How I chose my new bank: for siobhra, <user site="livejournal.c

[sabrinamari]

1. First, I searched for possible money market accounts by '100 Highest Yields' instead of by state. This is tricky, because it requires you to click on a small, hard-to find link that says only 'MMA'. The link brought me to this list:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/mmmf_highratehome.asp?params=US,416&product=33

Scanning the options, I looked at Zions Bank first, because although they require a $2500 deposit to start, they do offer check writing.

2. Then I checked their ratings using the "Safe and Sound' system, which revealed a middle-of-the-road rating of 3 stars accompanied by a CAEL rating of 3---just OK, not great.

3. So I went back to the original list and decided to look at OnBank, which offered the highest rate and most of the features I want. I plugged it into 'Safe and Sound' but did not find it on their list.

Puzzled, I went back to OnBank's home page via the link in the original list of money market accounts and looked around carefully.

(You can find their home page here: https://www.onbank.com/prod_mm.asp?q=BRMM01)

Sure enough, acroos the top bar I saw an "About OnBank" link. Clicking it, I found a paragraph stating that "OnBank is a division of M&T Bank, N.A., headquartered in Western N.Y.".

(You can see this sentence and a little more context here: https://www.onbank.com/about.asp)

Going back to the "Safe and Sound" system, I looked up 'M&T Bank'. Sure enough, I found an M&T Bank of New York.

Bingo! It had a 4 star rating and a CAEL Rating of 2.

After talking to Michael, I've decided to open an account there.



Now, I know nothing about this bank's customer service. I can't give it any recommendation other than explaining how I found it and made the decision. Please apply your own due diligence and research this bank yourself if you're interested, looking at exactly what it offers, and carefully consider what's best for you.

I may decide this was a hasty move, or I might discover something I don't like about OnBank. But for the moment, it looks like a better option than the accounts it is replacing.

Applying for a new account there took me about 15 minutes, and I needed information from my driver's license, my social security number and the routing and checking account numbers across the bottom of a blank check from each of the accounts I'm using to fund my new MMA.

Feel free to keep looking, make another decision, or do nothing. I'll post here if I encounter a problem in using this new bank.