If you’re looking for an online bank that offers interest rates far better than any brick and mortar bank plus a bunch of other customer-friendly features, I strongly recommend you consider opening a Capital One 360 savings account.
I’ve had a Capital One 360 account for over two years now (back then it was called an ING Direct Orange Savings Account, until the company was acquired by Capital One). Setting up and funding a new account is a piece of cake and I couldn’t be happier with their services so far.
Why I Love My Capital One 360 Savings Account
I don’t know what took me so long to open up an Capital One 360 online savings account. I had read dozens of posts from various personal finance bloggers recommending Capital 360 savings accounts and I certainly wasn’t happy with the pathetic interest rate I was earning from my brick and mortar bank. But laziness kept me from diving in and opening up an online savings account. And that laziness cost me hundreds of dollars in interest!
So I finally decided to take the plunge and open up a high yield savings account online and I haven’t looked back since. Something tells me this is going to be a long-term relationship. Here are just a few of the reasons I have fallen so hard for Capital One 360…
1. Some of the best interest rates on savings you’ll find anywhere. With interest rates at historic lows you can’t expect to make a killing with a simple savings account. My brick and mortar bank was only paying a measly 0.05% (they really forced themselves!) but my Capital One 360 rate is much higher than that! In fact, it is about 15 times higher interest earnings than most traditional banks are offering!
2. Sub-accounts make saving for different purposes a breeze. I don’t know about you but I find it a lot easier to save money when I have a specific goal to focus on. I also like to keep my savings in different “buckets” so my emergency fund doesn’t get mixed in with my vacation fund. Capital One 360 makes this super-easy. Once you set up your initial account you can quickly set up as many sub-accounts as you need to help you save for specific purposes. Plus you can give each sub-account a nickname to keep them organized and separate.
We have multiple Capital 360 savings accounts that we use for our emergency fund, vacation fund, property tax fund and income tax fund (since more of my income is coming online these days and that isn’t taxed like an employer-issued paycheck is). I love being able to log in and instantly see a breakdown of our various accounts and balances.
3. You can set up accounts for your kids too. In addition to the various sub-accounts I have set up to save for specific purposes, I also created separate accounts for my three children. It’s never to early to start teaching kids about money.
All the money they’ve received over the years for birthdays, holidays, etc. is now earning some actual interest. We also use their online accounts to pay their allowance. They receive half their allowance in cash to use as they see fit while the other half is deposited into their kids savings account. It’s a great opportunity to show them how their balance grows both with new deposits and the power of compound interest.
4. Automatic transfers make saving money easy. I’m a big believer in paying yourself first, because if you wait until after you pay all your bills to put money in savings…what do you do if there is nothing left to save? Capital One 360 allows you to set up automatic transfers into your savings accounts so you can pay yourself first before the money even has a chance to be spent.
5. Integration with Sharebuilder. Putting aside money in high yield savings accounts is obviously a great way to secure our future. But we’re looking to take the next step and start building some serious wealth building too. Capital One also owns Sharebuilder, an online broker that allows you to invest in stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. Their automatic investing program lets me buy stocks dirt cheap, and the money comes out of my account automatically each month so I can be sure I’m paying myself first again. Plus they allow you to buy fractional shares and reinvest dividends automatically.
Capital One 360 isn’t the only online bank that offers superior interest rates, but so far I’ve been really happy with them. My Capital 360 savings and investment accounts to continue to grow and I recommend them to all my friends who are looking for a way to get more bang for their buck.