Author Topic: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details  (Read 68463 times)

Jarvis

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6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« on: August 16, 2012, 11:55:13 AM »
MOD EDIT:  This is dead, no longer works the same.. read later in the thread for details.

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While browsing a personal finance forum in April, I came across information about a new online banking site called Mango (www.mangomoney.com).  Their big draw was a 6% interest rate savings account.  Sounds too good to be true, right?  This quote from their site explains the rationale: “How can we afford it [6% interest]?  Basically, we’ve shifted a big chunk of our marketing budget to paying our good customers instead of advertising channels – no TV or print ads. We think word of mouth is much better. After all, having good customers is good for business, but having more good customers that find value in our values is even better.”

This post will detail my experiences with Mango, from the initial investigation, through the sign up process, to where I am now.  I am quite satisfied with Mango after using the service since April, and I believe I have enough experience using the bank to properly explain the details.  Full disclaimer: at the end of this post, I will paste my referral link, as Mango offers a $10 referral bonus.  If my information was useful to you and you decide to take advantage of the rate Mango is offering, please consider using that referral link.

What is Mango? https://www.mangomoney.com/what-is-mango

The cornerstone of Mango is their prepaid debit card.  This is what you’re signing up for to get access to the savings account.  The prepaid debit card is quite simple: a debit card linked to an online checking account, which can’t be charged beyond the balance of the checking account, avoiding potential overdraft fees.  Mango also touts their “mobile banking” service, but I’ve completely ignored this aspect, as I don’t even have a smart phone.  The prepaid debit card account has a flat $5/mo fee, which can be reimbursed at the end of each month, as explained here:  https://www.mangomoney.com/simple-fees

"Charged on a 30 day cycle. Customers who load at least $500 per calendar month are eligible to receive a $5 credit at the beginning of the following month, commencing November 1, 2011. Excludes funds received from a transfer from another card account.”

6% interest savings account!?

If you use direct deposit, you qualify for the 6% interest savings account (you also receive a $20 bonus for using direct deposit).  Signing up for direct deposit is, in my opinion, the most significant hurdle in this process.  Once I signed up with Mango, I was able to access the Bank Name, Account #, and Routing # (all present on a printable form if you click on the direct deposit enrollment button). I filled out a new direct deposit form with my employer, and began splitting $50/mo of my paycheck to the new Mango account.  From the fine print of Mango:  “This offer is available to first-time Direct Deposit customers only. To be eligible, customers must start Direct Deposit within 90 days of opening their Rêv Card Account. The account will normally be credited within 30 days of the second direct deposit if Direct Deposit is still active on the account. Each recurring direct deposit must be $50 or more, and must be from a paycheck or benefits check.”

The other catch: only the first $5,000 in the savings account is eligible for the 6% interest rate.  After that, it plummets to something like 0.10%.  This makes sense, as a 6% interest rate wouldn't be sustainable if extremely wealthy folks were able to deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars here.

Worth it?

I’ve been using Mango for about 4 months now, and feel that the 6% interest rate, in addition to the $20 enrollment bonus, is worth the initial work of modifying my direct deposit, and the ongoing upkeep required.

Since the $5 monthly fee can be reimbursed if at least $500 is added within that same month, I transfer at least $400 with an ACH transfer from my primary credit union to my Mango account every month.  The $400, plus the biweekly $50, has ensured I’ve been reimbursed for the $5 fee every month.

The other upkeep required: if I’m putting $500+ into the account every month, but only receive 6% interest on the first $5,000 in the savings account, I’ll eventually fill up the account.  At this point, I have to decide if it’s worth continuing to load the extra $400 every month to continue being reimbursed for the $5 monthly fee.  I think avoiding the $5 fee is worth the extra work, which brings up the other significant hurdle which comes along with Mango.

Getting your money out of Mango is harder than putting it in

Although your Mango checking account will accept ACH transfers as deposits, it will not allow ACH transfers out.  After all, this service is designed for their prepaid debit card, so you’ll need to be using the card to get the money out.

So you’ve got a few options.  You can let the excess money continue to pile up in the savings account, and just treat is as part of your emergency fund.  Or, you can use the debit card to buy your groceries and anything else you need, rather than your rewards credit card.  Simple enough, but I love my rewards credit card!  So there are a couple other workarounds.

First, you could withdraw the cash from an ATM (up to $600), then deposit that cash at your own bank/credit union.  Mango charges a flat $2 ATM fee.  Be careful, because the ATM you use may charge additional fees.

My favorite method for getting money out of the Mango account: cash back at the register.  At Costco or other grocery stores, I can pay for one or two items on the Mango card and get cash back.  I use my Amex rewards card for the rest.  If I end up with too much cash in the wallet, I deposit it back into my credit union.

The final option: if you completely close your account, a check for your balance will be issued, minus a $10 fee.

My thoughts

I’ve been using Mango for over 4 months now, and I’m quite satisfied with the service.  It took a fair amount of work to understand all the nuances, such as the fees, the direct deposit enrollment, and pulling excess cash back out.  At this point, it’s simple to keep up.  If the amount of cash in the account goes too far above $5,000, I don’t mind too much, because the effective interest rate is still better than any other savings account I can find.  Of course, most of my investments are in index funds, but it's quite nice having some cash parked at an interest rate that doesn't make me cringe.

