Daily Money Hack » ETrade

E*Trade $25 New Account Bonus

DMH — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:21:43 +0000

E*Trade is offering a new $25 new account bonus on their 3.30% APY Complete Savings Account, one of the best high yield savings accounts available. What’s also nice about E*Trade, other than the fantastic yield, is that there are no minimums outside of the $1 you need to start an account (and qualify for the $25 promotion) but once you open up an account, I’m sure you’ll want to put your savings there instead of in your sub-1% savings account.

Terms & Conditions:

$25 will be credited to your Complete Savings Account within 30 days of the account being funded with a minimum deposit of $1. Payments will be reported as interest income. Accounts must be opened by 12/17/2008 to quality for the $25 offer. Must be a new account opened with new funds. Offer applies to one new account per customer. Not good with any other offer.

Offer good until 12/17/08.

E*Trade Promotion: 100 Trades for Rollovers

DMH — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:46:00 +0000

E*Trade sent me a mailing the other day marketing their rollover IRA promotional offer. Open a Rollover IRA at etrade.com/ira100free by November 28th, 2008 and get 100 commission-free stock and options trades.

It’s a decent offer and trades are usually only $9.99 a trade anyway but 100 trades is a lot and they expire in thirty days. If you’re planning on rolling things over and E*Trade is your target institution, this is a good offer; but 100 trades in thirty days should be a compelling factor in your decision. Think of it as icing on a cake you already ordered.

Here are the terms & conditions:

1. Commission-free trade offer applies to new E*TRADE Securities Traditional, Roth, or Rollover IRAs. Not eligible are investment club, business trust, custodial, or other retirement accounts, E*TRADE Bank accounts, and any accounts not identified as valid. Promotion is limited to one new account per User ID and is not valid with any other offers. Excludes E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp. associates and non-U.S. residents. The new account holder will receive a maximum of 100 free trade commissions for stock or options trades executed within 30 days of the opening of the new account. You will pay the standard commission rate on all trades (plus all applicable options contract fees), and your IRA account will be credited the standard commission rate per stock or options trade within eight weeks of qualifying (excluding options contract fees). Accounts must be opened by 12/31/2008 to qualify for this offer.
2. There is no annual custodial fee for IRAs if you sign up for and maintain electronic delivery of statements and confirmations. If you choose paper delivery of these documents, you will be subject to a $25 annual custodial fee unless the total assets in your linked E*TRADE Bank and E*TRADE Securities brokerage accounts are $25,000 or more. Other fees may apply. May be subject to change. Please visit etrade.com/nofeeIRA for details.
3. E*TRADE Financial Advisors provide recommendations on mutual funds, bonds, preferred stocks, closed-end funds, structured products-including equity linked CDs, and asset allocation. Customers are required to complete additional forms and documentation in order to receive such services. Different commission structures may apply and in some cases may be less or more than the rates posted on the Web site.

September 2008 High Yield Savings Account Rates Roundup

DMH — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:47:18 +0000

Several of the banks have increased their CD yields but for the month, every bank stood pat on their high yield savings account interest rates. The Fed kept rates constant, which gave banks little incentive to increase their rates. However, on the other hand, liquidity pressures have been forcing some banks to increase their rates. Just recently, ING Direct increased their CD rates twice in August and ING Direct’s 12-month CD now yields a healthy 4.00% APY.

If you’re still wary of online banks or aren’t sure how to pick one, there was recently a good article on Dumb Little Man on how to choose an online bank.

Bank Name	APY	Min. Balance	Change
WaMu	3.75%	None	0.00%
FNBO Direct	3.50%	None	0.00%
HSBC Direct	3.50%	None	0.00%
WT Direct	3.31%	$10k+	0.00%
E*Trade	3.30%	None	0.00%
ING Direct	3.00%	None	0.00%
Emigrant Direct	3.00%	None	0.00%

August 2008 High Yield Savings Account Rates Roundup

DMH — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:46:37 +0000

Looks like rates are moving upward this month! WaMu jumped over all competitors and currently has the highest rate of 3.75% APY for their online savings account. Other banks have upped their offers as well and you now have at least three banks with offers over 3.50% APY. The HSBC Direct offer is valid until at least Sept. 15th and the WaMu and FNBO offer are both good indefinitely. Sadly, high yield saving account pioneers ING Direct and Emigrant Direct (increased their rate by 0.25% on Friday though!) lead up the back of the pack having not raised their rates.

Concerned about banks failing? (Some have speculated the generous offer by WaMu is because they are facing a liquidity problem) All of these banks are FDIC insured so your funds up to $100,000 are safe.

Bank Name	APY	Min. Balance	Change
WaMu	3.75%	None	+0.25%
FNBO Direct	3.50%	None	+0.25%
HSBC Direct	3.50%	None	0.00%
WT Direct	3.31%	$10k+	+0.05%
E*Trade	3.30%	None	+0.15%
ING Direct	3.00%	None	0.00%
Emigrant Direct	3.00%	None	+0.25%

July 2008 High Yield Savings Account Rates Roundup

DMH — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:50:47 +0000

With the Fed standing pat on rates, the only high yield savings account interest rate jockying will be for new deposits. Last month there were only two rate changes, FNBO Direct upped the rate to match HSBC’s 3.50% APY and WT Direct ticked up their rates by a tenth of a percent.

