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!

What I always find troubling is when you check the FDIC.gov site to verify that a given bank is covered, such banks like Dollar Savings Direct, UFB direct, etc. don’t show up. So then you are running on faith that they are affiliated with some other bank that is covered.
Let’s face it, if one wanted to capture the personal information of people with money, and perhaps even their money, one could just put up a cheesy website, say USAdirect.com, offer 4.2%. People would just enter there personal information on faith that the FDIC logo on the site meant something. All the while, you are just capturing personal info.

I like what Bruce said. How does one know if you’re really insured or even that the bank is real? It used to be you went to a physical building and saw the FDIC sticker on the window or promotional material. Many people don’t even look or ask. With the state of the world today everyone should pay focused attention on where there money is going. If you want to do it right consult with an attorney who can verify the legal standing of the bank.

Has anyone heard of Provident Bank?
Supposed to be offering 3.75%

Does anyone have insight on Bankrate.com rating criteria? Why is DSD a one star bank? I’d like to put 10k in the 4% account but am a little skiddish because of the low rating on Bankrate.com. If it’s FDIC and completely liquid, what are the cons?

Had some money in ING but withdrew it all because ING said they do not let customers add a Beneficiary. Therefore, if you die, all money goes to the State (I believe).
If you have an account at ING you should consider this fact.

Regarding the question of Dollar Savings Direct’s BankRate of 1 star. Here is answer I received from DSD regardint their one star rating:

“Thank you for contacting Dollar Savings Direct regarding our ratings on Bank Rate .com. We truly appreciate this opportunity to assist you. Bankrate.com rated Dollar Saving Direct and EmigrantDirect with 1 Star. Their ratings are based on statistics and they do not conduct any in-depth analysis. In particular, they do not consider any qualitative factors. Dollar Savings Direct is a well-capitalized institution: in particular our parent company Emigrant bank maintained the FDIC’s highest rating, for many years and is also rated by more professional rating agencies including Fitch Ratings Service. Fitch, in its rating process, interviews management on a regular basis and monitors business activity on an ongoing basis. Fitch has recently affirmed Emigrant’s strong investment-grade rating. An investment grade rating is how most large institutional investors evaluate the credit strength of businesses including banks like Emigrant. We have expressed our disappointment at the misleading analysis performed by Bank rate and have asked that they consider using additional important evaluation methods such as those employed by the major rating agencies. Bank rate indicated that, since they rate 17,000 banks on this basis, they are unable to do any in-depth analysis of Emigrant or any other bank. Emigrant Bank parent company to both Dollar Savings Direct and EmigrantDirect remains a well-capitalized institution and is one of the oldest and strongest banks in the country. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-866-395-8693. We are here to assist our customers seven days a week from 8:00AM to 11:30PM Eastern

If your account does not list a beneficiary (or co-owner), it is part of your overall estate when you die. If you have a will, estate assests are distributed in accordance with the will’s provision; if you die intestate (without a will), the estate goes to various relatives, according to a formula established by state law. If you have no beneficiaries or co-owners on the account _and_ have no will _and_ have no surviving relatives, the gov’t gets the estate. The advantage of a beneficiary or co-owner is that the account can go directly to the beneficiary or co-owner without having to deal with any estate matter; a death certificate is basically (not entirely) all the co-owner or beneficiary will have to furnish to the bank.

I noticed that some are still unsure of the legitimacy of the represented DollarSavingsDirect – Emigrant Bank relationship. Regarding that, Emigrant’s website (emigrant.com) includes a link to its Privacy Policy. This policy (on the Emigrant site) notes the following regarding the official Emigrant Family (you’ll note that a DollarSavingsDirect relationship is indeed cited):

This Consumer Privacy Policy is provided on behalf of the Emigrant Family of companies that offer consumer-related financial services: Emigrant Bank (providing a full range of banking products); its retail banking affiliates: Emigrant Savings Bank – Bronx/Westchester, Emigrant Savings Bank – Brooklyn/Queens, Emigrant Savings Bank – Long Island, and Emigrant Savings Bank – Manhattan; Emigrant Mortgage Company, Inc. (offering residential mortgage loans), Emigrant 1031 Direct (an affiliate of Emigrant Bank offering qualified 1031 intermediary services), Emigrant Agency, Inc. doing business as Emigrant Financial Services (featuring insurance, annuity, and mutual fund products), Personal Risk Management Solutions (a division of Emigrant Bank providing insurance advisory services), EmigrantDirect (a division of Emigrant Bank offering certain banking products and services via the Internet), New York Private Bank & Trust (a division of Emigrant Bank, offering private banking services), New York Private Bank & Trust, FSB, (an affiliate of Emigrant Bank offering trust services), and DollarSavingsDirect (a division of Emigrant Bank offering certain banking products and services via the Internet).

I continue to be concerned about DSD’s 1 star rating, while today, Emigrant Bank earned 4 stars. If DSD is a spinoff of Emigrant, how can the star ratings be so diverse? If DSD is in trouble, wouldn’t Emigrant be issued a similar poor rating? Not sure if to invest MMA high rate 4.0 APY with DSD. Any help?

I haven’t heard of the Parent Bank and a Division of the Parent being rated as separate entities.

If possible, I hope CINDY can share where she saw Emigrant Bank with 4 Stars.

Though I respect the comments by RICO, it may be a tad reckless to state “there is a better than average possibility that Emigrant Bank will fail”. In these difficult times, I agree that we need to be mindful of the challenges our finacial institutions face, however we should also be careful not to exacerbate the problem by relying on speculative representations.

Steve said:
on January 17th at 04:57 am
I called and talked to customer service …. she said currently the DSD has over 1 billion dollar fund since they started the DSD. She confirmed it was very popular.
***************************************

It would be interesting to know how much of that $1B was transferred OUT of Emigrant Direct over to DSD. I’m sure many customers like myself have done that. Looks like DSD is down to 3.5% and Emigrant Direct is at 2.4%. Was a little put off by the seemingly sneaky way they introduced this new online bank, but have overall been pleased with my relationship with them.

Ha good one Dave. You might want to check your firewall. There is no problem with DSD.

Does anyone have an account with CNB Bank Direct? Or any comments?

When will rates stop dropping? It seems as soon as I find a bank with a fairly good rate of interest, a few days later the rate drops. I then have to start a new search for another online bank with a fairly good rate of interest.
Wonder when this ever will stop?

Sounds like someone overdrafted his accounts at Chase and wouldnt get fees refunded. Usually the culprit for customer dissatisfaction.
By the way, I have an account at Dollar Savings Direct and am very leery of the 1 star that Bankrate gives them. The only solace I can take is that it is FDIC insured. I never understood why they would be a “division” of Emigrant Bank instead of just being Emigrant in the first place. My guess is for all legal purposes if this online division goes under, then less of a chance of going after the assets for the rest of the company.Typically speaking, the higher the interest rate a bank offers, the more desperate they are for cash. As of right now, there are only a couple banks offering a better rate than DSD (currently 2.65%APY). I pray to God that they keep staying afloat because pretty soon there will be no need for banks if the rate gets closer and closer to zero!

Dang, I moved money there 3 months ago when it was at 3.75 and already, it is down to 2.25.
How low can it go…..

I used to have a savings account with emigrant direct. I was very ha[[y with them. I had great service and easy online access to my account and easy transfer of funds both in/out. No muss/no fuss savings! Loved it and would still like to have been able to own one of their savings accounts!

HSBC online savings dropped rate o 1.55%. What else is new?