Check out the Mango site, especially: https://www.mangomoney.com/what-is-mango.  If you have any questions, please post below and I’ll answer.  Also, I’d love to hear if anyone else uses/used Mango, and what they think about it.

Lastly, if you decide to take advantage of the 6% interest rate with Mango, please consider using my referral link below.  It’s $10 for me, and I’d like those 10 bucks if you were going to sign up anyways!

Referral Link

https://www.mangomoney.com/share-the-love?REF_ID=ST&REF_USR_ID=QVEx75aXkVQ=
« Last Edit: August 11, 2016, 02:34:03 PM by arebelspy »

arebelspy

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2012, 12:20:10 PM »
I appreciate your making the referral clear, both at the beginning and end.  Thanks for that.

So my evaluation after reading this: Not worth it, personally.  YMMV.

6% on 5k means $300/yr (versus the current $50 per year you can get at 1% places).  So you gain a max of 250/yr.  Less than that when you have more money, as when you have more than 5k and the .1% you get at Mango is less than the 1% you're getting elsewhere.  For example, if you have 20k, you're only getting an extra 115/yr at Mango.

So that's a decent amount of work for only a few hundred bucks, but could potentially be worth it.

Then there's the fees though, gotta pay $5/mo or keep loading up a mostly inaccessible $500/mo.  Okay, I don't have a problem splitting off 500 (or direct depositing that), but I'd like it to be accessible. 

And here's where we get to the deal breaker: getting money out seems ridiculous.  Closing the account seems like the only viable option, as the ATM would eat up lots of fees.  Yeah, you could use your debit card a LOT, but then you're giving up credit card protections and rewards.  And constantly getting cash back every time I make a purchase, then depositing that into my main account?  What a hassle.  If they had bill pay or something so I could pay a mortgage or credit card from there, we're getting to a more viable option.  But no ACH transfers out is crazy.

If the service they offer is as good as they claim, and they're able to afford it due to lack of marketing and having word of mouth work, they wouldn't need the customer lock in like this.  Apparently it's not, so they need to lock customers in, aside from all the fees.

Not being able to access my money, short of closing the account, is a deal breaker for me.

I appreciate the recommendation and thorough review (plusses and minuses) though, and am sure some may find it worth their while!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Jarvis

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2012, 12:34:27 PM »
I appreciate your making the referral clear, both at the beginning and end.  Thanks for that.

So my evaluation after reading this: Not worth it, personally.  YMMV.

6% on 5k means $300/yr (versus the current $50 per year you can get at 1% places).  So you gain a max of 250/yr.  Less than that when you have more money, as when you have more than 5k and the .1% you get at Mango is less than the 1% you're getting elsewhere.  For example, if you have 20k, you're only getting an extra 115/yr at Mango.

So that's a decent amount of work for only a few hundred bucks, but could potentially be worth it.

Then there's the fees though, gotta pay $5/mo or keep loading up a mostly inaccessible $500/mo.  Okay, I don't have a problem splitting off 500 (or direct depositing that), but I'd like it to be accessible. 

And here's where we get to the deal breaker: getting money out seems ridiculous.  Closing the account seems like the only viable option, as the ATM would eat up lots of fees.  Yeah, you could use your debit card a LOT, but then you're giving up credit card protections and rewards.  And constantly getting cash back every time I make a purchase, then depositing that into my main account?  What a hassle.  If they had bill pay or something so I could pay a mortgage or credit card from there, we're getting to a more viable option.  But no ACH transfers out is crazy.

If the service they offer is as good as they claim, and they're able to afford it due to lack of marketing and having word of mouth work, they wouldn't need the customer lock in like this.  Apparently it's not, so they need to lock customers in, aside from all the fees.

Not being able to access my money, short of closing the account, is a deal breaker for me.

I appreciate the recommendation and thorough review (plusses and minuses) though, and am sure some may find it worth their while!

The lack of easy access to your cash is definitely not ideal, but I wouldn't say I feel "locked" in.  I'm just forced to work with the prepaid debit card; a significant restriction, of course.  I'd be curious to see someone run the numbers on comparing exclusive use of the Mango card, which allows access to a 6% savings account, compared to the use of some of the best rewards credit cards out there.

I treat this account as an investment account.  Much like I won't need to instant access the non-retirement investments I have in Vanguard, I don't have a pressing need to access the cash in my Mango account.  I honestly don't find taking cash back to be much of a hassle.  It's my favorite of the options available, since I'm going to be grocery shopping anyways.  If I get tired of this method, the numbers still add up so that I would continue with the direct deposit of $50 per pay period and eat the $5/mo fee.

Thanks for the critique - your comments are certainly understood and appreciated!

Jarvis

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2012, 12:44:16 PM »
I also forgot to mention one thing.  If you only contribute ~$500/mo to the account, without immediately stuffing the $5,000 into the account, you won't have to deal with the decision concerning how to pull your money out for almost 10 months.  One could ride that out until the account reached some arbitrary amount, say $7,000, and cancel the account, eating the $10 fee, and still end up way ahead. 

JohnGalt

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2012, 01:09:21 PM »
I also forgot to mention one thing.  If you only contribute ~$500/mo to the account, without immediately stuffing the $5,000 into the account, you won't have to deal with the decision concerning how to pull your money out for almost 10 months.  One could ride that out until the account reached some arbitrary amount, say $7,000, and cancel the account, eating the $10 fee, and still end up way ahead.

