After several depressing months of steadily declining rates, the yields on a few online savings accounts rates rose a tad. With .45 percentage points, HSBC Direct had the biggest jump and at 3.5% reclaims the title as the highest yielding online savings account from a big-name bank with no minimum balance. However, this is only a promotional rate through August 15. Tricky like a rock rhythm. (I found the big red “DEPOSIT MORE NOW” button in the announcement email HSBC sent out especially amusing). You might instead want to look at the online savings account offered by Provident Bank at 3.5%. That’s down from 3.75 but the cut was tracked to the decrease in the federal interest rates. So with the Feds saying we’re done with cuts for the near future, it’s probably decent bet the Provident Bank rate will hold. Here’s a good number of the rates that have gone up, and those that have stayed the same or decreased since the last time we posted this info.

For the most up-to-date information on these rates, Bankrate.com’s dynamically updated rate charts is where you want to go.

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Increased Rates

HSBC Direct: 3.5% APY (no min) (+.45)
Umbrella Bank: 3.4% APY (min of $100) (+.15)
Etade: 3.15% (no min) (+.1)

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Unchanged or Decreased

OneUnited: 3.6% APY (min of $1000)
Provident Direct: 3.5% (no min) (-.25)
Washington Mutual: 3.30% APY
iGoBanking: 3.28% (no min)
FNBO Direct: 3.25% (no min)
M&T e-Money Market: 3.25% (no min)
GCFBank.com: 3.14% (only for 90 days) (-.2)
WT Direct: 3.16% (min of $10k) (-.15)
Savings Square: 3.05% (no min) (-.2)
E-Loan: 3.01% APY (no min)
ING Direct: 3.0% APY (no min)
Capital One: 3.0% (no min) (-.5)
GMAC: 3.0% (no min)
Emigrant Direct: 2.75% APY (no min)
Citibank e-Savings: 2.65% APY (no min) (-.5)

(Photo: Getty)

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