Thanks alot Helicopter Ben!

I'm pretty pissed it dropped by a full percent. I have an account there. =(

Are there any other banks that have higher now? I went to ING to check out what there's was at, and it's lower.

I don't know how, but when push came to shove my credit union is staying at 4% APY.

WaMu's online savings account only fell from by 0.50% and is still currently at 4.25%. No fees or minimum balance requirements as long as you also open a free checking account. Unlike HSBC, WaMu also has plenty of branches throughout the entire country, meaning you can make immediately deposits and withdrawals in person or through their ATM machines.

M&T Bank is over 4%. No checking required.

@nick2588: It's at 4.25% now?? It just dropped to 4.75 from 5.0...crap.

There just ain't the same money in saving money as there used to be.

You could have a "savings" account with your bank and get 0.01%! Or whatever insulting interest rates they tend to have these days.

Emigrant Direct is at 4.05%, FWIW.

Also, I find it very hard to believe that someone who actually reads this site would have a WaMu account.

Yeah, I hate seeing those emails from HSBC saying my rate has dropped. Pretty soon my savings rate won't even equal the rate of inflation. (if it hasn't already)

There's a reason why rates are falling. It's the same reason that the Fed is lowering interest rates. It's not that they don't want you to save, they just don't want you to sock your money into savings accounts. If the Fed has it's way, the pressure will continue until you finally give in, come to your senses, and invest your money in the stock market where it belongs. :)

@nick2588: I've never seen one on the East Coast. Are you sure they're actually national?

I opened and HSBC account about a year ago and ended up moving my money to EmigrantDirect after some rate change. After experiencing HSBC's interface for 6 months, though, I can say they would probably need to offer a 1% premium over any other bank for me to move back there. Yech.

@humphrmi:
Amen, right now the Fed doesn't want any money sitting around in savings accounts. They want it back into the economy somehow. And that's probably the bigger story on the recent rate cuts then making it cheaper to borrow.

I've been pretty happy with Emigrant Direct. They aren't the highest rates available, but they're usually higher than a lot of the others (like HSBC, ING). And they seem to be more consistent about keeping their rates competitive. They don't just instantly drop their rates the day a rate cut is announced like ING does. And when I screwed up the process of linking a checking account to my Emigrant account (I typed the routing number wrong), their customer service was very responsive and sorted it out really quickly for me. Their transfers are also quite fast in my experience. I'm happy.

"I find it very hard to believe that someone who actually reads this site would have a WaMu account."

@tape: Why is that hard to believe? As mentioned by nick2588, right now their savings account is at 4.25%, which is better than most out there. I started with WaMu last October and I've been happy with them since.

@pearlandopal: They are indeed nationwide, including in the East. I just looked in NYC and there are several branches. Here is the locator: [clients.mapquest.com]

@Cameron Fredman: Agreed. I switched my accounts over to WaMu in November (from Emigrant Direct and a local credit union) and haven't looked back since. I'm very happy with their banking products, although their credit card is another story...