You'd still be going through that whole mess of setup and everything for a one-time gain of <$250... still not worth it in my opinion either.

The only way it would even come close to making sense to me would be if you had a one time expense that happened once a year or so.  Just let the $500/mo build up until you cover that one expense - but then, it has to be an expense that can go on a debit/credit card and you're giving up any extra rewards you might have from a credit card.  This could cut down the gain to an even smaller amount. 

I get 5% cash back on different categories with 2 of my credit cards and, instead of having to preload them, they work the opposite way, letting me even out my cash flow by floating the balance until I pay it off once a month.

Bottom line... $5,000 is just not enough money to be worth constantly jumping through hoops to increase your return on it by (at most) 5%.  My time is better spent elsewhere. 

arebelspy

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2012, 01:18:16 PM »
I also forgot to mention one thing.  If you only contribute ~$500/mo to the account, without immediately stuffing the $5,000 into the account, you won't have to deal with the decision concerning how to pull your money out for almost 10 months.  One could ride that out until the account reached some arbitrary amount, say $7,000, and cancel the account, eating the $10 fee, and still end up way ahead.

Let's run some real numbers on this to see if it's worthwhile.  I like math.  :)

Depositing 500/mo and getting 6% interest has you passing 5000 by the end of month 10, with 5139.58.  You will have made $140.  You then pay $10 to close the account.  Net profit: 130.  Had you left that 5k in an emergency fund earning 1%, you'd have gotten 42.  So this made you $88.

Note that you have to set up a direct deposit, and transfer at least 500/mo for 10 months.  To make $88.

/shrug.  Could be worth it for some.  But I've done credit card arbitrage, sticking a free balance transfer in a 1% account and earned more than that with less work.

Again, could work for some, if they switch over their banking to that, and use their debit card all the time and such.  I'm just trying to show both sides of where it may not be useful.  :)

(In fact, I'd actually say that for many people the lack of access to the cash is a good thing, and they won't ever have more than 5k anyways, so this would be a great option for them.  But for most advanced Mustachians, likely not worth it.  Up to you, if you fall somewhere in the middle.)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Jarvis

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2012, 01:32:44 PM »
Bottom line... $5,000 is just not enough money to be worth constantly jumping through hoops to increase your return on it by (at most) 5%.  My time is better spent elsewhere.

I see a lot of folks mention different hacks as "not being worth their time," but can't quite relate.  While in the accumulation phase, I'm looking for any advantage I can get, even if it's "only" 5% of $5,000.  I'm 27 now, so, once that extra $300 is placed in a long term, higher risk investment, it will have a lot of time to grow significantly.

Jarvis

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2012, 01:35:07 PM »
(In fact, I'd actually say that for many people the lack of access to the cash is a good thing, and they won't ever have more than 5k anyways, so this would be a great option for them.  But for most advanced Mustachians, likely not worth it.  Up to you, if you fall somewhere in the middle.)

A great point which I hadn't thought about. 

This service would be a significantly better option for anyone that, for one reason or another, doesn't use credit cards.

Jarvis

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2012, 01:39:40 PM »
The message below is a comment posted on Reddit, where I had linked this discussion.  User "mackstann" discusses some workarounds that, if true, are significantly better than my own.  I'd love to hear if anyone else has found the below to be true.

"I've also written about this card: http://begin-investing.com/a-review-of-the-mango-prepaid-card-and-its-quirky-6-apy-savings-account/
I've discovered a way around the $5 monthly fee as well (that I haven't updated my blog post with yet), without adding $500 per month: you simply make sure that your prepaid card balance is zero on the ~5th of the month, when they assess the fee. If you don't have money for the fee, they just waive the fee for that month. (You can still have money in the savings account and they will ignore it when assessing the fee.) Now all you have to do is add $50 per month to get the 6%, and you're set. As your balance will slowly ratchet up from the monthly $50 infusions, I recommend spending the $50 each month, so you don't wind up with lots of excess money locked up in the Mango card (earning 0.1%). Of course, don't use this as an excuse to spend 50 extra dollars -- just use it instead of other payment methods for your normal spending, until the $50 is gone. You can also temporarily stash any leftover money in the savings account when fee time arrives.
You also don't actually need to do direct deposit with your paycheck. Any ACH push will work. There is no technical difference -- although some banks are sticklers and do pattern matching to guess which ones are genuine paycheck direct deposits, and which aren't, Mango doesn't seem to do this.
It's funky for sure, but 6% is pretty awesome. If you have a partner who can do it too, you can earn $600 per year on $10,000. That's about $500 more than you can get elsewhere, or ~$41 per month.
There's also the NetSpend card and the Control Card (a rebranded NetSpend card) which have a 5% rate last I looked, and I think that might be up to 10k (the card balance limit is 10k, at least), but the fees are higher and I haven't tried them out myself."

arebelspy

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2012, 01:45:11 PM »
Bottom line... $5,000 is just not enough money to be worth constantly jumping through hoops to increase your return on it by (at most) 5%.  My time is better spent elsewhere.

