Now where to put aside my hard-earned money? At present I have accounts in both Chase and Bank of America. Before when Chase bought Washington Mutual, I was really happy with WAMU because of its high APY for savings account. Then they also have high-yield interest for CDs with the lowest opening amount of 1000. Anyway those days are long gone. Both Chase and Bank of America have currently low APY interest for their savings accounts. Although Chase accepts a 1000 minimum cash for CD, the interest is only 0.25% for 6-12months.  What good is that, right? And Bank of America…well forget BA – no savings, lots of fees and high maintaining balance. I’m nearing in closing that account. CDs right now are not that appealing if you want to earn good interest for your money.

So I stumbled upon Wachovia when I was doing some banking for my employer. Wachovia is offering a 5% APY for checking account linked with their Way-to-Save program. The checking account is completely free – no hidden charges and only low maintaining balance. (300USD) So how this work is, every month Wachovia will automatically transfer 100USD from the checking to the savings account. And other transactions will automatically transfer 1USD to the savings account. This will yield 5% APY. Then the bank gives additional 5% bonus from the money you saved. It’s like earning a lot of money from the bank which doesn’t happen at all. It’s also like CD but the money is moving instead of locked for a time-being. But unlike CD, this one has way much higher APY.

When you enroll into the program, the 5% is guaranteed for the first year. After that it’ll be 2% in the 2nd and 3rd year. Still higher than other banks. Then it turns into a regular savings account with regular interest after the 3rd year. By then you have a choice of closing that account.  But for now all I need to do is just let my money sit in that account and earn myself good interest. Way to save, right?

To learn more about Wachovia’s Way to Save, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Banking woes
  2. The Bank Switch
  3. My bank is going bankrupt!!!!
  4. THE WAMU DILEMMA
  5. JPMORGAN/CHASE BOUGHT WAMU