MyBankingDirect Raises Money Market Account APY to 4.30%

MyBankingDirect just raised its money market account from 4.10% to 4.30% APY. MyBankingDirect is an online division of New York Community Bank. It began online operations around June of last year. It received some attention by offering a $25 sign-up bonus along with yields that have been higher than those of EmigrantDirect. The signup bonus went away sometime around early October when MyBankingDirect raised the interest rate to 4.00% to match EmigrantDirect. Here's a summary of MyBankingDirect's rate history:

Date    MyBankingD  EmigrantDirect
Aug   :  3.75%       3.50%
Sep 20:              4.00%
Oct  7:  4.00%
Dec  1:  4.10%
Jan 26:              4.25%
Feb  2:  4.30%

Without the sign-up bonus, there's not much to like about MyBankingDirect over the other online banks. It has a high minimum deposit requirement of $5K. If balances fall below $5K, the yield falls to 2.50%. Balances under $1K result in a $10/month fee.

One positive of MyBankingDirect is that it offers an debit/ATM card and will refund up to 3 ATM surcharge fees per month (up to $6). Also, according to this fatwallet thread, you can initiate ACH transfers to and from unlimited number of accounts. However, there is a fee for this. It would be interesting to see how long the transfers take. If there's no delay when the money isn't earning interest, the fee may be better than HSBC's free bank-to-bank transfer system which has a 2-to-4 day delay.

Here are some of my previous posts on MyBankingDirect:

• MyBankingDirect's raised yield to 4.10%
• MyBankingDirect matches EmigrantDirect's 4.0%, Bonus goes away
• First investigation into MyBankingDirect and its $25 Bonus