I see a lot of folks mention different hacks as "not being worth their time," but can't quite relate.  While in the accumulation phase, I'm looking for any advantage I can get, even if it's "only" 5% of $5,000.  I'm 27 now, so, once that extra $300 is placed in a long term, higher risk investment, it will have a lot of time to grow significantly.

The idea of "not worth my time" is that spending the same amount of time or same amount of hassle, I could make more money than this opportunity offers me ("this opportunity" meaning any sort of opportunity, not this one specifically). 
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Jarvis

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2012, 01:54:15 PM »
Bottom line... $5,000 is just not enough money to be worth constantly jumping through hoops to increase your return on it by (at most) 5%.  My time is better spent elsewhere.

I see a lot of folks mention different hacks as "not being worth their time," but can't quite relate.  While in the accumulation phase, I'm looking for any advantage I can get, even if it's "only" 5% of $5,000.  I'm 27 now, so, once that extra $300 is placed in a long term, higher risk investment, it will have a lot of time to grow significantly.

The idea of "not worth my time" is that spending the same amount of time or same amount of hassle, I could make more money than this opportunity offers me ("this opportunity" meaning any sort of opportunity, not this one specifically).

Sure, I follow.  I simply don't have enough "opportunities" floating around to relate to the idea that I'm so busy making money that I don't even have time for other opportunities.  Especially when I do my online banking, forum chatting, etc. at work :P

arebelspy

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2012, 02:07:06 PM »
Sure, I follow.  I simply don't have enough "opportunities" floating around to relate to the idea that I'm so busy making money that I don't even have time for other opportunities.  Especially when I do my online banking, forum chatting, etc. at work :P

Fair enough.  The other part of it is that it (a given opportunity, not necessarily this one) is not worth one's time if the return is low enough that they'd rather be doing other things (even if unpaid).

For example, I could fill some of my extra time babysitting.  But I'd rather have some leisure time than the amount of money that affords me.  I'm assuming you don't babysit after work to maximize your income (or mowing lawns, or delivering newspapers, or second job at McDonald's, or whatever).  If not, why not?  When you answer that, you may have a partial answer as to why JohnGalt doesn't see this as worth his time, and it's not necessarily because he's so busy making money he doesn't have time to do it.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Jarvis

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2012, 02:15:02 PM »
Sure, I follow.  I simply don't have enough "opportunities" floating around to relate to the idea that I'm so busy making money that I don't even have time for other opportunities.  Especially when I do my online banking, forum chatting, etc. at work :P

Fair enough.  The other part of it is that it (a given opportunity, not necessarily this one) is not worth one's time if the return is low enough that they'd rather be doing other things (even if unpaid).

For example, I could fill some of my extra time babysitting.  But I'd rather have some leisure time than the amount of money that affords me.  I'm assuming you don't babysit after work to maximize your income (or mowing lawns, or delivering newspapers, or second job at McDonald's, or whatever).  If not, why not?  When you answer that, you may have a partial answer as to why JohnGalt doesn't see this as worth his time, and it's not necessarily because he's so busy making money he doesn't have time to do it.

I certainly understand this explanation, and I think it's more on target.  I take a few additional income opportunities beyond my normal full time job, but not many.  I love my free time - after all, more time to do what we like is the end goal!  I was responding to:
...spending the same amount of time or same amount of hassle, I could make more money than this opportunity offers me ... 


JohnGalt

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2012, 02:36:47 PM »
Sure, I follow.  I simply don't have enough "opportunities" floating around to relate to the idea that I'm so busy making money that I don't even have time for other opportunities.  Especially when I do my online banking, forum chatting, etc. at work :P

Fair enough.  The other part of it is that it (a given opportunity, not necessarily this one) is not worth one's time if the return is low enough that they'd rather be doing other things (even if unpaid).

For example, I could fill some of my extra time babysitting.  But I'd rather have some leisure time than the amount of money that affords me.  I'm assuming you don't babysit after work to maximize your income (or mowing lawns, or delivering newspapers, or second job at McDonald's, or whatever).  If not, why not?  When you answer that, you may have a partial answer as to why JohnGalt doesn't see this as worth his time, and it's not necessarily because he's so busy making money he doesn't have time to do it.

Perfect explanation right there...

Like you Jarvis, I'm 27 and I understand what compounding returns will do to $300 over a long period of time but it's nowhere near enough for me to add a bunch of small part-time jobs (like juggling $500/mo via cash back at grocery stores for example) on top of my 50+ hour, stressful day job.  I like my leisure time and would rather focus any "part-time" efforts on looking for an opportunity that will let me invest a much larger sum into a high yield opportunity that I will enjoy working at down the line.

militaryincome

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #14 on: August 16, 2012, 08:18:00 PM »
It seems like most of the work is to avoid the $5 fee. Even with the fee, you'll earn 4.8% (Assuming you have $5000 in the account.

At a minimum, you would have to spend $70 a month to keep the balance even. ($50 deposit + $20 interest)
If you have a monthly bill, ie. internet, gas, electricity, cellphone that is at or above $70, you could just set up an automatic payment with the card. Obviously you'd have to make sure you have enough on the card. But other than that, it seems like it wouldn't be too difficult.

Assuming you spend $100 a month on the card, you're only losing out on ~$12 dollars a year. (vs a 1% cash-back credit card)
That brings you down to a $228 annual return. Subtract $50 from what a 1% savings account would earn and you're at a profit of $178.

