Author Topic: 5% interest Savings Account - NO LONGER  (Read 6199 times)

ShortStuff

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5% interest Savings Account - NO LONGER
« on: March 16, 2016, 02:06:05 PM »
UPDATE: As of JULY 2016, this offer has now been reduced to 5% interest on the first $1,000, then 1% on any amount after that. This makes it much less desirable I believe.  I will likely be closing my accounts, but it was nice to get the 5% for the year I had it there. 

I heard about the 5% interest Savings account that you can get by opening a Netspend or Brinks pre-paid card.  I opened a couple accounts last November to give it a try.  You can receive 5% interest up to $5,000.  It worked and I received the interest into the account.  The interest is doled out quarterly.  I now plan to take the bit of interest earned and throw it toward my student loan. Every bit helps. Read a more in-depth article about it here:

http://cashcowcouple.com/investing/5-interest-savings-account/

So if you are interested in stashing some short-term money (which for us was our down-payment savings and used car fund money), this would be a great way to get more than the 1% you see from the online banks. 

(A note, there's a 90-day inactivity fee of $5.95. To avoid this fee, I just set up a monthly ACH transfer of $1 from my credit union to the card. Done, no issues, no fee.)

Edit: Forgot to add a link to the prepaid cards. Below are two links where you can receive $20 for opening an account, and I'd receive $20. There's no need to go through this link though. Just want to spread the word to those looking for a place to park your short-term savings:
Brinks referral link
Western Union referral link

Has anyone else had success with receiving interest from either Brinks, WesternUnion, or Netspend accounts?
« Last Edit: October 11, 2016, 08:45:38 PM by ShortStuff »

engineermom21

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2016, 02:33:27 PM »
Thanks for the info!

Do you just leave the $1 each month on the card and let it accumulate? 

ShortStuff

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2016, 02:40:39 PM »
Yes, I left each monthly $1 in there and then took out the few dollars that had accumulated when I went in to withdraw the quarterly interest (which would be $62.50 in interest every 3 months if a person puts in the maximum $5,000). 

GregO

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2016, 10:36:31 AM »
What a great find!  This looks awesome, I'm definitely going to have to look into it.  I'll definitely use your referral link if I do it!

Have you tried to open more than one account with the different providers, or are you only doing one right now?
« Last Edit: March 17, 2016, 10:50:35 AM by GregO »

Curbside Prophet

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2016, 03:19:46 PM »
There's a thread about this... somewhere.  Should provide all the answers but in short, yes you can open multiple accounts.  The two banks are BOFI and Metabank.  You can open (I believe) 3 accounts from each respective bank but you may need to do them one at a time.

rocko2527

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2016, 03:55:02 PM »
Do these now require an official direct deposit setup from work? Or can I just transfer the money once from my main bank and be done?

Curbside Prophet

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2016, 06:56:22 PM »
Do these now require an official direct deposit setup from work? Or can I just transfer the money once from my main bank and be done?

ACH transfers count.  I have heard some mention that their bank doesn't allow them to make the transfer but I've never encountered an issue.  If you look on the fat wallet forums, I believe they have a running list of banks confirmed to work.

ShortStuff

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2016, 12:02:15 PM »
What a great find!  This looks awesome, I'm definitely going to have to look into it.  I'll definitely use your referral link if I do it!

Have you tried to open more than one account with the different providers, or are you only doing one right now?

I opened up 3 accounts, one from Western Union, Brinks, and Netspend. Then I got my husband to open 2 more as well. I believe you have to wait until you receive the card in the mail (came about 1 week after signing up) and activate it before another person at the same address can open an account.

No direct deposit required. I made one-time transfers of $5k increments straight from Ally Bank. Ally bank did give us a courtesy call after the 4th withdrawal to ensure that someone wasn't fraudulently taking out all our money. Haha. I just told them I'd found a place with better interest for the time being.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2016, 12:15:45 PM by ShortStuff »

daballer2005

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2016, 12:47:31 PM »
I just tried to register on all three sites and wasn't able too. Has anybody been able to get this to work recently?
« Last Edit: March 23, 2016, 01:16:09 PM by daballer2005 »

ShortStuff

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #9 on: April 01, 2016, 10:57:42 AM »
Today is April 1st. Just checked my balance since I got my quarterly interest after 3 months.  Again, not bad to get $61 interest every 3 months.  I guess I'll wind up with about $244 at the end of the year.


JZinCO

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #10 on: April 01, 2016, 11:01:48 AM »
I haven't played around with these 5% prepaid card things. Not sure why, I probably should.

Just commenting to add that DoC has posted information on another one: Insight.
http://www.doctorofcredit.com/insight-5-apy-prepaid-card-5000/

tonysemail

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #11 on: April 01, 2016, 12:06:39 PM »
I tried to open a netspend account and it didn't work for me either.
After filling in my information, it failed with an error message - please call this number to verify your information.
The phone number is disconnected.

Zoot Allures

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Re: 5% interest Savings Account
« Reply #12 on: April 01, 2016, 01:18:38 PM »
Today is April 1st. Just checked my balance since I got my quarterly interest after 3 months.  Again, not bad to get $61 interest every 3 months.  I guess I'll wind up with about $244 at the end of the year.



Looks familiar! I got my first installment of quarterly interest today as well. Not bad at all.

« Last Edit: April 01, 2016, 01:20:16 PM by Zoot Allures »