@blackmage439: I have an HSBC savings account too (when I opened it, they were slightly higher than ING). No trouble transferring anything, and all seems good - except for the overzealous amount of email they send letting me know about funds transferred, funds about to be posted, funds posted.... plus a lot more silly paper mail with $8 checks to deposit to enroll in fraud protection, etc.

I think in 3 months with them I have gotten more mail (email & paper) from them than any of my other financial services in the last year, with the exception of those stupid convenience checks from Chase. I wish I could get both of them to tone down the amount of contact they like to have with me.

You have to signup with an online bank account with savings. You then have to close out your walkin checking and savings. Usually this gives you about .5 or 1% higher interest rate. Thats what I did with my WaMu Account. but, after the buy out.. its now 2.5% =-\

You should always be wary of companies offering APR's out of character of similar institutions, it's a phenomenon called "Hot Money" as they are attempting to gain more deposits quickly. It's a serious sign of weakness in a bank.

[www.moneyandmarkets.com]

We ordered our own paper checks, since our ING account has an account number and a routing number. ING then denied 2 checks we wrote, which caused us fees, even though there was plenty of money in the account. Needless to say, we closed the account the next day since we had ZERO way to access our money when we needed it (the amount we needed was higher than the daily ATM limit).

On the Bankrate page, 4 of the top 6 high yield banks are rated ONE STAR, the lowest rating possible. One of the others is GMAC ... wonder how long they'll be around?

Safety or high returns ... pick ONE.

I signed up for HSBC and I have been nothing but satisfied since. Their service is top notch and the rates are very good. I recently purchased a large item online and had some issues with the Blue Nile shipping policies. The address that I was shipping the item to was not my own. HSBC helped me to set up my account and purchase the item and still get it shipped in time for christmas.

I could never go back to a big brick and mortar bank. I still remember going in to a BOA branch trying to make change for my garage sale. The teller had the nerve to take my money and then ask me if I bank with them. She then held on to my money until she could do her whole sales pitch to me. She asked if my bank had any branches in the area, and I told her that HSBC Direct is an online bank. She said "What do you do if you have any problems?" I said "They don't create them for me." After that, she gave me my money back and gave up on the sales pitch.

@310Drew:

I do as well.. they used to be up at 4% but everytime the Fed drops their rate they do as well. If the rates go back up I'm sure the checking account interest will as well.

So a daily disadvantage? No, not remotely. But sometimes a disadvantage when you need the money the most. Enough of one to consider before making a choice, anyway.

Late last week, my bank (a large regional bank) called me on my cell phone and started to pitch their savings accounts! I said I would not open a savings account with them b/c I could get much better rates elsewhere, so the lady says "Oh, ok thank you" and hangs up. She sounded embarrassed for calling.

I've had great luck with the smaller online banks over the past 7-8 years. I was with Nexity Bank for most of that time, and now I'm with Umbrella Bank (still paying 3.4% right now).

Both are local to me (Birmingham, AL), so in a pinch, I have the option to visit those banks' solitary local branches. Although I've only had to use that option once or twice ever, so it wouldn't be a dealbreaker if I lived elsewhere.

Big bonus: Getting a human on the phone within 30 seconds, every time.

Holy crap I had no idea emigrantdirect's online savings account's interest rate dropped so low (2%) And Dollar savings direct (a subsidiary of emigrantdirect) is at 4%! DOUBLE!

I'm switching over today!

Still using FNBO Direct and ING here. FNBO had its hiccups but they seem to have gotten their act together.

ps- meant to also say that the high interest + high security is why i chose hsbc.

inconvenient? it's extremely secure...does it bother you to type in two passwords? honestly, just curious.

also interesting, saw this on the statement just now:
Important Information for Your Account
Effective 2/9/09, we are changing the Overdraft Item Fee and the NSF: Returned Item Fee. The fee is $35
for each overdraft or returned item. However, you will be charged for no more than 10 items per day.
Bank of America offers services to help you minimize or prevent fees. Sign up for Overdraft Protection
service to transfer available funds from your Bank of America credit card or savings account to help
cover checking overdrafts. To learn more, talk with an associate at your local banking center or call the
customer service number listed.

so, wheee, now when i overdraft, i won't have to pay out more than $350 per day!

(disadvantage) This means 99% of your interaction with the bank will be through the online interface, if you have a particular vexing problem then you'll have to resort to the phone.

Offsetting this disadvantage is the fact that some brick and mortar banks (I'm thinking specifically of Citibank) no longer offer any sort of customer service, aside from opening accounts, in the branch. Citibank used to have top-notch customer service, but the last time I went in to talk about my mortgage escrow account because I had not had much luck talking to a non-native English speaker on the phone, the lady in the branch referred me back to the phone support line. :(

In the end, it's a trade-off for the higher interest rate. You have to decide if that's worth it or not.

A friend recently got with a $40 yearly account fee even after he told them to close his accounts last year. Well it turns out they'd opened SEVEN different accounts for him (though they couldn't even tell him what they all were) and then only closed one of them.

Took a couple hours on the phone to get them to admit this and (maybe) close them down. I guess he'll find out next year when he gets his next $40 'service' charge.

Zzzzzt. This is an advantage. It's one of the main reasons I like my ING account. This is what a savings account is supposed to be. Available, but far enough out of reach that I don't blow it on a sale. Just like a piggy bank. I can get at it, but it'll take a hammer and I'll need a new piggy bank when I'm done.

Something else that has really helped my savings has been ING's super easy scheduled transfers. Every time I cut a monthly bill, I set up an automatic transfer for half that amount. For example if I turn off my $60/mo cable I set up a $30/mo auto transfer into my ING savings. At this point I'm putting away about $250 a month with that. Add on interest and pretty quickly those emergency expenses and long vacations don't sound so scary.

I go back and forth between HSBC and eTrade. Currently eTrade has a 3.01% APR to HSBC's 3% so it is a toss-up. eTrade used to have 3.3% and last spring HSBC had 5% or something like that for a month or two.

The only annoying thing that I have found is that HSBC's security is incredibly inconvenient. So much so that I opened the eTrade account in the first place.

@tsume: Same here, transferred everything out after it dropped to about 2.5%

They provide a 3.5% APY, and have a social and environmental mission as the leading community development and environmental bank in the US.

(Note: ShoreBank is a client of the company that I work for.)

I also use Mint.com for one-stop quick updates on all my accounts.

I wonder if anyone knows about DollarSavings Direct? I've never heard of them, but 4% is a big difference from the 2.75 I'm getting at ING right now

didn't ING get tangled in that Madoff Ponzi scheme?
[investmentfraudpro.blogspot.com]

I keep about $1000 emergency cash outside the DSD savings account, but any emergency above that I'd just charge and pay off in full, allowing me time to transfer back out of Dollar Savings Direct.

We use ING for all our mid term and long term savings goals. We use a combination of ING savings and ING CD ladder.

Our work around for the 2-3 day transfer delay is to keep $1000 in our Wachovia savings account. Our Wachovia savings earns bascially nothing in interest but we use it as our overdraft account and in case we need cash quick.