$50 Signup Bonus for E*Trade Bank's Money Market Account

In addition to the $50 signup bonus, E*Trade is offering 3.65% APY for the first 3 months. The 3.65% introductory rate is publicly being advertised from E*Trade's bank website. However, the $50 bonus is not. The bonus link is from this Fatwallet thread. Apparently, E*Trade is offering this deal by email to certain people. So like HSBC, I don't know if this is available to all. If you join using the link it seems likely you may get the bonus, but it may not be guaranteed. Here's the link to the bonus page.

This is a pretty good deal, but there are some catches. First, E*Trade's money market account doesn't have competitive rates. After the 3-month intro rate, the APY goes down to only 2.20% for balances under $50K. To get 3.0% requires balances over $50K. That's not even close to EmigrantDirect's savings account.

The required minimum deposit is only $100. However, to avoid a $10 monthy fee requires a $1K money market balance or $5K in combined E*Trade Bank deposits. This offer ends Novermber 15, 2005. For the official rules refer to the small print at the bottom of the bonus page. For details on the money market account, refer to their money market account details page.

I see two things that might make E*Trade's Money Market account worthwhile. First, E*Trade says it won't charge fees for withdrawing funds from any ATM, and it will refund fees charged by the ATM operators. So if you are a heavy user of ATMs, this might be worth it. Second, their CD rates are competitive. Their 6-month CD has an APY of 3.91% and their 1-year CD has an APY of 4.23% which is higher than ING Direct's one year CD. The CD minimum deposit requirement is a reasonable $1K.