68% APY / Rate as of 3/30/2008

Old rates for archival purposes

4.5% / 4.4% as of 3/12/2008

I found out about the Provident Direct - High Yield Savings account from the
Best current APY/APRs: The Daughter of The Mother - Checking, Saving, and Money Market: All Liquid Accnt Interest Rates!.

On Monday March 10, 2008 I signed up for the account online, and said I would fund it electronically. I gave it my Bank of America routing number, and checkings account number. It had me create a temporary username and password, and gave me a Security Link Code (which was also emailed to me).

Two days later (Wed March 12, 2008), I saw the test deposits (and immediate withdrawals) of two amounts less than a dollar each.

In the upper right corner of the Provident Direct home page, I clicked on the "New account verification link." After putting in my username/password/Security link code, I was prompted to create a permanent username and password. It also had me pick out an image and phrase to associate w/ my account, and had me answer 4 verification questions. Be sure and write down your account # when it displays on the screen.

Once I was finally logged in, I saw that my balance was still $0.00.
When I clicked on the "Make external transfer" link, I got a message notifying me that I needed to talk to a representative. I told the rep that I was unable to do a transfer. After some typeing, he had me logout/login, and now I'm able able to xfer between the Provident Direct High Yield Savings account and my Bank of America checking account (which is the account I used to initially fund the account.)

My main point of writing this is to warn about a couple of issues:

• You CAN perform multiple transfers in a day.


• If you transfer more than 6 (six) times in one month, you will incur a $5 excess transaction fee


• Currently, you are limited to only 1 externally linked account (the one you use to initially fund the account)

The fees and limits are listed in feescheduleCONSUMER.pdf and accountagreeCONSUMER.pdf which appear on the Terms & Account Documents page.

I'll follow-up w/ time required for my ACH transfer from BofA to Provident Direct that I scheduled today.

mark

-edited on 3/14/08 to elaborate on withdrawal limits only
-edited on 3/25/08 to update title
-edited on 3/30/08 to remove $5k limit language, and update APR/APY

Thanks for starting this thread. I signed up for an account couple of days ago and still waiting for the trial deposits to show up in my linked checking account.

markcerv said:

• Electronic transfers are limited to $5,000 per transfer.


• You CAN perform multiple transfers in a day.


• If you transfer more than 6 (six) times in one month, you will incur a $5 excess transaction fee

Thanks for this info.

Thanks OP! The calling a phone # process to get transfers activated seems pretty stupid... the first person I talked to wasn't in the e-banking division and told me I had to activate something on my bank of america account. I hung up and tried again.

BTW, if you didn't write down your acct # (like I forgot to), you can still go the the 'Customize Your Account' link above where your balance is shown on the summary page, and view it.

RedCelicaGT said:"If you transfer more than 6 (six) times in one month, you will incur a $5 excess transaction fee"

This is quite common in the banking industry.Gack! Too much fine print to answer my own question, so just out of curiosity, does the 6 transfer limit include transfers IN? Or is it just withdrawals as required by Reg D?

PS - did you notice the 75 cent fee for each pin-based debit card use?

Edit: duh! thanks for the answer markcerv. I forgot about using the binocular icon to search the pdf.

ThursdaysChild said:Gack! Too much fine print to answer my own question, so just out of curiosity, does the 6 transfer limit include transfers IN? Or is it just withdrawals as required by Reg D?


From the Consumer Deposit Account Agreement, look on page 2, right column, 3rd paragraph in the section Limits on Withdrawals
Subject to availability, up to 6 transfers or withdrawals per monthly service
charge cycle for Statement Savings Accounts, Online Savings Accounts,
and Money Market Accounts or per each monthly period ending on the 26th
of each month for Passbook Savings Accounts will be permitted by preauthorized,
telephone, or personal computer transfers to third parties or to
another Account in the name of the Account holder.

I interpret this as: you can make as many deposits as you'd like per month, but you are limited to 6 withdrawls (either via ATM machine....or ACH transfer) per monthly cycle.

I'd normally suggest using the other financial institution to originate the ACH transfer, which would presumably not be limited on the Provident side. Limitations on external "pulls" and "pushes" are much more rare.

Grantspy said:I opened this account last week, using GMAC to fund it (with $1). OP seems to indicate that the funding account automatically becomes your external account, but this is not the case for me. Currently I have no external transfer options, and am awaiting a reply from CS to find out how to add one.

Grantspy, did you call the phone number 1-888-TOP-BANK (1-888-867-2265) Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., press 3, and ask for e-banking like I did?

Before I called, I had no external xfer capabilities at all.
After that call, I was able to do external xfers to my originating bank.

gwu1986 said:There might also be a fee if account closed before 180 days. $25, I think.

gwu1986, you are correct:

From the feescheduleCONSUMER.pdf (on page 2, left column, middle of the page)


Account closing

• Within 180 days of opening account $25.00
  
  
• In overdraft status at closing $30.00

Where in the accountagreeCONSUMER.pdf does it state that transfers are limited to $5,000?