Online bank DollarSavingsDirect.com - 2.05% APY savings account

New York Private Bank & Trust, the holding company of Emigrant Bancorp, Inc., unveiled a new online savings account Monday that the company claims will provide the highest interest rate in the country.

The Dollar Savings Account, available at DollarSavingsDirect.com, offers a 3.75% interest rate on minimum deposits of $1,000.

FAQ

from CNNFN.com
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/25/pf/dollar_savings_online/index.htm?postversion=2008082506

EDIT - update the subject as it is no longer "new"

EDIT - updated the subject - rate down from 4.00% to 3.50%

Edit by Moderator: Updated rate at user request, down to 3.20%

Edit by Mod: Updated rate to 2.65

I have WAMU and they are the same rate.

bigdinkel said: I have WAMU and they are the same rate.
but dont they require checking account as well?

jensenjp said: bigdinkel said: I have WAMU and they are the same rate.
but dont they require checking account as well?
They do but checking is free no min account, I just opened the free checking so that I can have my monthly CD interest put there. Even better is Corus 4% MM with limited check writing.

Also paperless only.

Interesting that they just start a new bank rather then offering a promo on their Emigrant Direct account. But I guess they want to get the rate chaser into this bank without raising the rates for existing customers that just don't care enough to change.

DavidScubadiver said: Wonder why they don't just increase the EmigrantDirect rate.

I'm pretty unhappy that there's no notice to current EmigrantDirect customers about this. Opening up an Alliant acct is now on my financial todo list.

I tried to open an account and fund it with my Emigrant Direct account and they would not take the ED routing number.

They sure aren't making it easy for existing customers to get the better rate.

Sounds like they are FDIC insured?

Better deal than WAMU as I didn't want to open checking.

soxfan1 said: DavidScubadiver said: Wonder why they don't just increase the EmigrantDirect rate.

The Emigrant has no minimum balance requirements.

Emigrant could just do $0-$1000 at 3% and then 3.75% for 1000$. They're trying to get the best of both worlds. Keep the money from people who don't know that they can get a better rate than 3%. Get more deposits from the rate shoppers by offering more competitive rates.

scott1961 said: jensenjp said: bigdinkel said: I have WAMU and they are the same rate.
but dont they require checking account as well?
They do but checking is free no min account, I just opened the free checking so that I can have my monthly CD interest put there. Even better is Corus 4% MM with limited check writing.

And you get free checks and a free debit card and free outgoing wire transfers...

jdopple said: Withdrawing Funds and Limitations
You may make a withdrawal from your Account through electronic funds transfer to the External Account by logging on to our Web site. You may not withdraw funds by any other means. Amounts withdrawn from an Account will be deducted from the Account balance and cease accruing interest on the business day of the withdrawal. Saturdays, Sundays, and Legal Holidays are not considered business days. Under certain limited circumstances, DollarSavingsDirect, in its sole discretion, may allow non-ACH outgoing domestic wire transfers to the External Account.

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This seems odd. Does that preclude an ACH pull from another account??

not odd. yes.

Squeezer99 said: jdopple said: Withdrawing Funds and Limitations
You may make a withdrawal from your Account through electronic funds transfer to the External Account by logging on to our Web site. You may not withdraw funds by any other means. Amounts withdrawn from an Account will be deducted from the Account balance and cease accruing interest on the business day of the withdrawal. Saturdays, Sundays, and Legal Holidays are not considered business days. Under certain limited circumstances, DollarSavingsDirect, in its sole discretion, may allow non-ACH outgoing domestic wire transfers to the External Account.

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This seems odd. Does that preclude an ACH pull from another account??

not odd. yes.

I have no other account that prohibits that. I didn't even know it was legal.

jdopple said: Withdrawing Funds and Limitations
You may make a withdrawal from your Account through electronic funds transfer to the External Account by logging on to our Web site. You may not withdraw funds by any other means. Amounts withdrawn from an Account will be deducted from the Account balance and cease accruing interest on the business day of the withdrawal. Saturdays, Sundays, and Legal Holidays are not considered business days. Under certain limited circumstances, DollarSavingsDirect, in its sole discretion, may allow non-ACH outgoing domestic wire transfers to the External Account.

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This seems odd. Does that preclude an ACH pull from another account??

Yep.

To me it's a pain in the butt. To them it's a 'security feature.'

Emigrant started this practice on the original Emigrant Direct account, contrary to the written account disclosure in place at the time and without warning, causing peoples ACH transfers to bounce.

Their response to the outcries was: "Sorry for any inconvenience."

PS. E-loan savings doesn't allow ACH pulls either, although that was clear and properly disclosed from the beginning

mlrtime23 said: I tried to open an account and fund it with my Emigrant Direct account and they would not take the ED routing number.

They sure aren't making it easy for existing customers to get the better rate.

EmigrantDirect accounts don't support ACH withdrawals. No other bank can 'pull' from it; it has to 'push'. You *might* be able to hook ED up to your new DSD account, but maybe not (you'll probably need to mail in a check, like you do with ED).

(This is from my own experience, but I doubt has changed).

doglar said: I was keeping my Emigrant account open thinking they would definitely offer a good rate as the rates go back up.
Since the bank (ED) is not raising the interest on their current account, but starting a new bank instead I suggest that we all
close our accounts at ED and open an account at dollarsavings...
to discourage this type of thing by a bank
hopefully, all the overhead involved in closing the accounts and opening new accounts will not be profitable for the bank.
I would open the new account first which should make it easier on a patriot act stand point (and soft/hard pulls)
then close the ED account

Well, that sounds fine and all, except for those of us using their 1.4% CashBack card. Whatever their strategy, it seems giving a rip about their credit card didn't factor in.

OTOH, as CWs probably destined to turn uncompetitive, if DSD holds up I may pull my moratorium on new accounts, open one, but will still leave 10k in ED.

Why oh why did they not just "convert" everything ED into this DSD and save current customers the BS hassle?

DollarSavingsDirect website now shows 4.00%!!

Since it doesn't allow pull from other bank.
How long does it take to push money out?
And I assume you can still push in, right?

UnixLab said: Since it doesn't allow pull from other bank.
How long does it take to push money out?
And I assume you can still push in, right?

No one has answered your question about pushing out (I suspect the account is too new for anyone to have much experience with it), so I'll volunteer the following:

With Emigrant Direct (the same bank and virtually the same account except for the interest rate), if you schedule a withdrawal by 4:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. (I forget which) on a business day, the amount is withdrawn from your ED account the following business day and appears in your external account the same day it is withdrawn, so you lose no interest if the external account earns interest.

I suggest that you try a small test withdrawal and see for yourself before you make any plans. I would recommend this with any new bank account you open, even if you get reports from others on how it worked for them.

eviljim said: WaMu just lowered their rate to 3%.
I think it might be time to move some of my money to a new DSD account, 4% is pretty good. I may wait though, with the .5% cut to interest rates today I wouldn't be surprised if these numbers start changing.

You make an excellent point....why hurry to get into this one quick since there was just an interest rate cut and they could drop the rate down now..it is not like they are "locking it in" for a set period of time.....

Refusal to Permit Withdrawal
The Bank may refuse to permit withdrawals in cases such as, but not limited to, the following:
1. The Bank chooses to exercise its legal rights to require up to 60 days advance written notice of any intended withdrawal (!!!) from this Account and the 60 days have not passed since we received the required notice from you;
...or
8. An equipment problem or Act of God, including, but not limited to, war, strike, act of terrorism which prevents the Bank from determining the availability of funds.

ACH!