Emigrant Launches Dollar Savings Direct

Why consider dollarsavingsdirect when they can not beat WMU at 4.00% in- branch rates?

Just keep watching the WM stock symbol… for now.

Thanks…I JUST saw that myself checking out rates today…appreciate the explanation as I was about to contact them and ask myself. I have had an Emigrant Direct savings account which has gone way down from the original 4.75% when opened so I am intrigued by this new “online” branch. Emigrant is GREAT to deal with, fast and easy to use online, excellent customer service as needed in my experience so I would assume this new version would be the same.
Dan- one would consider it versus WAMU becasue we all cannot “walk in” to get that higher brick and mortar rate there and this new dollarsavings is the same online rate as WAMU is up to as of today. Nothing against WAMU, just my line of logic between the 2 mind you.

DollarSavingsDirect replaced their spanish version of EmigrantDirect.

I, too, sent Emigrant an e-mail asking why the rate for the new account was higher than the American Dream acct. (now 3%) Answer said that the rate was higher because of the $1000 min balance requirement. Call me cynical but I think the intro rate will drop after they have attracted a predetermined amount of new money.
In my opinion, chasing rates for very short term gains is becoming a nuisance.
FDIC coverage is an issue. Also, transfers are only allowed from/to an “outside” checking account , not American Dream.

Nothing is safe nowhere. That’s the attitude I take when trading or handling money.

You safeguard your money as best as you can and learn to have great risk management in place. FDIC insurance is a risk management tool, use it to full extent, with various strategies outlined here in an article.

“Also, while looking for another bank, I could not find a star-rating for WAMU. Is WAMU not safe? If it is safe, why no star-rating?”

I,too, contacted Emigrant by email and asked why I have to open up new accounts with Dollar Savings Bank in order to get the higher rate (I have 4 separate accounts all with over $1,000). I asked them why they don’t simply restructure the American Dream account to pay more on higher balances. Their response was “Currently, BancoFortuna (apparently another name for Dollar Savings) does offer a higher interest rate than EmigrantDirect, however keep in mind that our savings rate is variable and may change at any time.” Rather than go thru the hassle of opening new accounts, I’m going to wait and see if they raise the EmigrantDirect rate in the near future. Maybe if they get enough complaints, they will. Maybe I’ll just move all my money to another online bank.

Why open another online bank? My guess is to get those customers who are leaving Emigrant Direct for another online bank for higher rates.

Keep the money in the same parent bank. Makes sense to me.

i am surprised no one stated the obvious reason for this. This is so that they attract new money without paying old money a dime more. This is just a greed ploy in essence not rewarding loyal customers but rewarding the rate chasers. My suggestion if you are a ED account holder, open the dollarsavings first and close your ED.

I just emailed ED to complain about the two different yields. ED’s yield has been below its competitors for some time. I see this as attracting new money without having to pay current ED customers more. I am thinking about switching to another account but not Dollar Savings Direct because what will stop them in the future from letting the yield on this account drop and opening up another branch. I will probably switch to a competitor that consistently gives competitive rates without jerking me around like ED.

The Fed just decreased interest rates downward by 0.5% to 1.5%. DSD just went up 0.25% to 4.00 %. DSD is listed as 2 stars out of 5 on Bankrate.com

I am wondering if it is about to fail. I don’t have more than $100,000.00 so it shouldn’t be an issue unless ALL Banks fail as the FDIC is underfunded currently.

The city shining on a hill. Abu Dhabi as Mitch Henck put it

But for how long ? that is the question

Chasing interest rates is par for the course. Banks only agenda is to make money and “customer service” happens to be one of the variables, therefore we get it most of the time. I have several accounts with WaMu (CHASE). They’re easy to open, and opening 3 takes as much time as opening 1 if done at the same time. Your money can be moved instantaneously online within your WaMu checking accounts. With that said…When Emigrant lowered their rates I opened an online savings with WaMu who was offering higher rates. Now that I’ve found DSD I will move from WaMu to DSD. Its fairly effortless because I never close my WaMu checking accounts so I can bounce around as needed without reopening and closing every time something pays substantially more. They are like a home base…each Wamu checking account has its own respective online savings. This works great as long as every account has no minimum( I sometimes leave $.01). By the way, none of these WaMu accounts are my main checking account so there’s never an accident with my Day to Day money by anyone.
I hope this alleviates any apparent frustrations with the “hassle” of chasing rates. If we all chase, banks will work harder to keep us happy…and they should, we make them lots of money.

I had my money in a credit union savings account at .76% until last year. I never really paid attention to the rates before then just assuming I was getting a decent rate, not the lowest on the block. My first move was to FNBODirect when it was 6% and then to Countrywide after the big drop. I am back at FNBO now 3.25% - I should have stayed a little longer at Countrywide 3.40% although that could change anytime due to the buyout by BOA. Two stars at Dollar Savings has me a little leery but at 4%… Three stars at GMAC with 3.75% might not be a bad move.

I just opened a Dollarsavingsdirect account at 4%, and moved $250,000 there from my Vanguard and Fidelity money market accounts, which do not have FDIC Insurance. My wife is doing the same later this week and will title in just her name to get another $250,000 of insurance at 4% rate. The FDIC has full faith and credit guarantee of U.S> Government versus uninsured money market funds yileding just over 1% or T-Bill yileding less than 1%. What am I missing? This seems like a fianncial no-brainer during the finacial crisis. Dollar Savings appears to be owned by Emigrant Bank and they’ve been around since 1850. We’re sleeping better this week with FDIC coverage instead of the crazyiness of mutual funds, God knows what they’ve been investing in!

Dollarsavingsdirect is affiliated with Emigrant Bank located in New York.
The 4% money market is tops as of this writing.
Emigrant Bank has been around since 1850 and is a community oriented savings bank. I have been banking there for the last 30 years. Deposits are FDIC insured and therefore backed by the full faith of the United States. Pays to put your money here until you can find better rates in the future!