Remember back in the olden days when there were interest rates above 0.005% on savings accounts? There were a bunch of banks competing for your little savings accounts and offering fabulous interest rates for savings accounts if you would do online banking. ING, HSBC, etc. were all the buzz over on Money Matters. I started stashing my lemonade stand money in one at HSBC. Then of course the interest rate starting ticking down lower and lower and lower and lower and lower. Whatever. That had to happen. But also, transfers took FOREVER. Like if I transferred $100 from my checking account (at another bank) into HSBC savings it would take 10 days for it to show up in the savings account and start earning interest. Same story on transfers out. Money does not move that slowly between other banks. They just sit on it for an extra few days for fun and profit.
Last month I decided that since I wasn't getting any more interest that I would quit dealing with those huge lag times on transfers and move it all to a bank that I used more. A few days later I got an e-mail updating me that the interest rate was lowering yet again to something like 0.0001%. Whatever.
Then today I get an e-mail that they are going to start charging $12 per transfer! Remember that this is an online bank account. You can't write a check. You can't go to a teller. You can't go to an ATM. A transfer is the only way to access your money. And you must pay them $12 for the privilege of doing so! I am so glad I got my money out before they did that. Now I need to call and close the account before they start charging me low balance and inactivity fees, although there is probably an account closure fee.
I just a friendly gal looking for options.
