i'm thinking about opening one. i get 7.71% interest on the first $750 in both my savings and checking accounts & 2% on anything above that in savings, .5% in checking. I'm thinking it'd be a good idea to keep my savings beyond $750 in a high interest savings account at another financial institution. right now i'm considering wamu, which has a 3.3% interest rate and is readily available, since i'm in wa.

just curious if you do this, who you use, & what the interest rate is. my one stipulation is the money needs to be accessible in case of emergency.

Thats a very awesome interest rate considering the economy and that most banks rates has went down so much.

I have our emergency savings with emigrant direct and is looking for a better option since their interest shot down to under 3%. I was looking into the orange savings acct, but the interest isn't too much more and i don't feel like switching everything around kwim?

I would totally put the $750 just to bank on the high interest rate. Then but the rest with who ever that offers the best rate and liquid enough that you can access it if you ever need it.

Good luck..

ING did have an awesome rate, but now it's down to 3%. :blech
I would def look into internet banks since they don't have big overhead costs like most brick and mortar places do, they can offer a slightly higher rate.

You might want to consider a money market account. 7.7% is good, but it's only on $750, so that amounts to about $50. The money markets have a little better rates (although nothing is good right now) and are accessible for a certain amount of checks per month. We have one through Navy Federal and it's worked out well. The interest rates go up the more $ you have in it. You may be able to find better rates for money markets elsewhere, but it's something to consider.

I use ING. The rates have decreased, because the feds have lowered them. They will rise again, soon. They still beat inflation, which is more than B&M banks do.

I have heard good things about HBC, bad things abut WAMU.