High interest online savings accounts

Money market accounts are great. No fees, no minimums (ok most are $1.00 minimum). These accounts allow access to funds in 2-3 business days and generally pay interest comparable to traditional bank CD’s. I’ll highlight a few of my favorite’s with their annual percentage yield current as of today, 6/21/08:

FNBO Direct   3.50%

First National Bank of Omaha, consistently on the Bankrate.com top 10 list for highest APY. No fees, $1.00 minimum, FDIC insured. Also offers an interest bearing online billpay account, CD’s, and an FNBO Direct Visa credit card.

 ING Direct   3.00%

ING Bank, located in Wilmington, Deleware, and the ING Direct account is one of the most well known money market accounts around. ING Direct also recently acquired Sharebuilder, which allows you to purchase stocks for $4.00, invest in mutual funds & ETF’s, and has no account minimum. ING Direct also has no fees, $1.00 minimum, and is FDIC insured.

 HSBC Direct   3.50%

HSBC Bank is another well known bank that has no fees, $1.00 minimum, and is FDIC insured. They also have an online billpay account that has a 2.25% APY and online CD’s that pay up to 3.40%. The 3.50% online savings account APY is a promotional yield that expires August 15, 2008. It is hard to say what the APY will change to after the promo ends.

 Emigrant Direct   2.75%

Emigrant Bank’s “American Dream Savings Account” has a lower APY than the above 3, but also boasts no fees, $1.00 minimum and is FDIC insured. One nice feature is the ability to set up sub accounts. You can have an account for “Vacation” and set up another for “General Savings”, etc. Emigrant also offers CD’s and a Mastercard that offers 1.40% cashback.

*All percentage rates are current as of June 21, 2008.