The only word of caution I’d throw in there is that benchmark rate, 3.50% at HSBC (but also available at lesser known FNBO Direct) is available through August 15th, 2008. There’s no saying where it will go after that.

Bank Name	APY	Min. Balance	Change
HSBC Direct	3.50%	None	0.00%
FNBO Direct	3.50%	None	+0.25%
WT Direct	3.26%	$10k+	+0.10%
WaMu	3.30%	None	0.00%
E*Trade	3.15%	None	0.00%
UFB Direct	3.01%	None	0.00%
ING Direct	3.00%	None	0.00%
Emigrant Direct	2.75%	None	0.00%

June 2008 High Yield Savings Account Rates Roundup

DMH — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:03:41 +0000

Not much of a change this month with a majority of the banks listed keeping rates pat, not surprising given little change by the Fed. The only notable change was E*Trade increasing their rate by a nominal amount, which can assuage E*Trade account holders but probably does little to entice new deposits.

Bank Name	APY	Min. Balance	Change
HSBC Direct	3.50%	None	new
WaMu	3.30%	None	0.00%
FNBO Direct	3.25%	None	0.00%
WT Direct	3.16%	$10k+	-0.15%
E*Trade	3.15%	None	+0.14%
UFB Direct	3.01%	None	0.00%
ING Direct	3.00%	None	0.00%
Emigrant Direct	2.75%	None	0.00%

Want to see a bank tracked in this list? Leave it in the comments below and I’ll be sure to include it!

$25 ETrade Complete Savings Account Bonus

DMH — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:56:01 +0000

E*Trade is running a $25 bonus promotion until 5/31/08 where you get $25 for opening a complete savings account with a mere $1. Opening an account takes about five minutes and there is no hard inquiry on your credit report when you do so. The current rate on the complete savings account is 3.15% APY and is pretty good versus its peers in the industry. The bonus is likely to be reported on a Form 1099 as interest so take that into consideration.

Some terms & conditions:

$25 will be credited to your Complete Savings Account within 30 days of the account being funded with a minimum deposit of $1. Payments will be reported as interest income. Accounts must be opened by 5/31/2008 to quality for the $25 offer. Must be a new account opened with new funds. Offer applies to one new account per customer. Not good with any other offer. This offer is not valid for E*TRADE FINANCIAL employees.

May 2008 High Yield Savings Account Rates Roundup

DMH — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:31:15 +0000

This month, a few of the leader banks from last month fell a little farther than the rest of the pack, but most of the banks fell to be within 25 basis points of 3.00%. WT Direct leads the way with a 3.31% APY if you have $10,000+ to deposit but otherwise the Washington Mutual Checking offer is a pretty good return as well at 3.30%.

Also, ING Direct has a referral program where you can get $25 for signing up and depositing $250. If visit this page if you’d like one of these referrals for ING Direct’s $25 promotional program.

Bank Name	APY	Min. Balance	Change
WT Direct	3.31%	$10k+	0.00%
WaMu	3.30%	None	N/A
FNBO Direct	3.25%	None	-0.60%
UFB Direct	3.01%	None	-0.74%
E*Trade	3.01%	None	-0.44%
ING Direct	3.00%	None	0.00%
Emigrant Direct	2.75%	None	-0.25%

Want to see a bank tracked in this list? Leave it in the comments below and I’ll be sure to include it!

April 2008 High Yield Savings Account Rates Roundup

DMH — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:53:11 +0000

The dropping of rates at high yield banks continues unabated as this week we saw even more drops from the major online banks. Emigrant fell the hardest, evening themselves up with ING Direct, and it’s a sign that Emigrant is no longer in “growth” mode, offering up higher rates for more deposits, and has entered ING’s mode of just cruising. Some of the newer banks have slid more slowly but the rates are all in the 3′s instead of the 4′s.

Again, rate chasing might become more common now that everything is so low, but I do not recommend rate chasing high yield savings accounts, it’s just not worth the effort and time..

Bank Name	APY	Min. Balance	Diff. Vs. Feb.
FNBO Direct	3.85%	None	-0.45%
UFB Direct	3.85%	None	-0.15%
E*Trade	3.45%	None	-0.95%
WT Direct	3.31%	$10k+	-0.99%
Emigrant Direct	3.00%	None	-1.05%
ING Direct	3.00%	None	-0.40%

Want to see a bank tracked in this list? Leave it in the comments below and I’ll be sure to include it!

January 2008 High Yield Savings Account Rates Roundup

DMH — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:01:58 +0000

The Fed made some moves this month (dropping the rates by 75 points and then 50 points) and, as expected, the rates have fallen as well. The days of 5%+ APY on an online savings account are clearly over as there are hardly any banks offering that rate anymore (none of the ones I track list a rate over 4.40%!).

You might be tempted to rate chase, moving your funds to E*Trade, but I do not recommend rate chasing high yield savings accounts.

Bank Name	APY	Min. Balance	Diff. Vs. Last Mo.
E*Trade	4.40%	None	-0.55%
FNBO Direct	4.30%	None	-0.75%
WT Direct	4.30%	$10k+	-1.20%
Emigrant Direct	4.05%	None	-0.60%
UFB Direct	4.00%	None	-1.22%
ING Direct	3.40%	None	-0.70%

Want to see a bank tracked in this list? Leave it in the comments below and I’ll be sure to include it!