i was doing a little research over at bankrate earlier today, and decided to open a few new accounts:

• schwab high yield investor checking account
• everbank high yield pledge money market account

i actually noticed the schwab account in a may issue of money magazine in the corner of a page — i have been catching up on back issues from the local public library during my lunchtime at work.

these are their features:

everbank high yield pledge money market account

• 4.65 % for 3 months with 3.82% apy, then 3.46 compounded daily after and 3.51 apy (< $50k)
• comes with check writing
• minimum is $1500
• online banking free
• 6 transfers/withdrawals a month
• overdraft protection
• FDIC insured

schwab high yield investor checking account

• 2.20% interest rate
• free use of ANY atms (fees are automatically reimbursed to account)
• free pre-paid deposit envelopes
• free checks
• minimum to open is only $1
• online bill-pay
• online account access
• no monthly fees
• FDIC insured up to 100k
• overdraft protection
• comes with a brokerage account

currently these are the checking and savings accounts that i have, and what i use them for/their states:

these are the reasons i decided to open up the new accounts:

MMA

at the moment i am using an hsbc direct savings account which i signed on for initially at 3.5% interest (nowadays available at 3.25%).  4.65% even for 3 months seems inviting.  and i am fine with 3.46 afterwards.  i am drawn to the fact that check writing is available, in case i need to dip into this emergency fund in the future conveniently with a check.  the fact that i can only withdraw/transfer 6x a month is good, so that it forces me not to touch it much (if at all), except to make deposits.  overdraft protection, FDIC insurance, online access, and no fees are all of course very appealing.

as opposed to other options, this works well for me as well because i can only afford to put in 1500+ at the moment, with gradual growth expected.  since i must be careful to not go below 1500 or else incur a 4.95 a month fee, i will be diligent about not accessing this fund unnecessarily, and focus on putting additional money into it.

investment checking

the schwab account is cool for all those reasons listed in the features above.  the 2.20% is way better than the < 2% i am getting with my ING electric orange account at the moment.

in particular, the really cool features are:

1. getting automatically reimbursed for any and all atm fees (can use any atm), and
2. sending in pre-paid deposit envelopes so that i don’t have to go into a bank physically

now, i have had these features with the first republic bank checking account which i’ve had for perhaps 7 years now through my previous work place.  this was known as ‘rebate checking’ and it was available to us as long as we direct deposited.  we also had a FRB atm machine at work in the lobby, which was convenient.  i have since left the employer, but still have that account with the same features.  unfortunately, there isn’t much i can do with the account online, aside from looking at statements.  since ING direct was so much easier to use with the electronic/paper checks online and the online bill-pay feature, i gradually neglected the first republic bank account.  it has a few cents in it now, i believe.  i will close that account eventually.

as for the hsbc direct payment account — i went ahead and opened the account anyway when i opened the savings accounts online, as i thought i would use them.  turns out i didn’t ever find a good use for it, so i will be closing that as well.  the interest rate is a little better than the schwab account at the time of this writing, at 2.25%.

i will keep the hsbc direct joint savings account.  it is the joint Japan Fund account i am building with the SO.  the interest rate was at 3.5% when i opened up the account initially.  i would move it to another higher yielding savings/mma account, except that the handful of appealing accounts appear to require a $1000+ minimum balance (at times to at least avoid fees).  at the moment we only have about $486 in the account.  i will revisit moving it later, if a good opportunity is available then.

i also took a peek at the everbank’s freenet high interest checking account while i was at it.  their interest rate is way more competitive as well just like their savings account — 4.65% for the first 3 months, and then 2.87% at $9999 or less, more interest (up to 3.59%!) if more of a balance.  unfortunately, i don’t have the minimum $1500 i can move comfortably to open up such an account at the moment.  although, if you are required to open the accoutn with a minimum of $1500, and then there is no minimum required to earn interest, doesn’t that mean i can just open up the account with 1500, and then move that money after a few weeks or so as needed elsewhere?

also, they only offer an atm fees- reimbursement of $6 a month.  i suppose this works well if you anticipate only withdrawing from an atm twice or three times at most.  the other features look pretty good, although they don’t appear to have free pre-paid envelopes for depositing available.

in case you are interested, the features for the everbank freenet checking account:

• $1500 minimum opening balance
• no fees
• no minimum to earn interest
• visa check card
• online banking and bill pay
• $6/month atm reimbursement
• overdraft protection
• FDIC insured

in summary, my new accounts will become:

i intend to keep the ING direct checking account for the moment.  note that its purpose is as a ‘monthly expenses account’.  if you’ve read the book, uncommon cents, then you might know where i will be going with this.  if not, stay tuned!  i plan to write about my (mini) grand plan for my cash accounts soon.

some questions that come to mind..

if you open an account that requires a minimum opening balance X, once you open that account, will they penalize you with a fee once you go below $1500 if it says ‘no fees’ as far as you can tell?  (see thoughts on everbank’s checking account above).

you can get penalized wrt your credit score for closing credit card accounts, depending on your situation.  is the same true for savings/mm and checking accounts?

how about you?  have you found any cool deals on checking and savings/mm accounts that fit your current needs well?  do you have any other recommendations that i may have overlooked for my situation?