Provident Direct - High Yield Savings -- Transfer up to $100k now

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?

Have you tried transfer initiated from outside accounts? What is Provident's routing number? BTW, thanks for opening this thread.

I found ProvidentDirect.com has the very same web interface as UmbrellaBank.com.

markcerv said:
I requested from Provident Direct a $5,000 ACH transfer from a Bank of America checkings account around 2pm PDT on Wednesday, March 12th 2008.

10am PDT on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 -- I logged into my bofa.com acct, and saw a pending $5,000 transaction.
10am PDT on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 -- I logged into my Provident-Direct account, and my balance was $0.00

6pm PDT on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 -- I logged into my Provident-Direct account, and my balance was $5,000.


So, this particular ACH transfer only took about 26 hours! (of course, YMMV)

faw169 said: What is Provident's routing number?
Their routing number is 252073018.

qcumber98 said: Where in the accountagreeCONSUMER.pdf does it state that transfers are limited to $5,000? I didn't find it in either pdf document, searching "limit" "transfer" or "5,000"

but I did notice a $2.00 fee for CSR assisted transfers.

I was able to push a $57K transfer from CWB to Provident. Showed up as available within 2 days.

BruteForce said: I was able to push a $57K transfer from CWB to Provident. Showed up as available within 2 days.

BruteForce -- thanks for the data point.

When I was warning about the low transfer limit, I was referring to outgoing xfers (aka withdrawals from Provident Direct).

Today I tried to schedule an external transfer from Provident Direct to Bank of America for $5,050 and it was rejected:
Image of a $5,050 withdrawal being rejected!

I then tried to schedule a transfer (withdrawal) for $5,000 exactly, and it worked!
Image of a $5,000 withdrawal going thru

I have updated the quick summary (and subject) of this thread to reflect these realities.

So what is this all about then?:

>5K Ready to go?...

I do still wonder about it since I have not actually submitted the transfer shown. It can always get reviewed before being fullfilled.

Anyway, I still think this is likely a situational issue and an external *pull* might just make it moot anyway.

markcerv said: BruteForce -- thanks for the data point.

When I was warning about the low transfer limit, I was referring to outgoing xfers (aka withdrawals from Provident Direct).

I know. I also reported this in another thread. I was so pi$$ed about that hard limit (and the fee for "excessive" transfers) that I called and complained. Afterwards, I transferred my opening deposit back out to CWB and sent a message to close the Provident account. Then CWB lowered their rate AGAIN so I raced back and begged Provident not to close the account. At that point I figured out I could get around the limit by pushing rather than pulling. It also looks like a push is completed much faster than a pull.

so was anyone able to link an external account without having to call them?

markcerv said: set the date for a month from now, and actually submit it. At that point you will get the denied message that I got above. (setting the future date has nothing to do with it failing, it's more a matter of "reassuring you" that if it DID go through, that you'd have plenty of time to cancel it.)Sure, that may be correct...I just didn't want to bother with a cancel request in the event that it did work.

So if I read you right, your deny message was received AFTER you clicked the "submit transfer" button that had appeared on a screen which matched that which I posted? If so, I think your point is proven and I'd only end up confirming it if I were to complete my example request.

oopsz said: gwu1986 said: oopsz said: Looks like no minimum balance. What's the ACH transfer time? One day? Is it cashedge?T&C seems to indicate a $5 month fee if balance goes below $300.

huh, says on the main page:
High Yield Online
Savings Account

4.50% APY

No minimum balance requirements,
and no monthly fees.
Yep. CSR said that "may be incorrect as T&C states $300 to avoid $5 fee". She will get a clarification and report back on Monday. "Everyone is still learning all of the info on this product."

hudson4351 said: Looks like I'll be moving my money again. I'm thinking GMAC would be the best candidate at this point.

Alliant is the best and most reliable candidate.