February 22, 2012

Finally Something Worth Saving For!

As some of you may remember reading, I was getting frustrated with ING and our savings account there with the interest rate being continually lowered (currently at 0.80%).

I still dump money into there because a) It's still more than our regular savings account at Navy Federal, and b) It's harder to 'use' the money as it takes a few days for it to transfer back to our account.

So for the cruise, I was going to do 1 of 2 options.  Open another ING account (with the 0.80% interest) or open a Custom Club account at Navy Federal where I can choose my own maturity date (making it harder to 'take' the money early) and an interest rate of 0.75%.

Yesterday I returned to work after having Monday off, to see an email about a 'Special' Custom Club account.  I checked out our website to make sure it was really there.  If you open the Custom Club account (min $5 deposit) and make it only from 3 - 12 months (normally it's 3 - 60months) it would have an APY of 2.00% YES! Finally, something good for saving! And unlike the 'Special' EasyStart Certificate (that I also have and has an APY of 3.00%) which maxes out at $3000 and has other conditions, the Custom Club maxes out at $5000 and I can choose when I want the money to deposit into my account.  I opened it on the spot with $20 (soon to be much much more) and have it maturing on 01/14/2013, just under a week before we leave on our cruise, which is the reason for this account to be opened :)

I finally feel like I'm actually getting something back from saving (even if it is a little bit).  It was nice to see my Month To Date dividend go from $0.55 in my easystart to $1.29 in one day after transferring my bonus money from work into there.  I will max that out here soon and it matures in June.  It is paying for the majority of the cruise.

If anyone is eligible for Navy Federal and you're looking for some good certificates, I highly recommend this custom club account and the special easystart (min $50 to open and some conditions).

*Note: I do work for Navy Federal, but I do no receive ANY compensation if you open an account.  I was a member before I started working there, and have always been happy with their products and services.  Just so happens that I get to know about things from email without having to search for it :)

10 comments:

Michelle said...

Wow that's a great rate!

Tania said...

That is pretty awesome. I just went from .01% to ING's 0.8% and I'm quite content. I don't think I'd qualify for it, but that's awesome! Good for you.

Niki said...

You know I am a NFCU shipper! Good that you took the time to find a better rate. I should look into it, thanks for the tip.

Krystin said...

Totally thought of you Niki :P :)

Rafiki said...

That's really awesome. Congratulations. I know how frustrating the crappy interest rates can be.

444 said...

I saw the notice about the Custom Club account and I had never seen anything like it. I'm very interested in it and will look into it further.

Do you mind if I ask a question even though you are not at work now? You can answer as if you are answering for credit cards in general so you're not speaking for NF while you're off-duty, but my question is about Navy Federal. If an accountholder has a balance on 0% until, say, next July due to a 0%-for-one-year balance transfer deal taken last July, and then the accountholder makes another transfer now to take advantage of another BT offer that is good for 12 months, do they keep the balances separate?

In other words, what if I came up with the money next summer to pay off the first BT balance so I don't get charged any interest on it, but I now have an additional balance that is supposed to be 0% until February 2013? If I made a big payment, would they apply it to the most recent BT balance so it's paid off nice and early, and then I would start getting charged interest on the original balance I transferred which should run out of the promotional 0% rate in around July?

Krystin said...

444, As fas as I know (I'm not trained in the credit cards) you can do another 0% balance transfer for 12 months (hurry it ends on Feb 29!) and if you have more than one promotion or something that has it's own 'line' at the bottom of the statement (for example: balance transfers will have their own line, cash advances, purchases, etc) if they have the same interest rate (like the 0%) then the oldest will be paid towards first. If you have anything else on the card (like regular purchases), it all goes towards the lower interest rate first.
So, if you were to do the 0% and add more now, and do a large payment in July, it will go towards the first balance transfer you did first :)

(I actually did some research and asked some people at work today for you :P )

444 said...

I really appreciate it that you found that out for me. Thanks so much! Generally I try to avoid purchases when I have something like this going because I don't want to confuse the issue. But I wasn't sure about various BTs. Thanks again!

Jerry said...

Ugh! I didn't know that. I started an account with ING years ago and thought that would be the insurance we needed to get our savings on track. Now, we're hardly making anything on interest. I think this may lead me to look elsewhere.

jpkittie said...

great rate! congrats!