If I decide to keep $5000 or more in cash, I'll definately consider this. Thanks for the info!

JohnGalt

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2012, 11:54:12 AM »
This just popped up on the ERE forum.  4% interest on a (normal access) checking account for up to $25,000.  Looks like you do have to do 16 POS purchases per month and one ACH deposit - but since they offer all other normal bank services, this seems much more reasonable (in fact, I think I'll be opening an account today).   
http://www.coppermarkbank.com/FHIC/

Only for TX and OK residents though. 

shadowmoss

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #16 on: August 17, 2012, 12:55:51 PM »
Going on from the comment about taking 0% cash advances and putting them in a 1% account, why not combine a 0% cash advance, stick it in this account, do the rest of the deal - 1 ACH and transfer $500.00 around, and at the end you pay back the original credit card and have the 6%.  At least that was my thought when I saw that line.

arebelspy

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #17 on: August 17, 2012, 01:06:41 PM »
Going on from the comment about taking 0% cash advances and putting them in a 1% account, why not combine a 0% cash advance, stick it in this account, do the rest of the deal - 1 ACH and transfer $500.00 around, and at the end you pay back the original credit card and have the 6%.  At least that was my thought when I saw that line.

You're then doing more than than twice the work.

In any case, I don't do CC arbitrage anymore - again, not worth my time.  I was just pointing out in the past that I've made more just on a 1% account and filling out a credit card application than I would doing this (and dealing with the direct deposit / payroll department is a big hassle, for me at least) in order to show the relative amount of work versus reward this gets you versus something else that can scrape you a few bucks if you need it.
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JohnGalt

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #18 on: August 17, 2012, 01:08:03 PM »
Going on from the comment about taking 0% cash advances and putting them in a 1% account, why not combine a 0% cash advance, stick it in this account, do the rest of the deal - 1 ACH and transfer $500.00 around, and at the end you pay back the original credit card and have the 6%.  At least that was my thought when I saw that line.

The problem is that you can't transfer $500 around.  You can only use ACH for deposits on that account, not withdrawals.  So you can deposit $500 with a transfer but then would need to go to an ATM or something to withdraw. 

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #19 on: September 26, 2012, 12:49:30 AM »
Pertaining to savings account, since the rates is at historic lows, keeping money in a savings account is only marginally better than keeping it in a mattress. However, since the historically-low rates are unlikely not to go up in the near future, the climate is ripe to reevaluate savings bonds. Series I bonds will earn more for your savings than any standard savings account will. You may go here to read more: [MOD EDIT: Link removed.]
« Last Edit: September 26, 2012, 07:26:25 AM by arebelspy »

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #20 on: November 08, 2013, 10:38:57 AM »
It's been over a year since I last posted about the 6% savings account I have with Mango, but I have an update worth sharing.

The biggest downside to the Mango account is the fact that you can't do an ACH transfer directly out of Mango to your regular bank.  Over the last several months, I have found the simplest solution to this problem.

American Express has  a service called "Serve" (serve.com), a prepaid account.  Up to $1000 per month can be loaded into serve via a debit card, free of charge.  Combining these two services, I can simply transfer my surplus funds from Mango to Serve, and instantly transfer them from Serve to my credit union.  What used to be a more complicated work around is now a ~2 minute process, a few times a month.

I know it's been a long time, but I just wanted to share this update because the 6% interest on Mango is now significantly easier to manage.

Cheers!

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #21 on: November 08, 2013, 11:34:16 AM »
Neat.  That does make things significantly easier.  Cap of 5k is a bummer.  Thanks for the update!
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madage

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #22 on: November 14, 2013, 07:59:05 PM »

The biggest downside to the Mango account is the fact that you can't do an ACH transfer directly out of Mango to your regular bank.  Over the last several months, I have found the simplest solution to this problem.

This is possible as long as the institution you're transferring to allows you pull from external accounts. You can get the necessary information (routing and account numbers) from the direct deposit form on mango's site. Rev will probably close your account if you're too aggressive with your ACH pulls, though.

Quote
American Express has  a service called "Serve" (serve.com), a prepaid account.  Up to $1000 per month can be loaded into serve via a debit card, free of charge.  Combining these two services, I can simply transfer my surplus funds from Mango to Serve, and instantly transfer them from Serve to my credit union.  What used to be a more complicated work around is now a ~2 minute process, a few times a month.

This is a really good idea. I wish I would have thought of it several months ago. Bluebird is another option (and the one I'm now using).

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #23 on: September 08, 2014, 08:20:05 AM »
I treat this account as an investment account.  Much like I won't need to instant access the non-retirement investments I have in Vanguard, I don't have a pressing need to access the cash in my Mango account.

I realize this is an old thread, but thanks for that. I was hung up on the fact that it is a hassle to accessing money in a Mango account and I was trying to treat it as part of my emergency fund. But treating it as an investment made me realize it's not really a big deal.

Also, my plan is to use Amazon payments to pull out the earnings in excess of the fees (Mango changed it now to a $3 monthly fee, regardless of direct deposit amounts). This will require another person that I trust to receive the money and send the money back, but that's okay--I'll just ask my dad to do a BoA to BoA bank transfer, which is free, every couple months.

madage

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #24 on: September 08, 2014, 10:04:14 AM »

Also, my plan is to use Amazon payments to pull out the earnings in excess of the fees (Mango changed it now to a $3 monthly fee, regardless of direct deposit amounts). This will require another person that I trust to receive the money and send the money back, but that's okay--I'll just ask my dad to do a BoA to BoA bank transfer, which is free, every couple months.

