A few weeks back now I wrote about how I had opened a high yield savings account with Capital One 360 savings because I really liked all of the budgeting features that the account had, it’s increased security and the fact that it had a competitive rate. I am using Capital One 360 as a budgeting account to save for short term savings goals like yearly insurance bills, saving up for our next car and vacation savings.
Beyond saving for short term savings goals, I also want to find a bank for our 8 month emergency fund where the money will grow at a decent rate of interest, maybe slightly higher than what ING is currently offering. EverBank kept coming up as a decent option, as their rates were consistently among the highest that I could find.
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EverBank Background And History
EverBank is a Jacksonville, Florida based company that has roots that stretch all the way back to 1962. The company’s current incarnation was put together in 1994 when an investor group acquired the Alliance Mortgage Company, and became a significant mortgage originator and servicer. After forming the First Alliance Bank and then shortly thereafter acquiring the Marine National Bank, in January of 2000 EverBank was founded as a national direct-to-consumer bank. Read more about EverBank on Wikipedia.
Is Putting My Money With EverBank Safe?
One of the first things you should ask when signing up with a bank is, “Will my money be safe if I bank with this company?”. With EverBank your money will be safe and sound because the bank is FDIC insured, and has been since October 1st, 1998. If you deposit your money and the bank goes under, you’ll be fine – as long as you don’t have more deposited than the FDIC insurance will cover. Currently that amount is $250,000 per depositor.
Features Of An EverBank Yield Pledge Money Market Account
So what are the features of an EverBank account, and why would I want to sign up with them?
- 1.25% rate to start for 6 months,
- High yield 1.01% after introductory period. (One of the highest rates available, in the top 5%)
- FDIC Insurance up to $250,000
- The Ability to Write Checks (3 a month)
- 24/7 phone support plus mobile banking
As you can see the accounts have a lot of features that most other banks have in addition to having a higher rate and a few features (like checks) that others don’t.
Fees And Limits On An Everbank Account
Here are the fees and limits you can expect to see on an Everbank account.
- Minimum opening balance: $1500
- Monthly fee for balances under $5000: $8.95
- Monthly fee for balances over $5000: free
- Withdrawals and transfers: 6/month
- Online banking: free
Other Account Options With EverBank
In addition to their offerings in the high yield savings sphere, they also have competitive offerings with their high rates in their high yield checking accounts, CDs and self directed IRAs.
Opening An Account’
Opening an account with EverBank should be a pretty simple process. On their site they say it is a 5 step process.
- Step 1 Choose your account
- Step 2 Tell us about yourself – Provide your personal information and confirm your identity
- Step 3 Customize your account – Select the options you prefer and your opening balance
- Step 4 Review and accept disclosures
- Step 5 Finalize your application – Print application, sign signature card and mail them with any other required forms
Conclusion
At the time that I wrote this, EverBank offers some of the highest interest rates in the country and all of their accounts are FDIC insured (to find current updated rates, go here). Add to that their other solid account options, solid security and 24/7 customer service and you have a solid bank offering. If you’re looking for a good high yield savings account where you can put your money, I think EverBank should be near the top of your list. It’s definitely on the top of my list as I continue my search.
Do you have an account with Everbank? If so, let us know your thoughts on their accounts, their customer service, or anything else related to their accounts and offerings.
Chuck Butler from Everbank writes a daily column on Casey Research called the Daily Pfennig. He’s stinking brilliant!
Peter your post has made me think I need to look into opening an account with them. If the people running Everbank are that smart our money will be well cared for there.
I would like information on your gold deposit accounts and how to get them in Everbank, or any information you can give me.Thank you. Edward Jung
We’ve banked with Everbank since 2006. Everything works flawlessly. We didn’t choose them primarily for their products but rather for their philosophy and management style. We recognized problems in the banking industry at the time we switched and felt Everbank would weather the storm. Return OF principal was far more important to us than return ON principal, but in this case it was a win on both counts. In this day and age, trust is becoming more and more of a consideration as FDIC insurance does not have enough wherewithal to backstop the entire banking industry without destroying the dollar and Everbank’s product offerings of precious metals and alternative currencies reflects this most critical understanding of the systemic banking risk we face. Everbank is the best!
Thanks for the review Peter. It’s hard to pass up a generous 3-month and first year bonus promo. Appears to be a nice spot for an emergency fund of $5000 or more. Even without the promo, the APY is better than most. ING Direct continues to be my first choice for checking and short term savings. I opened a Money Market Acct with Everbank last week – I’ll share my thoughts about Everbank in the future.
Everbank may be good for an pretty well established Emergency Fund. However, lets unpack interest rate and quantify the difference. Between Everbank and CapitalOne360. 1.25% vs 0.75% for 6 months. (0.50% difference for 6 months). Then 1.01% vs. 0.75% difference (0.26% difference). So over a year, that’s really an average of 0.38% difference.
On $5k = $19 a year
On $10k = $38 a year.
On $15k = $57 a year.
On $20k = $72 a year.
This is all taxable income. Uncle Sam is going to get his share too. Ok $72 taxable income is better than a sharp stick in the eye. But what’s the hassle factor worth? Is it worth the risk of you may actually need the emergency fund. Go below $5k and what the big print giveth, the fine print taketh away.
If you want checks for a savings acct, Ally is hard to beat. No fees. No gotchas. 0.90% APY (which beats CapitalOne360), free checks (which CapitalOne360 doesn’t offer) and a dedicated debit card for the EF (which CapitalOne360 doesn’t offer either). I opened an Ally acct last month from one of your links. I need to write up a review some time.
My two cents: find an online bank you like and stick with it. I read enough good reviews of Everbank, that I they merit a review and post. Interest rate is over rated. It really doesn’t really play a significant role in the big picture. You’ll come out much further ahead if you find the bank that helps you with the behavioral factors (that’s the big dog you must tame). If you enjoy all the funds at the same bank, roll with the one you like best. If seeing an Emergency Fund along side your budgeting and checking account is tempting you to declare an emergency because the latest iGadget was released, who cares what the interest rate is, you’ll be better off hiding your EF from yourself and sticking the cash out of sight at another eBank.
Just to clarify for you, this post is featured on the homepage but the review was written a couple of years ago when there was more of a difference in the rates. I’m planning on writing an updated review, but this one has been updated in the meantime.
At that time I wrote this post switching from one of my old accounts would have meant hundreds more in interest, not 60 or 70 dollars. With bigger numbers like that it made more sense. I did update the rates on this post though in the past few days, and also did a search and replace on the name ING Direct for a lot of posts, and must have changed it on this one. For clarity’s sake when i wrote the post it was referring to ING Direct – which is now Capital One 360.
I still think from everything I hear about EverBank that they’re probably a good choice for most folks if they’re looking for a good online bank. Rate chasing these days doesn’t make a ton of sense, but finding a good bank with good service and features probably does.
I just want to make sure everyone understands that the interest rate drops to 0.76% after six months, not 1.01%.
The 1.01% is a “blended” APY for the covering the entire first year, including the promotional rate. 6 months of 1.25% followed by 6 months at the ongoing rate of 0.76% averages out to 1.005% for the year, which rounds to 1.01%.
They are not necessarily trying to be deceptive. Banks are required by law to give the APY for the entire first year period in order to help facilitate an apple to apple comparison between accounts. This is explained in disclosure 1 at the bottom of EverBank’s website.