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Fake Money: How to Spot It and Report ItGMAC Bank Raises Online Savings Account Yield to 3.75%
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ON BY Ken Tumin
Update 3/27/08: The yield has fallen to 2.25% APY
GMAC Bank increased the yield on its new Online Savings Account today from 3.55% to 3.75% APY. With the big Fed rate cut on Wednesday, it's a pleasant surprise to see this rate hike.
GMAC Bank first launched this OSA last month. It has the same features as the Money Market Savings Account except the OSA has no check writing and no debit card. The advantage over the MMSA is a higher yield. The MMSA yield remains at 3.00% APY.
I reviewed the OSA in this September post, and I included my experience opening this account. At that time it was only for existing customers. Now the OSA application is available at GMAC's website, and anyone can apply.
For more details about GMAC's OSA, please refer to GMAC's OSA page or my account review.
I've been very happy with my GMAC MMS account. With the addition of the OSA, I now have higher yields, and I still retain the option of check writing and debit card usage with the MMSA. Both the OSA and the MMSA use the same ACH transfer system which is my favorite service among all online banks. Some of its key features include:
GMAC Bank's parent, GMAC LLC, continues to have problems especially with its home lending unit, Residential Capital (ResCap). This Bloomberg article describes the problems and how they need to be included in the Treasury's bailout program.
I'm not sure how this will directly affect GMAC Bank. There was some concern early in the year that GMAC may be forced to divest GMAC Bank or to terminate the FDIC status. As this MarketWatch article describes, this issue was resolved in July when the FDIC granted GMAC a 10-year waiver.
GMAC Bank's financial ratings for soundness have gone down a bit, but they remain decent: 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com and 3.5 stars (good) at BauerFinancial. Both are based on 6/30/08 data.
Rate History:
03/27/08: 2.25% APY
12/26/08: 3.25% APY
10/24/08: 3.75% APY
10/17/08: 3.60% APY
GMAC Bank increased the yield on its new Online Savings Account today from 3.55% to 3.75% APY. With the big Fed rate cut on Wednesday, it's a pleasant surprise to see this rate hike.
GMAC Bank first launched this OSA last month. It has the same features as the Money Market Savings Account except the OSA has no check writing and no debit card. The advantage over the MMSA is a higher yield. The MMSA yield remains at 3.00% APY.
I reviewed the OSA in this September post, and I included my experience opening this account. At that time it was only for existing customers. Now the OSA application is available at GMAC's website, and anyone can apply.
For more details about GMAC's OSA, please refer to GMAC's OSA page or my account review.
I've been very happy with my GMAC MMS account. With the addition of the OSA, I now have higher yields, and I still retain the option of check writing and debit card usage with the MMSA. Both the OSA and the MMSA use the same ACH transfer system which is my favorite service among all online banks. Some of its key features include:
- Fast ACH transfers
- short hold times
- Links to external accounts can be done online. Trial deposit method used for account verification
- No apparent limit on the number of external account links
GMAC Bank's parent, GMAC LLC, continues to have problems especially with its home lending unit, Residential Capital (ResCap). This Bloomberg article describes the problems and how they need to be included in the Treasury's bailout program.
I'm not sure how this will directly affect GMAC Bank. There was some concern early in the year that GMAC may be forced to divest GMAC Bank or to terminate the FDIC status. As this MarketWatch article describes, this issue was resolved in July when the FDIC granted GMAC a 10-year waiver.
GMAC Bank's financial ratings for soundness have gone down a bit, but they remain decent: 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com and 3.5 stars (good) at BauerFinancial. Both are based on 6/30/08 data.
Rate History:
03/27/08: 2.25% APY
12/26/08: 3.25% APY
10/24/08: 3.75% APY
10/17/08: 3.60% APY