Depending on your bank, you may not need to use AP to withdraw the money. I've initiated ACH pulls from the account for amounts less than $500 without issue from time-to-time. You do want to go easy on that, though, since it's not the intended use of the account and there's a high likelihood of getting shutdown if you abuse. Not all bank online interfaces recognize the routing number used by Mango, so it might not work for you. I can tell you Alliant Credit Union pulls have worked fine for me. I also sometimes just run a small purchase on the debit card and get cash back to maintain my balance close to $5,000.

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #25 on: September 08, 2014, 10:06:12 AM »

Also, my plan is to use Amazon payments to pull out the earnings in excess of the fees (Mango changed it now to a $3 monthly fee, regardless of direct deposit amounts). This will require another person that I trust to receive the money and send the money back, but that's okay--I'll just ask my dad to do a BoA to BoA bank transfer, which is free, every couple months.

Depending on your bank, you may not need to use AP to withdraw the money. I've initiated ACH pulls from the account for amounts less than $500 without issue from time-to-time. You do want to go easy on that, though, since it's not the intended use of the account and there's a high likelihood of getting shutdown if you abuse. Not all bank online interfaces recognize the routing number used by Mango, so it might not work for you. I can tell you Alliant Credit Union pulls have worked fine for me. I also sometimes just run a small purchase on the debit card and get cash back to maintain my balance close to $5,000.

Just to clarify, the ACH pull would be pulling money from the prepaid debit card, not the savings account?
And I'd rather sock drawer the debit card.

madage

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #26 on: September 08, 2014, 10:08:22 AM »

Just to clarify, the ACH pull would be pulling money from the prepaid debit card, not the savings account?
And I'd rather sock drawer the debit card.

Yes, ACH pulls have worked for me using the details on the direct deposit sheet, which is for the prepaid card.

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #27 on: September 11, 2014, 05:43:22 AM »
American Express has  a service called "Serve" (serve.com), a prepaid account.  Up to $1000 per month can be loaded into serve via a debit card, free of charge.  Combining these two services, I can simply transfer my surplus funds from Mango to Serve, and instantly transfer them from Serve to my credit union.  What used to be a more complicated work around is now a ~2 minute process, a few times a month.
Cheers!

Well Amazon payments is now closing 10/12/2014, so it looks like I need to sign up for an Amex serve. Is this all set up online? And it appears you can't automate this? (not that Amazon payments would've been automated...)

madage

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #28 on: September 11, 2014, 05:55:35 AM »
American Express has  a service called "Serve" (serve.com), a prepaid account.  Up to $1000 per month can be loaded into serve via a debit card, free of charge.  Combining these two services, I can simply transfer my surplus funds from Mango to Serve, and instantly transfer them from Serve to my credit union.  What used to be a more complicated work around is now a ~2 minute process, a few times a month.
Cheers!

Well Amazon payments is now closing 10/12/2014, so it looks like I need to sign up for an Amex serve. Is this all set up online? And it appears you can't automate this? (not that Amazon payments would've been automated...)

Serve and Bluebird do not allow online loading via prepaid debit cards (like Mango). There was a time you might have been able to, but that time has passed. You can, however, use your Mango card to load your Bluebird or Serve inside Walmart at either the register, money center or the money kiosk. "Walmart Money Card" is the option you want on the kiosk.

I still think initiating an ACH pull a few times a year (you're not losing much interest on the $22 cash generated after the monthly fee) is the way to go, particularly if you'd prefer to put the debit card away and forget about it. This can be automated with many banks.

johnny847

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #29 on: September 11, 2014, 05:59:34 AM »
American Express has  a service called "Serve" (serve.com), a prepaid account.  Up to $1000 per month can be loaded into serve via a debit card, free of charge.  Combining these two services, I can simply transfer my surplus funds from Mango to Serve, and instantly transfer them from Serve to my credit union.  What used to be a more complicated work around is now a ~2 minute process, a few times a month.
Cheers!

Well Amazon payments is now closing 10/12/2014, so it looks like I need to sign up for an Amex serve. Is this all set up online? And it appears you can't automate this? (not that Amazon payments would've been automated...)

Serve and Bluebird do not allow online loading via prepaid debit cards (like Mango). There was a time you might have been able to, but that time has passed. You can, however, use your Mango card to load your Bluebird or Serve inside Walmart at either the register, money center or the money kiosk. "Walmart Money Card" is the option you want on the kiosk.

I still think initiating an ACH pull a few times a year (you're not losing much interest on the $22 cash generated after the monthly fee) is the way to go, particularly if you'd prefer to put the debit card away and forget about it. This can be automated with many banks.

Bummer. Looks like the ACH pull is the best way to go since I'd rather not have to leave my house to get my money out of Mango. Thanks for the info.

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #30 on: September 11, 2014, 08:29:23 PM »
This just popped up on the ERE forum.  4% interest on a (normal access) checking account for up to $25,000.  Looks like you do have to do 16 POS purchases per month and one ACH deposit - but since they offer all other normal bank services, this seems much more reasonable (in fact, I think I'll be opening an account today).   
http://www.coppermarkbank.com/FHIC/

Only for TX and OK residents though.

