Author: Sam Cass on September 8, 2008
Kerry Killinger, the now ex-CEO of Washington Mutual joins other CEOs from financial services companies in the unemployment line.
The WSJ is reporting that Kerry Killinger is gone as CEO of Washington Mutual. For the savings account and cd holders on BestCashCow, his tenure has been great. In the banks attempt to survive, they have boosted their online savings rate to one of the highest in the country.
But for stockholders, the last year has been horrid.
Author: Cindy Lewis on August 29, 2008
Wachovia Bank is offering an online-only competitive 3.5% APY money market in some parts of the country.
Wachovia recently joined the high rate fray by offering a top rate on their 2 year CD. In some locations, they are also offering a 3.5% APY money market account. The account has a minimum balance of $1,000. I called to inquire where the offer was avaiable and the CSR was unaware that it was even being offered. It looks like Wachovia needs to do a better job of communucating to their front line customer service reps.
To find out if you qualify for the offer, go to their savings and CD page. It will ask you to enter your zip code. Once you do, you'll either see the offer, or you won't.
This is all part of Wachovia's push to recapitalize itself via its deposit base. With billions in bad loans outstanding, and billions in floating-rate notes that need to be refinanced, look for Wachovia to continue to offer attractive rates.
There has been some speculation about Wachovia's financial health recently because of mortgage-related losses. Its stock has fallen from a 52-week high of 81 to around 20 today. Bauer financial gives it a 3-star rating out of 5. As with all banks, stay within FDIC limits to be sure your money is fully insured.
Author: Cindy Lewis on August 28, 2008
In a rather strange move, Emigrant Bank, the parent company of Emigrant Direct has launched another online direct brand, DollarSavingsDirect. DollarSavings differs slightly from Emigrant Direct and currently has a higher rate.
February 22, 2009 Update: DollarSavingsDirect cuts its savings account rate to 2.65% APY. See how this compares to other top savings and money market rates.
In a rather strange move, Emigrant Bank, the parent company of Emigrant Direct has launched another online direct brand, DollarSavingsDirect. DollarSavings differs slightly from Emigrant Direct and currently has a higher savings rate of 3.75% APY, which is competitive with some of the best savings rates offered by other banks. The minimum balance to open the account is $1,000. Emigrant Direct's American Dream Savings Account offers a 3% APY with a $1 minimum balance. At the moment, the difference in rate and minimum balance seem to be all that seperates the two accounts.
The bank is a seperate division of Emigrant Bank although located at the same location as Emigrant Direct. Its FDIC insurance falls under Emigrant Bank, meaning that an account at Emigrant Direct and DollarSavingsDirect both count towards the FDIC limit.
Accounts can be opened online and funded via an ACH transfer from a personal checking account.
Why has Emigrant Direct started a seperate brand? We called Emigrant with this question but didn't receive a reply. My guess is that Emigrant plans to make significant changes to either Emigrant Direct or DollarSavingsDirect over the next couple of months to differentiate their offer and pursue different markets. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
