Latest Money Rates 5/09

Over the past month or so, savings account interest rates have remained about the same or have dropped only slightly. It has been difficult to keep track of which financial institution has the best interest rates on deposits. So periodically, I will post a list of the annual percentage yields (APYs) for institutions that I have accounts at, or have otherwise mentioned in my blog. These rates are sorted by APY:

2.05% Umbrellabank Pot O' Gold Money Market
1.65% Citibank Ultimate Savings
1.65% HSBCDirect Online Savings
1.65% Countrywide (now Bank of America) SavingsLink
1.50% ING Direct Orange Savings
1.20% E*TRADE Complete Savings
1.20% Guaranty Bank Gold Rewards Money Market
0.85% Washington Mutual (WaMu) Online Savings
0.75% Western FCU Money Market
0.21% PayPal Money Market*
0.05% TD Ameritrade Money Market*

*Note that the PayPal Money Market and the TD Ameritrade Money Market funds are NOT FDIC insured.
Rates are believed to be accurate as of 4/30/09. I did not include banks that had special, or introductory rates in the list because they are not ongoing interest rates. I am also not including non-liquid accounts such as CD's in the list.

In my last post about money market rates, I mentioned that I did open an Umbrellabank Pot O' Gold Money Market account, which gives the highest interest rate in my list. Now, I'm in the process of moving more money into Umbrellabank. The 0.85% rate that I'm getting at Washington Mutual (WaMu) is particularly disappointing, and I have been moving money out of WaMu (soon to be Chase) over the last few months.

As I mentioned before, Smarty of Growing Money has published an interesting post listing a few institutions that are still offering good interest rates. Please see his post 10 High-Yield Savings Accounts. Note that his post is a couple of months old, and most of the interest rates have changed. Nevertheless, I would like get some feedback (good or bad) from anybody who has an account at any of the institutions that Smarty mentioned:

Broadway Federal Bank
ShoreBank
Alliant Credit Union
Danversbank
CNB Bank Direct
Chesapeake Bank
Provident Direct
GMAC Bank
Presidential Online Bank
FNBO Direct

Historically, money market funds (offered through brokerages) have paid a higher interest rate than their counterparts at commercial banks. However, this situation has reversed itself, and the money market funds are now at the bottom of the list. Money market funds are NOT insured by the FDIC. However, money market accounts offered through banks are.

After I published my last update, I found a website that copied my last six posts verbatim, without giving any credit to or even mentioning PFStock. There is one word for this: Plagiarism. I found the plagiarizer through trackbacks on Smarty's blog. After sending a cease and desist Email to the plagiarizer, I got him to remove the stolen material from his website.

DC