Countrywide Bank Savingslink vs. ING Direct

[Aphex Twin]

I've only used ING Direct's savings account and see that Countrywide's Savingslink has a full 1% additional APY rate on ING's. Anyone use Savingslink? How does it compare to ING?

Or would you recommend a completely different online savings account? I would like one that is 100% liquid.

[innocentfreak]

I have been using Countrywide for a while now and have been happy. I would recommend you check the fatwallet finance forums. They have threads dedicated to all the banks.

[atari2600]

i might check that out too - kind of depressing to watch my interest rate on my ING account go down every month, especially since the economy/real estate market sucks so bad too...

[Duran]

Countrywide has been fine for me. Given it the troubles with mortgages, however, I wouldn't put more than the FDIC insured limit in there.

[Heat]

How much money are you talking about? And when you say "liquid", how liquid do you need it to be? That is, if you get the money back in a couple days, is that liquid enough?

[4KRG]

I think this is the best Money Market type account right now

http://www.indymac.com/Individuals/Banking/page.asp?pSection=pdEMMRate

only a $1000 min

countrywide wants a $10k min now to get the best rate.

but this seems to change weekly at just about every one :)

[Venusian]

What are Excess Transactions that CW charges for?

[orangecrush]

What are Excess Transactions that CW charges for?
more than one withdrawal a year ;)

[Aphex Twin]

How much money are you talking about? And when you say "liquid", how liquid do you need it to be? That is, if you get the money back in a couple days, is that liquid enough?

Yes, a couple of days is liquid enough. I just don't want it to be tied up for a month or more, having a penalty to withdraw. Do they seriously only allow 1 withdrawal per year or was that a joke? I don't recall reading that.

Are there any worries at all with Countrywide's solvency? The reason I didn't consider Indymac was their financial problems. Should these be concerns at all for a depositor?

[orangecrush]

Yes, a couple of days is liquid enough. I just don't want it to be tied up for a month or more, having a penalty to withdraw. Do they seriously only allow 1 withdrawal per year or was that a joke? I don't recall reading that.

Are there any worries at all with Countrywide's solvency? The reason I didn't consider Indymac was their financial problems. Should these be concerns at all for a depositor?
The one 1 withdrawal per year was a joke (hense the ;) ) You shouldn't worry about the solvency of the institution as long as the account is FDIC insured and you have < $100K in there.