best place to stash liquid savings?

[Eilonwy]

My husband and I have $70K earmarked for a home improvement project. We're still in the permitting part of the process and it's slow as molasses. I don't really know how long it will be until the money is actually needed.

Currently I have it in Discover Savings and Capital One -- .95 and 1.0 APR respectively, and had good signing bonuses. I've seen some slightly higher offers but am leery of online banks without a strong reputation. I tried to open a Synchrony CD and after giving a vast amount of sensitive info it didn't go through, which doesn't make me want to work with them.

Our local credit union rates are dreadful.

Any possibilities I might not know about? Our credit scores are excellent, if it matters.

[Trudie]

My husband and I have $70K earmarked for a home improvement project. We're still in the permitting part of the process and it's slow as molasses. I don't really know how long it will be until the money is actually needed.

Currently I have it in Discover Savings and Capital One -- .95 and 1.0 APR respectively, and had good signing bonuses. I've seen some slightly higher offers but am leery of online banks without a strong reputation. I tried to open a Synchrony CD and after giving a vast amount of sensitive info it didn't go through, which doesn't make me want to work with them.

Our local credit union rates are dreadful.

Any possibilities I might not know about? Our credit scores are excellent, if it matters.

I would just leave it alone.  I would keep it in an insured account with an entity you trust.  I wouldn't jump through hoops for a few hundred bucks.

[Eilonwy]

I basically agree with you, which is why I'm not bothering with those Chase offers ever again -- really don't want to spend my time on a lot of paperwork and spiels, especially with someone who was ignoring me until he realized how much money we have.

Still, I'd like the money to be a little more productive, if the hassle factor isn't too high,

[MDM]

Currently I have it in Discover Savings and Capital One -- .95 and 1.0 APR respectively, and had good signing bonuses. I've seen some slightly higher offers but am leery of online banks without a strong reputation.

You won't do much better these days.  See www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning-interest/best-online-savings-accounts for a regularly updated listing.

[Eilonwy]

It does all seem to be pretty much of a muchness. Well, at least it's earning the highest it can be; it's embarrassing how long we had money sitting around earning literally nothing. (Seriously... that's how bad the credit union interest is. My son has *never* earned any interest on his account. He now uses "bank of mom" and we pay him interest on it, mustachian style.

[Eilonwy]

We are seeing movement on the permit process! This is a huge relief to me, because I keep feeling like I should be doing something more useful with the saved money. ;-)