A very nice way to save for your emergency fund is via HSBC Online savings account. As of 5/12/08 the Annual Percentage Yield is 3.05%
You will not get rich with these types of returns but it beats any regular bank hands down. This type of account would qualify in my book as a ‘put your money to work for you‘. The good thing about this type of accounts is that you can get your money relatively fast versus having your money lock on a CD on a regular checking account not making anything at all.
It is quite easy to setup an account, transfer money into it (via ACH) and out of it. It seems like it takes about 3 business days to get money in or out of the account. This is under the Bank to Bank transfer feature. You can setup a one time transfer or a recurring transfer. So, if you have direct deposit (your paycheck is deposited directly onto your bank account) you can setup a recurring transfer to HSBC. The trick to making this work is via HSBC web interface, you go into Bank to Bank transfer and setup a recurring transfer from your bank account into HSBC’s saving account. You can setup up to transfer any amount and there are no fees. This way you can accumulate wealth and it is an utomatic process, no pain.
I have been using HSBC for 3 years and I have never had a problem with them. The rate does fluctuate depending on what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates. HSBC is quite good at letting you know what the current interest rate is.
The website have 2 layers of security (user name, password plus security key)
Highly recommended!
