Mango, Union Plus, Santander how-to?

[jeromedawg]

Hey guys,

After reading around here and also the Bogleheads forums I discovered the Mango/Union Plus/Santander strategy for higher-yield savings.

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=148172

This post from ketawa sort of explains how it works:

"Mango, Union Plus, and Santander are worthwhile if you are willing to jump through the hoops. The best hands off method is:

$5000 in Mango savings
$5000 in Union Plus savings
$50 transfer to/from Mango
$500 transfer to/from Union Plus to avoid $2 fee (5.3% return at the margin for tying up an extra $450 makes it worthwhile)
$1500 transfer to/from Santander, less the amount of your 2 monthly bill payments
$12,050 total

This earns you:
$24 Mango
$20 Union Plus
$20 Santander
-$3 Mango fee
$732 total annually

Overall 6.1% annual return. This is where I keep my emergency fund and I have not had any issues with any of the accounts. If you have a spouse, you might be able to get 6% FDIC insured on $24k. That's a great deal."

It's still quite unclear to me how everything works though exactly. Has anyone else set this up and can explain in detail what they're doing?

I sort of understand the part about direct-deposit into all the accounts but does this imply the funds are coming straight from my paycheck? Or can "direct deposit" also mean an ACH transfer (like from my Chase account or whatever). To avoid additional fees and or qualify for additional % interest, I understand there is a $500 minimum to avoid fees on UP, $1500 to qualify for Santander, and any amount for Mango. Is that right? And in the case of Mango and UP, I need $5000 in there to max the % interest to begin with.

Also. from what I understand people are just using the prepaid card to pay for bills or whatever... (I'm guessing I could also just go to Walmart and load my Serve card up with the funds if I wanted to liquidate the funds).

Any advice/tips?

[RyeWhiskey]

In my personal opinion, a setup like the one above requires precise attention to detail and the will to maintain a very rigorous plan each month. Money needs to be moved from point A to B, then B to C, and so on, until all requirements are met. I do not think this is a good option for most people as it requires more effort than most are willing to put in. Case in point, if you really want the 6% you'll research all the requirements thoroughly and make sure you can meet them each month. Posting on a forum is not due diligence.

Not meaning to harp on you at all, but chasing yield is a dangerous endeavor and those fees will rack up heavy over time if one doesn't pay attention and understand the situation in its entirety.

[SamSpade]

DD in this case means ACH from other accounts
$50 DD for Mango
Its not that hard to keep track of.  I just set up auto ACH transfers for the deposits and then you can pull the funds however, I usually just pay a CC