Emigrant Direct vs. Washington Mutual (WaMu)

The best online savings bank: Emigrant Direct vs. Washington Mutual (WaMu)

Emigrant Savings Bank, established in 1850 by the Irish Emigrant Society, is the oldest savings bank in New York City. Emigrant, the largest privately owned bank in the country, has 36 branches located in the New York metro area and amazing assets worth around $12.5 billion. The bank introduced its online savings account, virtual bank Emigrant Direct in 2005. One of the most popular online savings accounts, Emigrant Direct's American Dream savings account offers an incredible annual percentage yield of 5.05%. Besides, Emigrant is one of the first banks to provide a high interest rate.

Some of the significant advantages offered by Emigrant Direct's American Dream savings account to the consumer include a variable annual percentage yield on savings, no minimum balance restrictions for acquiring the rate, no bank fees, service charges, penalties or hidden costs, up to $100,000 in FDIC Insurance, highly supportive and efficient customer service, 24/7 access to bank account. Quite recently, the bank introduced Emigrant Direct Platinum MasterCard by which every six months, the credit card will deposit 1.40% of credit card expenditure for that period into the consumer's Emigrant Direct American Dream Savings Account.

Washington Mutual (WaMu) is the largest savings and loan provider in the United States. Washington Mutual is essentially involved with providing financial services to consumers and small businesses such as retail banking, mortgage lending, consumer lending, business banking, business lending, insurance services, credit card services, commercial real estate mortgage and consumer investment services. The bank is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and and operates more than 2,600 retail banking, mortgage lending, commercial banking, and financial services offices. Washington Mutual offers 5.00% annual percentage yield and its online bank account comes with a free checking account.

The most important online savings & checking account features of Washington Mutual include free ATM cash withdrawals, $1 opening balance, cash back for debit purchases, free checks for life, free overdraft/NSF fee waiver each year and free outbound wire transfers. With WaMu, consumers can access their account information 24/7. Another outstanding feature of Wamu is the online bill pay. In addition, an account holder can also schedule certain days for automatic payment of specific bills. If the consumer runs low on paper checks, he can choose to go online and purchase his checks. Some of the other prominent advantages offered by the online bank account are the online stop payment on a check, free features and top-class customer service.

Nayanathara. S.

Hi-Tech Editorial Division