Monday, May 14, 2012

Money Market Rates 5/12

Here are the latest money market interest rates of the banks that I've been tracking on my blog. Note that these rates are sorted by APY, and represent institutions that I have accounts at, or have otherwise mentioned in my blog:

0.84% Ally Bank Online Savings
0.80% Discover Bank Online Savings
0.80% ING Direct Orange Savings
0.80% HSBC Advance Online Savings
0.75% American Express High Yield Savings
0.70% Urban Partnership Bank Online Savings
0.65% FNBO Direct Online Savings
0.35% Western FCU Money Market
0.15% Chase Plus Savings
0.10% Citibank Savings Plus
0.10% Travis CU Flexible Money Market
0.06% Patelco CU Money Market Account
0.05% E*TRADE Complete Savings

In some cases, MMA interest rates are tiered. If this is the case, I usually report the interest rate at the $10,000 tier in these updates.

Rates are believed to be accurate as of 5/13/12. 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. I have included a few credit unions in the list so that readers have a comparison point with banks.

The current favorite, Ally Bank Online Savings, has stayed at the at the top of the list. This is mainly because banks like Discover Bank and American Express have lowered their interest rates in recent months, while Ally has remained the same since my last update. Rounding out the bottom of this list are two credit unions, Travis CU, and Patelco CU. I've questioned the motives of those who have encouraged others to transfer their money from banks to credit unions during Bank Transfer Day. The credit unions on my list are on par with Citibank, which is really the bottom of the heap, as far as banks are concerned.

While it seems that interest rates are still continuing to trend downward, all of the these interest rates have stayed the same since last month. I think that it is a good time for people to consider moving their money around if they are not happy with their current banking institution. But, based on this analysis, I won't be transferring my funds to a credit union.

So, that is the latest list of money market rates. Please let me know if you know of any higher interest rates.

DC