Would you pay to enter a sweepstakes that it’s impossible to lose? Late last year, our representatives in Congress and the President all agreed on something, a bill called the American Savings Promotion Act. It made prize-linked savings accounts, something that serves as a combination lottery and savings vehicle, legal for United States banks. [More]
savings accounts
Make Mindless Spending Work For You With The Impulse Purchase Savings Plan
By 2.11.14
Are you looking for new ways to trick yourself into building up your savings account? Maybe you found the Four-Dollar Gas Savings Club concept appealing, but aren’t interested because you don’t own a car, or have trouble subtracting from four. Okay. Do you ever make silly impulse purchases? Maybe a different savings plan would work for you. [More]
New Branch Promotion Turns ATMs Into No-Lose Slot Machines
By 8.30.12
How can you spice up a routine visit to the ATM? Easthampton Savings Bank in Massachusetts is promoting a new branch by turning its ATM into a sort of no-lose slot machine. They call it the “ATM Gone Mad,” because sometimes it will dispense $50 bills in place of the normal $20 bills. Cute promo. One local blogger finds it amusing that this is going on around the same time that the nearby city of Springfield is considering a downtown casino proposal from MGM Grand. All of the fun of gambling, none of the risk of financial ruin. But what’s the fun if there’s no chance of destroying your family’s future? [More]
How To Save Money For A House
By 7.15.11
If you want to scrape together as much money as possible for a down payment on a home, you’ll have to cut your usual expenses. The trick is deciding exactly what you can and can’t do without. [More]
Ohio Woman Has Had Same Bank Account For 98 Years
By 6.3.11
In January of 1913, a man in Ohio opened up a passbook savings account for his baby daughter with $6.11. And in probably the lengthiest example of customer loyalty, that girl — now a 100-year-old woman — has continued to use that same account ever since. [More]
What You Get If You Start Saving Today
By 1.7.11
A lot of people probably made “save more money” one of their New Year’s Resolutions. It’s true, the best day to start saving is right now. Based off of what the average American spends annually, if you set a goal for next January and save $157 a month, you can have all your clothes paid for for the year. [More]
Why Savings Account Rates Suck Right Now
By 12.6.10
You may have noticed it’s dang hard to get a good rate for saving money right now. Used to be you could get an online savings account with 5%, no problem. Now if you can get in the upper 1% you’re doing pretty good. So what’s the dilly? [More]
I Don't Want A Savings Account, Fifth Third: Please Stop Calling Me
By 3.25.10
Brad is a customer of Fifth Third Bank. He’s annoyed at the bank’s marketing practices. He tells Consumerist that when he transferred a large amount of money from his account with a credit union, Fifth Third decided that he clearly had too much money, and they wanted to help him open a savings account to remedy that situation. Well, that’s not what they said, but close enough. [More]
Ally Bank Debits Account Before Customer Verifies That It's Hers
By 11.16.09
Sometimes a company verifies that a bank account by making a couple of small deposits in it, then asking you to report back the deposit amounts. Don’t rely on that verification process to block any activity in the meantime, though. That’s what Suzette did with Ally bank, and she ended up with a $35 stop payment fee from her own bank.
Don't Let Maintenance Fees Ruin Your Automatic Savings Program
By 11.11.09
If you participate in an automatic savings program like Bank of America‘s Keep the Change service, where debit card purchases are rounded up and the difference is deposited into your savings account, keep an eye on maintenance fees. James says he was hit with a $5 charge last month because he hadn’t met the minimum monthly deposit requirement of $25: “It turns out that I wasn’t even accruing $5 worth of change per month, so I was losing more money due to the maintenance fee than I was saving via Keep the Change!”
Five Things Worth Paying For In A Recession
By 3.1.09
Just because the economy is imploding doesn’t mean you should entirely freeze your spending. The Wall Street Journal brings us a list of five things that are well worth their price, even in a recession.
By 2.27.09
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Great idea from reader CumaeanSybil: “One thing I’ve been doing lately: every time I buy something on sale, I take the difference from regular price and put it in savings. It keeps me motivated to seek out sale prices and coupons, because I like seeing that account grow.”
Pump Up Your Savings With High-Yield Online Savings Accounts
By 12.21.08
Are you earning at least 4% in your savings account? If NO, do yourself a favor: Open a high-yield online savings account and start adding some serious muscle mass to your savings. Here’s the skinny:
Customer Gets Slapped With "Excessive Activity" Fee For Messing With Savings Account Too Much
By 5.9.08
What The Fed's Rate Cut Means For You
By 11.4.07
The Fed’s recent quarter-point rate cut could either mean more or less cash in your pocket, depending on what you accounts you own. Here is the breakdown:
Stash Your Cash In CDs Now
By 9.9.07
The Federal Reserve Board is expected to cut interest rates soon, and you can bet that banks will quickly follow their lead and slash rates on savings accounts and certificates of deposit. By purchasing a CD now, you can lock in favorable rates ahead of the Fed’s September 18 meeting. From the Chicago Tribune:
“Banks usually are really fast to cut rates and slow to raise,” he said.
