Did I miss something? In 2006 Waterfield Financial (and Union Bank of Indianapolis, IN) was being acquired by American Home mortgage. Did that deal go thorough. Is theis really a mortgage company and have those risks been investigated. I also found that the site aarpsavings.com (this deal on this thread) was not linked to aarpfinancial.com nor to aarp.org. I'm not saying it's foul. I'm just saying check.

For a start see:
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?id=16435
I found that using google. I don't know what any of this means. It may all be fine. aarp has been extremely reputable but check that this is really endorsed by them.

aptvictoria said:How about if you start off in the High Yield Savings account at 4.50% with $1.00. And then you put in another $50K. Do you automatically get the Jumbo 4.75%? If you don't automatically get into the Jumbo Secured account when you go over $50K in the Secured account, why would you automatically be transferred from the High Yield to the Jumbo Secured account? If you have $50K, just open the Jumbo.

nm

Maybe these are dumb questions...

Is it FDIC insured? yes

Can the rate change at any time? Does it change with the fed

gwu1986 said:poo said:

I'm not putting down seniors or older members, but how many people aged 50+ trust an internet bank (non-local bank), not already have their money tied up, or are even aware that the local 2.5% interest rates are bad?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To poo: Poo!
Didn't you hear, 50 is the new 40! LOL.

All kidding aside, I think we all know 2.5% is Bad, "senior" member or not.

i never knew until about 5 months ago that there were banks that went higher than my bank's 0.xx% and im not 30 yet! signed up for a 6% checking account that went down to 4% recently but wish I knew earlier

ZackT2 said:I work in a development office of a large University. This same group set up our "bank".

Remember the 'affinity' credit cards from the '90's...this is the same thing only promoting savings instead of spending. They pay the group a small percentage of the interest that is paid.

And NO, they are NOT teaser rates. They have consistently paid high yields, they are dropping rates, in conjuction with the Fed rate cuts. Just a few months ago, the rates were 5.5% for a savings account.

The deposits are FDIC insured. They offer many freebies...postage paid envelopes for deposits, reimbruse ATM fees & no fees as long as you have $1 in the account.

I have had an account for 2 years with them. Their original bank, I think it was SkyeBank, was purchased by Huntington recently and the transition was invisible.

Don't hesitate to open an account. Safe money & highest interest rates (except maybe some teaser rates) in the country.Great info...after reading this I'm in. Affinity account...that's what this is.

Finally opened a joint HYS, after renewing AARP via the Walgreens site while registering for an additional 5% discount on select products, but reading the T&C, I have never seen this before:

Withdrawal or Check Cashing

If you have a secure money market or savings account, although you may normally make withdrawals from your account at any time, under federal regulations we can require you to give the Bank 7 days prior notice of any withdrawal. Under federal regulations you are limited to a total of no more than 6 withdrawals, including transfers and payments, in any monthly statement period by certain methods. However, if you receive quarterly statements, this period will be each calendar month ending on the last business day of the month. These methods are by preauthorized or automatic transfers and payments or by telephone agreement, order or instruction. A total of only 3 of these may be made by check, draft, debit card or similar order payable to third parties. We do not necessarily offer any or all of these methods of withdrawal from your account. If you exceed these limits, we can refuse to permit the excessive withdrawal(s), terminate your preauthorized, automatic, or third party transfer and payment privileges, convert your account to a transaction account, stop paying interest on your account, and/ or close your account.

Hope this does not become a problem in the future, if/when/should there be massive sudden withdrawals. Just something to keep in the back of your mind IMO...ie. don't put every emergency dollar with this bank.

I'm going to mail my signature card printout and initial deposit of $500 via UPS (free service to all members). Meanwhile I'll attempt to link accounts for the rest of deposits. Deposits >5K per day may not be available immediately:

Longer Delays May Apply

The Bank believes a check you deposit will not be paid.
You deposit checks totaling more than $5,000 on any one day.
You re-deposit a check that has been returned unpaid.
You have overdrawn your account repeatedly in the last six months.
There is an emergency, such as a failure of communication or computer equipment.
The Bank will notify you if it delays your ability to withdraw funds for any of these reasons, and will tell you when the funds will be available. They will generally be available no later than the tenth business day after the day of your deposit. The Depositor should ask if the Depositor needs to be sure when a particular deposit will be available for withdrawal.

Probably not an issue with ACH deposits, just paper checks??

Called customer service and was told that the 7 day prior notice before withdrawal would probably apply for large withdrawals eg. over 100K (her words), and as for the longer deposit hold delays > 5K, it is for paper checks, not ACH deposits which should be available same day regardless of how large the deposit.

Online account was available immediately for log in and according to customer service I can ACH deposit in anytime before initial deposits are received by mail. So maybe initial funding by check may not be necessary?

astrologer said:I just opened up an account by phone.
One new thing I learned is that if you have the Jumbo account and you drop down below 50K, on the 5th day you begin to be debited $1.50 per day. I didn't ask any further b/c I only opened the HYA for now until my next CD comes due.
Actually, the fee you described applies to all accounts in which there’s a negative balance.

The fee isn’t imposed if the balance drops below 50K in the Jumbo account; it’s only when the account drops below $0 for five days that the fee kicks in.

AARP Financial fee schedule

Any promotion codes? Maybe a bonus?

Was there recently a way to get a free year of AARP with a Walgreens purchase?

If you have an existing UFB Direct account, you can log in via aarpsavings.com with you UFB username and password. At that point, you can send email asking to convert your UFB account to an AARP account, or click Open New Account to open a new one with AARP.