Archive for the ‘Banking & Investment’ Category

Now is the Time to Buy!

How many times have you heard that crappy slogan before? I think it should be changed to, “Now is the time to buy something well below your means if you can afford it.” Can we at least learn something valuable from our stupidity?

Buy Something Cheap

I haven’t made all of the best financial decisions in the world, but I have made a few good ones for an average guy. This time I looked at my rent cost of $1040/month and decided that now was the time to buy a bank owned home well below market value.

I am not talking about a foreclosure either. I am talking about an REO (real estate owned) home. These have already been through the foreclosure process and the banks are just sitting on them waiting for someone with average credit and a job to make an offer. There are tons of these homes out there and more get listed every day!

A Government Home Program

I purchased my home through the Fannie Mae Homepath program. I was short cash so I pulled a few thousand dollars out of my IRA (you can pull 10K out for a first time home purchase). I put 3% down and Fannie Mae paid 3.5% of the purchase price toward my closing costs.

I would like to say thanks for the deal Uncle Sam, but this doesn’t mean I will stop complaining about my taxes

Is it Cheaper than Renting?

The monthly payment for the 117K town home I purchased including the HOA is $1095. I’m in the 28% tax bracket so I get to write off $8,000 to $9,000 in interest payments at the end of the year bringing my payment down a couple hundred dollars to about $885/month at least for the first few years when interest is most of the payment.

You can find a good mortgage calculator and a rent vs buy comparison tool on Trulia’s website.

I also got a stellar deal. The asking price for the property was $125K and it will be worth that once I fix some of the cosmetic defects. The last person in the home paid about $330K! I can’t believe that the bank even took my offer on the property, but things are pretty ugly out here in Nevada.

Worth the Risk?

Like anything there is some risk involved with this (mainly I am confined to work in one job market and it could stay bad), but you have to have a place to live and there are not too many investments that Uncle Sam will heavily subsidize like this.

I got a low interest, low down payment loan with NO private mortgage insurance (PMI) from the government (via Fannie Mae). They also paid my closing costs and I am also getting a huge tax write off! This is an example of everything wrong and stupid with America and I am proud to take full advantage of it!

Most importantly, it is substantially cheaper than renting a decent place in my area.

We will see how this venture works out, but now is probably a really good the time to buy. You can find out more about the Homepath Program at homepath.com to see what is available in your area.

Yeah Right… 4% APY in 2010?

Did you know there are safe, FDIC insured, high interest checking accounts with 3% and 4% APYs? I didn’t and I didn’t believe the hype either when I first heard about them.

How could I get 4% interest in 2010 when major banks like American Express, Discover, and Ally are only doling out 1.3%?

Well, its pretty simple. Don’t go to a major bank!

Many smaller local banks and credit unions have devised a way to make a profit and unlike the big fellas, share it with you.

I started looking around and found out that I was eligible to join United Federal Credit Union just because I lived near one of their locations. I have thrown out Ally, Discover, and Bank of America all together. I now get a 3% APY on up to $25,000 in my new account.

So, What’s the Catch?

There are a few requirements to get this rate but they are easy to follow.

1. Have a Direct Deposit or make 1 online bill pay per month.
2. Use your visa debit card for 10 swipe and sign (non-debit) transactions per month.
3. Enroll in e-statements.

This is deal I got with United and other banks have similar requirements. The bank makes money off of requirement #2 because they get a cut of the merchant fees that are paid to Visa. Then they share it with you in the form of a high interest rate.

There were no other fees associated with the few accounts I reviewed and you can open most of them with under $100.

Wait! Wait!

“What if I don’t meet a requirement?”

You just won’t get the high rate for that month. Instead you will get something like half a percent interest, but you shouldn’t be charged anything. Just read the fine print before you take the plunge since every bank or credit union is slightly different.

Other Benefits

1. Lower rates on auto loans (you can negotiate better if you secure your own loan)
2. Lower rates on mortgages
3. FDIC or NCUA (federal insurance for credit unions) insurance up to $250,000 for deposits
4. ATM fee rebates (usually $20-$30 per month)

So what do you have to lose?

In my opinion, the answer to that question is nothing! It would be dumb to pass up a rate that is 3x higher than what your are getting in your online “high yield” savings account.

Where to Find One

You may be asking, “Where can I find a high interest checking account like this?”

Well, the 2 easiest places to look are checkingfinder.com and ratebrain.com. I did not believe it at first, but the high interest rates are legit, so check it out!

Want the best online savings?

Sure ya do! Who doesn’t?

Every so often, I check out Bankrate.com to see who has the best rates going for savings accounts. I thought I was prudent and that anything with a good rate would be listed there.

The highest rate that they have listed is a 1.40% APY from Sallie Mae. Considering the state of savings accounts, I thought this was really good. My Ally savings account has dropped down to only 1.29% APY over the past few months.

Get 60% More Interest

Well, I found an online savings account that is paying 2.15% APY on balances up to $50,000! That is 60% more interest than my reliable Ally account or anything else listed on the Bankrate website.

West Bank runs the operation, is FDIC insured, and somehow can do this while other banks are hoarding their money and screwing us over. Their stock symbol is WTBA on the NASDAQ if you want to check out their financials.

How It Works

SmartyPig.com is the website to check out and it basically acts like an online piggy bank. Sign up and set a savings goal for something like a house, a wedding, a car, a vacation, etc.

Automatic deductions set by you are taken from your normal checking account and deposited into your Smarty Pig savings. Once you reach enough for your goal there are 3 ways to redeem your savings + interest from your Smarty Pig account.

1- Get a SmartyPig MasterCard® debit card sent to you.

2- Send the money back to your bank.

3- Redeem it for a gift card from a major retailer like Amazon, Travelocity, or Macy’s for up to a 12% cash boost.