I was interested until I saw they were being bought out by Prosperity. Ugh. Regional bank with apparent designs to become a national bank through acquisition after acquisition. Having them buy out my local bank inspired me to make the full transition to my credit union for all local bank-type functions.

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #31 on: September 11, 2014, 10:31:37 PM »
Has anyone used PayPal to do an ACH pull from Mango?

I am considering an account, but I want to know that I have an existing account somewhere that will be able to do the pulls successfully.

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #32 on: December 03, 2015, 08:12:13 AM »
I know this is old but wanted to post -- after all Mango is still alive and kicking which is saying something.

I'm wondering if the 6% can be kept indefinitely as long as one keeps the balance under 5K and does the $500 a month deposit? i.e., start taking out money every month in order to keep the balance under the magic 5K.

kudy

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #33 on: December 03, 2015, 08:57:02 AM »
I found the $500 monthly direct deposit requirements to be too much of a pain, and their new web interface is horrible; I've switched over to new pre-paid cards with attached 5% savings accounts from NetSpend and Brinks (both are on the same system). There are no fees as long as there's "activity" on the prepaid account every 90 days.

Rubic

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #34 on: December 03, 2015, 11:17:12 AM »
I found the $500 monthly direct deposit requirements to be too much of a pain, and their new web interface is horrible; I've switched over to new pre-paid cards with attached 5% savings accounts from NetSpend and Brinks (both are on the same system). There are no fees as long as there's "activity" on the prepaid account every 90 days.

Same here.  I just have my credit union programmed to ACH transfer $5 to NetSpend and Brinks accounts every other month.  It's a low-overhead method of obtaining 5% interest on $10K cash.

ponyespresso

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #35 on: December 03, 2015, 01:08:37 PM »
Thanks for the suggestions and if you have referral links feel free to post them.

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« Last Edit: December 03, 2015, 02:06:56 PM by kudy »

Rubic

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #37 on: December 03, 2015, 02:33:49 PM »
Thanks for the suggestions and if you have referral links feel free to post them.

Referral code 5378620225:
http://www.mynetspendcard.com/prepaid-debit-card/applyNow.m?uref=1906490327

Note: You can't get both the Brinks and NetSpend referrals at the same time.  FYI.

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #38 on: December 04, 2015, 11:14:18 PM »
This is a pretty obvious trick people fall for, I don't know why, because it is pretty obvious. I had a lady at WAMU (when they existed) try to trick me into one of these 5% on your savings interest rate accounts with a huge smile on her face. I asked her if there was a cap or something, because it seems unprofitable for them. Sure enough, it was only on the first $500 of the account.

The only way this is really worth it is if you only put the 5K in there and leave your other money in a regular 1% account.

kudy

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #39 on: December 05, 2015, 09:53:46 AM »
There is a 5k cap on each account, but you can have up to 3 on this "netspend" system (a number of differently branded cards are available). Perfect vehicle to keep my liquid emergency fund earning interest with a little maintenance.

Rubic

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #40 on: December 05, 2015, 10:19:59 AM »
The only way this is really worth it is if you only put the 5K in there and leave your other money in a regular 1% account.

Yes, that's the point.  You can max out the following accounts with $5000 each and get 5% on the balance:
  • Netspend
  • Brinks
  • Western Union
  • Ace Elite
  • Paypal Prepaid
  • Control

kpd905

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #41 on: December 06, 2015, 03:57:40 PM »
The only way this is really worth it is if you only put the 5K in there and leave your other money in a regular 1% account.

Yes, that's the point.  You can max out the following accounts with $5000 each and get 5% on the balance:
  • Netspend
  • Brinks
  • Western Union
  • Ace Elite
  • Paypal Prepaid
  • Control

This is good to know, as we are just started to build up cash for a downpayment.  Do you know if any of these accounts result in a hard pull when you apply?

I'll be sure to use one or more of the referral links in this thread when I get around to applying.

Rubic

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #42 on: December 06, 2015, 07:28:59 PM »
The only way this is really worth it is if you only put the 5K in there and leave your other money in a regular 1% account.

Yes, that's the point.  You can max out the following accounts with $5000 each and get 5% on the balance:
  • Netspend
  • Brinks
  • Western Union
  • Ace Elite
  • Paypal Prepaid
  • Control

This is good to know, as we are just started to build up cash for a downpayment.  Do you know if any of these accounts result in a hard pull when you apply?

I'll be sure to use one or more of the referral links in this thread when I get around to applying.

No hard pull on your credit card, but there is a chex check:

    http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/blacklisted-chexsystems-heres/

Chex is pretty much a non-issue in regards to your credit score, as it's mostly a fraud prevention system.  I've opened 6 new bank accounts this year for cash bonuses without any problems.


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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #43 on: December 24, 2015, 11:21:43 AM »
The only way this is really worth it is if you only put the 5K in there and leave your other money in a regular 1% account.

