Completely DIS-Interest-ed

I usually take whatever I read from The Motley Fool with a grain of salt, as it seems most of their articles are just a tease to get you to buy their premium product. This article, An Appalling Lack of Interest, is no different. However, it hits close to home for me, as I am a Wachovia customer and shareholder. The author calls out Wachovia for their pathetic savings account interest rate of .35% per year. Heck, .35% would be TRIPLE what Wachovia pays me - a paltry .11%, as of my last account statement.

I am not mad, though. I wised up along the way, and moved the bulk of my savings from Wachovia to ING Direct. My ING account pays 4.35% interest - not the BEST offer out there, but a very easy interface to use, and a very generous new account bonus, which more than offsets the loss of a few cents in interest. Had I kept the same balance at Wachovia as I now have in my ING account, I would have earned about $5 in interest over the course of the year. As of today, I have earned almost $170. By the end of the year, between interest earned and account referral bonuses, I will have made enough money to make one full extra payment on my student loans. It may not seem like much, but chiseling away at that last non-mortgage debt is coming along nicely because of the alterations I made to my lifestyle. Changing my savings account was nothing that I would even notice on a day-to-day basis, but sure pays a healthy dividend over time. Moreover, I have had more incentive to raise my balance in the savings account, because I am actually seeing the interest amount grow every month. Had I left the bulk of my savings at Wachovia, I am inclined to think that my savings would have been relatively stagnant.

ING posted my interest on the last day of the month, as they always do. I am still waiting for the shiny new NICKEL I will receive from Wachovia this month!

If you are interested in opening an ING Direct account, please let me know and I will send you a referral. With a $250 opening deposit, and no minimum balance requirements after that, you can earn a $25 bonus (making 10% on your money immediately!), and I will get $10 for referring you.