It’s good old fashioned frugality and saving at its finest. The extra cash boost you get from the gift cards is a huge deal on top of the 2.15% APY. You can check out a list of participating retailers here. I like to travel so the 10% bonus with a Travelocity looks pretty amazing.

I’m so enthralled with this that I’m opening an account today!

Only $25 to Get Started

All you need to open an account is $25 so anyone can get started with this savings program. There are also no account fees or minimums.

You can set multiple savings goals from $250-$50,000 and calculate how long it will take you to reach them. Family members and friends can even make contributions to help you reach your goals.

Smarty Pig is all about setting goals and saving for them opposed to using instant gratification with a credit card, buying a home you can’t afford, and tanking our economy. You do have to set a goal for the account, but you can cancel or change it anytime and get your money back within about 2 business days.

There are no catches or tricks to get this interest rate, but it is only good on balances under 50K. If you go over 50K the interest rate is only 0.5%, so this is a good place to stash money that you might need in a while.

It’s Easy to Start Saving Online

Whether you have $10 or $10,000 to save there is a magical place where you can get better rates on your money. It’s called… dun dun dun… the Internet.

If you don’t have an online checking or savings account, it is likely that most of your money is sitting in a traditional bank account making jack squat. Your money is lonely and the 0.1% interest rate is all the love it is getting unless you…

WAKE UP TO THE 21ST CENTURY!!!

Here are 6 reputable FDIC insured banks that consistently pay out the highest interest rates for checking, savings, CDs, and money market accounts according to Bankrate.com.

From what I have observed these rates fluctuate as the banks continually try to one-up each other and each bank has their own unique products to offer.

Discover has good rates on their IRA CDs not offered elsewhere, Everbank has the highest guaranteed rate for 1 year, and Ally has a good variety interest checking, CDs, and savings products.

Ally Bank

Ally Bank, formally known as GMAC, is great for anyone just starting out savings as they have no minimum balance requirements and great yields on both their money market, online savings, and newly added interest checking accounts.

There are no gimmicks with Ally and they now offer 24 hour telephone support. A real person will actually pick up the phone whenever you call!

I started out with them back when they were GMAC bank and they have definitely changed for the better. Their rates are always on top and there are zero account fees!

American Express Savings

American Express offers 2 savings products that I recently found out about; a high yield savings account and CDs of varying lengths.

Their interest rates are consistently in the top 6 on Bankrate.com and the they are FDIC insured like everyone else mentioned here.

 
 

Capital One Direct Banking

This one surprised me, but the Viking’s at Capital One are doling out some of their treasures with a high yield savings account.

Their “Interest Plus” savings account requires a $2,500 minimum balance, but pays you a rate in line with the other banks listed here + an additional 10% bonus on the interest you earn. To get the 10% bonus on interest you must do one of 2 things. Either have a $15,000 minimum account balance or use a Capital One credit card one per month.

As the Vikings say… What’s in your wallet?

Discover Bank

Discover Bank is probably one of the best options out there to keep some of your retirement money safe in an IRA CD. I’m not sure where else you can get one of these with a competitive interest rate.

Discover also has regular CD’s, money markets, and one the the best savings accounts out there.

EverBank

Everbank is currently offering the best rate around with an initial rate of 2.25% on their “Yield Pledge” money market account. The 2.25% rate is good for 3 months and you get the rest of the year at 1.51%. Then the yield pledge guarantees that you will still get an interest rate in the top 5% nationwide.

The highest rate any other national bank is currently offers on a savings product is 1.40% at Sallie Mae, but like I said before these rates change frequently.

Everbank does pay a higher rate than anyone else, but you need to maintain a $5,000 minimum balance or they charge an account fee of $8.95/month. In order to get the best rate out there you need to have a little something saved already.

If I had 5K sitting in another bank then I would move it here. If not I would look at another high yield savings account that has no minimum like Ally, American Express, Discover, or Sallie Mae.

The high rate for Everbank mentioned here will not show up on Bankrate.com because it is a 1st year intro rate. That said, Everbank’s regular money market rate still ranks in the top 6 banks nationally on Bank Rate’s website.

Sallie Mae

Sallie Mae (the student loan people) just came out with an interesting high yield savings account that pays good interest and currently tops most other banks APYs.

This is a great account to look into if you have children or are saving for college because you can get an additional 10% match on your Upromise earnings. Upromise is a program that gives you a shopping rebate that can be used for investing in a 529 plan, paying down student loans, or assisting with college expenses.

For more information on how Upromise works a complete review is available here on epinions.com.

Get the Highest Interest Online

EverBank is offering a great first year APY of 1.77% with 3-month bonus rate of 2.51% on their money market accounts. Everbank also has a fantastic high interest rate checking account Read the rest of this entry »

Rate this deal!

Get free & unlimited stock and option trades for the month of October! Fund an account with just $2,500. Then get 10 free trades per month forever! Read the rest of this entry »

How to Get Free Stock Trades!

We took a look around and managed to find a way to get 10 free stock trades per month with a minimun $2500 balance at Zecco Stock Trading. It’s not a big secret or anything. It’s just the deal they have going! Instead of charging trading fees, Zecco makes their money from the interest on margin accounts (margin accounts trade with borrowed money).

Read the rest of this entry »

On our banking and lending page we’ve done some of the leg-work to find you the best deals, highest interest rates on savings, checking, and money market accounts, as well as the lowest interest rates for mortgages. Our favorite companies so far are GMAC Bank who is currently offering a 4.5% APY on balances > $500 and WT Direct who has a 4.9% APY on balances > $10K as of 11/17/07. Both these banks are highly regarded and both consistantly offer interest rates far above their competitors. Read the rest of this entry »