Wachovia 4.85% Money Market account, $10,000 minimum opening..

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ps99472_IHB

ps99472_IHB

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Got this postcard offer from Wachovia. Looks like they're opening a branch near Trader Joe's on Culver/Walnut. Anyone got an opinion on this bank? Currently I have Wells Fargo (across the street) and earn 0 interest on my checking account. I also have a HSBC online savings that gets me 4.5%. I'm thinking of combining the two and put it into Wachovia..
 
I believe they just bought (or merged) with World Savings. I currently have a CD with Wachovia earning 5.46% APY. So far I like them.
 
Fees are high. For my IRA, Wachovia charges $50 per account/year. As long as I meet the min., Vanguard charges nothing.

I wonder if my $50 fee went to CalGal this year?
 
bofa has a high yield 4-mo cd at 5.10%. they have a 9-mo risk free cd at 4.85%. longer lock up but lower rate because you can withdraw without penalty.
 
This is what happened in 1990's to the S and L's just before they started falling like flies. They raise the CD and money market rates high to attract more deposits because other credit sources have dried up. Keep your deposits under 100,000 and make sure the Money market account is covered by FDIC insurance. Many are not because they are considered "mutual funds"
 
Wachovia is not my favorite bank. When they absorbed my bank formally known as Western Financial they did EVERYTHING they could to screw up our accounts. Sent out 1099`s on my # for my corporations interest. You name a mistake. They commited it. When you call them its even worse. Finally pulled all the investments and major cash and went to California National Bank. Nice and small and I just happen to know the manager. Wachovia is an east cost bank attempting to get a foothold on the Left Coast. They are very good at moving their lips. But when it comes down to service and personal interaction. They are just too east coast for me.
 
<p>To me most real banks are not the best. The best to me is a credit union that will give you alot more benefits than any bank.</p>

<p>good luck</p>

<p>-bix</p>
 
Just found this from bankrate.com, a bank called SalemFiveDirect is offering 4.70% APY for a online checking account...here's the link to their website..





<a href="http://www.salemfivedirect.com/">www.salemfivedirect.com/</a>





My wife will probably be against this since it does not have a local branch.. but then I hardly go into my local branch anyways.. what do you guys think?
 
ps99472 - Last night I told my mom that any return has to weighed against risk, and right now I think most banks are risky. I would go with the banks having the greatest percentages of reserves, even if the return is a bit lower.
 
<p>Funny, I saw a commercial on tv yesterday for an online checking account with Charles Schwab that paid 4.3%. This is just more evidence to support what I said earlier---liquidity is numero uno right now. Everyone from heaven to hell knows that banks/brokerages are making less profit or operating at a loss. This seems to be priced into the market, so the burden of releasing bad news has been softened a bit.</p>

<p>With so many banks offering high yielding short term accounts, the writing seems to be on the wall. If the credit crunch (as wall street has so fondly named it) is ending, why would banks be hoarding cash as if perparing for Armageddon? I am half expecting to see an ark being built behind my branch when I walk outside.</p>
 
Etrade savings pays 5.05% but I would not trust them even if it is FDIC insured.





I keep getting emails wanting me to refer a friend to their brokerage so I can get $50 (?) The latest email said I can get $500 for new deposts over $250,000. Earlier this year I was getting letters for pre-approved home equity lines of credit for $100,000 even though I do not own a house. Although, to be fair, I was also getting letters from Washington Mutual, Citibank and a few others.
 
<p>Not sure what just happened with the above post. Recently, opened an mm accoubnt with Indymac that's pay 5.05% How do I know if they're solvent before it's to late? How do I find out about their percentage of reserves?</p>

<p>Any thoughts on Indymac.</p>
 
<p>As long as it's insured and the balance is under $100k I don't see any really big risk...maybe a bit of a hassle with the FDIC at most. I haven't read any horror stories yet, except when the balance was over $100k.</p>
 
Thanks, some of the comments regarding the bank/entity being financially stable began to worry me. I don't know much about Indymac's stability. They were simply offering a great rate on balances > 20k. I'm well under the 100k but wasn''t sure how all that would effect me. I appreciate the info.
 
Tenmagnet, what you do need to check into is whether or not your deposit is FDIC insured. There are money market vehicles that pay slightly higher rates than CDs that aren't FDIC insured available from numerous sources. One popular way of making this higher yield is by investing in CDOs.





Also, though the FDIC only insures accounts up to 100K, there has never been a case of someone losing money in an FDIC account even when their balance was above 100K. Simply put, though they aren't legally required to insure larger amounts, the number of accounts that exceed the officially insured amount are relatively small and maintaining confidence in the system is more important to our government than a few dollars here and there.
 
<p>Winex,</p>

<p>Thanks for the head's up. To be honest, I didn't know any of that, automatically thinking it would be FDIC insured. This thread got me thinking twice. I opened a money market account with Indymac. I checked my monthly statement and it has a Member FDIC on the bottom. This may sound like a stupid question but is it possible this money market account is not FDIC insured? I have a 6-month CD with Citibank that matured this week and I was planning on rolling a portion of the funds into my Indymac account, so I'm a little nervous.</p>
 
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