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This is true, but there's nothing that prevents you from having a second bank for savings only. This is what I've always done, open a savings account at whateve

This is true, but there's nothing that prevents you from having a second bank for savings only. This is what I've always done, open a savings account at whatever bank has the best rates, typically an online-only bank. Savings is useful for liquidity in an emergency and I'd be crazy to not try to get a few points on it in exchange for a few clicks.

horsawlarway 6y ago
This is my route too. I have accounts at 4 institutions with various levels of service. 2 of them provide good rates on savings 1 is local and has ATMs and branches in my area 1 provides a fantastic online experience Once you've verified accounts between banks, it's fairly painless to transfer between them (and usually free if you initiate the transfer from the bank that will receive the funds) Works very well and gives me a lot of flexibility with basically no additional work. It takes all of 5 minutes once a month to configure deposits to hit the current winner on interest rates.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
  I'd also note that I've been happy to see ACH transfer times decrease dramatically in the last 5-6 years. Used to be consistently 3 days, 2 if you were lucky. I now regularly see same day transfers. PayPal -> bank is getting close to european speed: if I schedule an ACH transfer with them around midnight, it will be in my bank during the following 12 hours.
BurningFrog 6y ago
Yeah, I moved my savings from the < 0.1% Citibank "Savings" account to the 2.2% Ally Bank last year. Setting it up was as hard as making a HN account. I can transfer money CB -> Ally with a few clicks. Only real friction is I can only move $10k at a time every N (4?) days. Before you get too excited, the Ally rate is now down to 1.1%.
- qzw 6y ago
  Try an American Express savings account. Usually the same rate as Ally, but allows much higher transfer limits. And you don’t have to have an AmEx credit card to open one. It’s my go to “middle man” account between ones that have ridiculously low transfer limits. I don’t know why these limits aren’t set as a percentage of the account balance at least. If it’s for reducing fraud, then how about implementing proper two-factor auth for logins as well as transactions over some threshold. The banking system in the US is such an embarrassment in many ways.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
    I left Capital One Savings (formerly Ing) because their 2FA required me to own a mobile phone registered in my name. I even sent them serious articles on the relative risk of 2FA using SMS vs email. Completely ridiculous. I had the accounts for about 15 years, and pulled out everything and pushed it to Marcus.
- aleksandrm 6y ago
  Is it a Citibank limit that you only move 10k every N days? I changed banks to Ally last year and had no such issue.
  - idunno246 6y ago
    Yea, specifically with Citibank’s external transfers interface. You can write yourself a check for the full amount, but then you’re limited by ally’s edeposit limit or mailing it. Or if ally can do an ach pull that’d work too.
  - BurningFrog 6y ago
    It's been a while since I dealt with it, but I think $10k is the biggest amount I can transfer without any fee. I can always wire any amount of money.
- mschuster91 6y ago
  > Only real friction is I can only move $10k at a time every N (4?) days. The amount of bullshit that you Americans put up with in banking on a daily basis is mindboggling for me as an European. A bank that couldn't give me all my funds in one day would never see my business again and yield themselves a complaint at the regulatory agency.

horsawlarway 6y ago

This is my route too. I have accounts at 4 institutions with various levels of service. 2 of them provide good rates on savings 1 is local and has ATMs and branches in my area 1 provides a fantastic online experience Once you've verified accounts between banks, it's fairly painless to transfer between them (and usually free if you initiate the transfer from the bank that will receive the funds) Works very well and gives me a lot of flexibility with basically no additional work. It takes all of 5 minutes once a month to configure deposits to hit the current winner on interest rates.

PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
I'd also note that I've been happy to see ACH transfer times decrease dramatically in the last 5-6 years. Used to be consistently 3 days, 2 if you were lucky. I now regularly see same day transfers. PayPal -> bank is getting close to european speed: if I schedule an ACH transfer with them around midnight, it will be in my bank during the following 12 hours.

BurningFrog 6y ago

Yeah, I moved my savings from the < 0.1% Citibank "Savings" account to the 2.2% Ally Bank last year. Setting it up was as hard as making a HN account. I can transfer money CB -> Ally with a few clicks. Only real friction is I can only move $10k at a time every N (4?) days. Before you get too excited, the Ally rate is now down to 1.1%.

qzw 6y ago
Try an American Express savings account. Usually the same rate as Ally, but allows much higher transfer limits. And you don’t have to have an AmEx credit card to open one. It’s my go to “middle man” account between ones that have ridiculously low transfer limits. I don’t know why these limits aren’t set as a percentage of the account balance at least. If it’s for reducing fraud, then how about implementing proper two-factor auth for logins as well as transactions over some threshold. The banking system in the US is such an embarrassment in many ways.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
  I left Capital One Savings (formerly Ing) because their 2FA required me to own a mobile phone registered in my name. I even sent them serious articles on the relative risk of 2FA using SMS vs email. Completely ridiculous. I had the accounts for about 15 years, and pulled out everything and pushed it to Marcus.
aleksandrm 6y ago
Is it a Citibank limit that you only move 10k every N days? I changed banks to Ally last year and had no such issue.
- idunno246 6y ago
  Yea, specifically with Citibank’s external transfers interface. You can write yourself a check for the full amount, but then you’re limited by ally’s edeposit limit or mailing it. Or if ally can do an ach pull that’d work too.
- BurningFrog 6y ago
  It's been a while since I dealt with it, but I think $10k is the biggest amount I can transfer without any fee. I can always wire any amount of money.
mschuster91 6y ago
> Only real friction is I can only move $10k at a time every N (4?) days. The amount of bullshit that you Americans put up with in banking on a daily basis is mindboggling for me as an European. A bank that couldn't give me all my funds in one day would never see my business again and yield themselves a complaint at the regulatory agency.