|
|
|
|
|
|
E*TRADE Bank - Complete Savings and Max-Rate CheckingLast Update: July 2, 2008
E*TRADE Bank is the banking arm of the online brokerage firm E* TRADE Financial. As you would expect with a name that starts with the letter "E", E*TRADE is an e-bank which offers higher yields than typically is offered at brick-and-mortar banks.
There are two types of people who may be interested in E*Trade's banking offers – those who trade stocks and those who don't.
E*Trade has made a name for itself in the deep discounting brokerage service business and now it has some compelling banking offerings as well. Even if you don't trade stocks, you may want to see if E*Trade's bank products fit your needs.
The Complete Savings Account
The bread-and-butter account is the Complete Savings account. It's a no minimum balance, no monthly fee online savings account that offers a rate better than most brick-and-mortar banks, and as of October 2007, the rate is better than many no minimum balance online savings accounts too.
September 2007, was a disaster for many savings account depositors. The Federal Reserve cut the target fed funds rate and banks responded by cutting yields on their deposit accounts quickly after. E*TRADE held-out for a few weeks, but ended up cutting rates too on October 12. The yield on the Complete Savings account fell from 5.05% apy to 4.70% apy. But the rate didn't stay low for too long. On November 29, 2007, E*Trade returned the yield to 5.05% apy.
Max-Rate Checking
But E*Trade didn't stop at offering a good savings account. They complete the package by offering both a savings account and a high interest rate checking account.
One of the shortcomings of having an online savings account is that you need to move money from your savings account to your checking account where the cash will be earning little or no interest. And let's not forget about the long wait. Transfer times can take from two to four days.
That's why E*Trade has the Max-Rate Checking account. Rates on the Max-Rate Checking account are sizable, but you'll need a minimum of $5,000 to take advantage. Read more about the Max-Rate Checking account.
Of course, if you do use E*Trade to trade stocks, you can use the fast transfer system to fund your investment account from cash in either the Complete Savings account or Max-Rate Checking account.
Under Federal regulations, account holders are allowed only up to six withdrawals or transfers from the Complete Savings account account in any calendar month.
Yield Trend
Account Features
More Accounts from E*TRADE
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
RSS
