The Upside of Rising Interest Rates

Filed in archive Banking , Investing , Saving on June 19, 2006

Everyone's getting a little seasick with stock market gyrations and rising interest rates on their credit cards, home equity loans, maybe even your mortgage if you've got an adjustable rate mortgage loan. But there's an upside to interest rates going up--interest on simple savings accounts.

It wasn't long ago that you were lucky to be getting 1% on your savings. You either took your chances with the stock market or had to lock up your money for long periods with banks to get a decent return. Now that's changed. You can get returns as high as 5%, just for letting your money sit there doing absolutely nothing, with no risk whatsoever.

Where?

Countrywide Bank is giving a 5% yield on savings of $50,000 or more, but if you can't meet the $50K, you'll still get a 4.25% yield.

Citibank's giving 4.75%, although you do have to open an EZ Checking account with them in order to get it.

Emigrant Direct is at 4.65%.

You can also find quite a few at 4.25%. Just google "high-yield saving accounts" and there's plenty to choose from.

Almost all the big savings yields are coming from Internet-based banks, or are Internet-only offers from well-known institutions. It's not riskier, but I know that makes some people nervous. It shouldn't. It's all fdic-insured, just like the bank around the corner.

I should mention that I read about a couple of the highest yielders in this column from Terry Savage.