Yes, that's the point.  You can max out the following accounts with $5000 each and get 5% on the balance:
  • Netspend
  • Brinks
  • Western Union
  • Ace Elite
  • Paypal Prepaid
  • Control

Netspend, Ace Elite and Western Union are all backed by MetaBank. Brinks is backed by BofI Federal Bank and Paypal Prepaid is backed by Bancorp Bank. My understanding is you can have a max of any combination of 3 cards backed by Metabank, and 2 cards backed by one of the other banks, for a total of 5 max across the netspend platform. That might be incorrect though....

I have two NetSpends already. I have an Ace Elite and two brinks cards on the way. You have to wait 24 hours between applying for each prepaid card, regarldess of which bank they are backed by, except Mango which is a completely different program. Is there a cap on the number of Mango cards one can have?
« Last Edit: December 24, 2015, 11:27:10 AM by tj »

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #44 on: December 25, 2015, 02:25:59 PM »
I read through the information for the Visa Net Spend but didn't see anything about a 5% savings account. ??

I also read through the information for the Brinks card. Am I correct in understanding that you have to pay a $5 monthly fee to have the savings account option? Also, would a regular ACH transfer work as the direct deposit?

My employer can only DD to one account at a time.  I currently have my EF / house DP sitting in an account that pays 2.5% up to 25k (credit union) after jumping through some hoops - one being DD.

tj

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #45 on: December 25, 2015, 05:45:12 PM »
I read through the information for the Visa Net Spend but didn't see anything about a 5% savings account. ??

I also read through the information for the Brinks card. Am I correct in understanding that you have to pay a $5 monthly fee to have the savings account option? Also, would a regular ACH transfer work as the direct deposit?

My employer can only DD to one account at a time.  I currently have my EF / house DP sitting in an account that pays 2.5% up to 25k (credit union) after jumping through some hoops - one being DD.

There is no fee for Brinks if you leave it a the pay as you go option, which trhere is no reason not to if you are just using the savings account. The only one that has a direct deposit requirement is Mango, and ACH works fine for that.

Lauran75

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #46 on: December 26, 2015, 08:05:53 AM »
I read through the information for the Visa Net Spend but didn't see anything about a 5% savings account. ??

I also read through the information for the Brinks card. Am I correct in understanding that you have to pay a $5 monthly fee to have the savings account option? Also, would a regular ACH transfer work as the direct deposit?

My employer can only DD to one account at a time.  I currently have my EF / house DP sitting in an account that pays 2.5% up to 25k (credit union) after jumping through some hoops - one being DD.

There is no fee for Brinks if you leave it a the pay as you go option, which trhere is no reason not to if you are just using the savings account. The only one that has a direct deposit requirement is Mango, and ACH works fine for that.

So all I have to do is put up to $5k on the card, and I'll earn 5% with no fees? Nothing else to do? Sweet!

tj

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #47 on: December 26, 2015, 09:45:37 AM »
I read through the information for the Visa Net Spend but didn't see anything about a 5% savings account. ??

I also read through the information for the Brinks card. Am I correct in understanding that you have to pay a $5 monthly fee to have the savings account option? Also, would a regular ACH transfer work as the direct deposit?

My employer can only DD to one account at a time.  I currently have my EF / house DP sitting in an account that pays 2.5% up to 25k (credit union) after jumping through some hoops - one being DD.

There is no fee for Brinks if you leave it a the pay as you go option, which trhere is no reason not to if you are just using the savings account. The only one that has a direct deposit requirement is Mango, and ACH works fine for that.

So all I have to do is put up to $5k on the card, and I'll earn 5% with no fees? Nothing else to do? Sweet!

No, it's a bit more work than that. Follow the instructions at http://thefinancebuff.com/netspend-5-percent-savings-account.html

Also, you could use my referral link, we both get $20 after you load $40. :D

http://www.brinksprepaidmastercard.com/prepaid-debit-card/applyNow.m?ctxName=b_raf&uref=6051068332
« Last Edit: December 26, 2015, 09:49:28 AM by tj »

Lauran75

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #48 on: December 26, 2015, 11:49:27 AM »
I read through the information for the Visa Net Spend but didn't see anything about a 5% savings account. ??

I also read through the information for the Brinks card. Am I correct in understanding that you have to pay a $5 monthly fee to have the savings account option? Also, would a regular ACH transfer work as the direct deposit?

My employer can only DD to one account at a time.  I currently have my EF / house DP sitting in an account that pays 2.5% up to 25k (credit union) after jumping through some hoops - one being DD.

There is no fee for Brinks if you leave it a the pay as you go option, which trhere is no reason not to if you are just using the savings account. The only one that has a direct deposit requirement is Mango, and ACH works fine for that.

So all I have to do is put up to $5k on the card, and I'll earn 5% with no fees? Nothing else to do? Sweet!

No, it's a bit more work than that. Follow the instructions at http://thefinancebuff.com/netspend-5-percent-savings-account.html

Also, you could use my referral link, we both get $20 after you load $40. :D

http://www.brinksprepaidmastercard.com/prepaid-debit-card/applyNow.m?ctxName=b_raf&uref=6051068332

Thank you very much! I was looking for a step by step or more info on the site itself (like Mango has) but didn't come across this. I will definitely use your link. :)

Debts_of_Despair

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Re: 6% Savings Account with mangomoney.com - All the details
« Reply #49 on: December 26, 2015, 12:11:12 PM »
Way too many hoops to jump through for a 5k limit.  No thanks.