Review of the Honeyfi Budget App
Review of Clarity Money
Major Metro Areas Are Losing Bank Branches
Fed Meeting: Another Rate Cut - Review of Impact to Savers
GE Capital Bank’s Online Savings Account Joins the 1% Club
GE Capital Bank increased the rate of its Online Savings Account. The APY went up by 10 basis points to 1.05%. GE Capital Bank is now tied with MySavingsDirect and Quorum Federal Credit Union for the highest nationally available online savings account rate without a minimum balance requirement.
It’s nice to see another internet savings account join the 1% club. This "club" has been slowly growing this year. Hopefully, we’ll see this club growing much faster in 2015, and hopefully, at some point in the not-so-distant future we’ll be talking about the 2% club.
GE Capital Bank has kept its Online Savings Account competitive since I first reported on it in June 2013. At that time the rate was 0.90%. The last rate increase was in July 2014 when the rate increased to 0.95%.
There is no minimum deposit or balance requirements. The 1.05% APY applies to all balances up to the maximum deposit amount of $1 million.
Last July I reviewed the savings account features. One thing I like about this savings account is that it has reasonable ACH bank-to-bank transfer limits that are clearly listed on the bank’s website ($125K per outgoing transfer which may be increased by request.) You can also request wire transfers. According to GE Capital’s FAQs "both inbound and outbound wire transfers are free."
One downside with GE Capital Bank’s electronic transfer service is a hold time that’s a little lengthy. According to the bank’s FAQs:
Funds from electronic deposits that you have initiated through us will generally be available for withdrawal on the sixth business day after the deposit is initiated. Funds from electronic deposits to your Account that you initiated through a bank or institution other than us will generally be available for withdrawal on the day we receive the deposit.
GE Capital Bank allows you to name up to six beneficiaries to an account. Beneficiaries can be added or removed through the bank’s online banking interface or by calling customer service. Only individuals can be named as beneficiaries. Currently, the bank does not allow trust accounts or custodial accounts.
GE Capital Bank CDs
GE Capital Bank also raised the rates of some of its CDs. Its 2-year, 3-year and 4-year CD rates increased by 10 basis points. Please refer to our GE Capital Bank CD rates page to view the latest rates.
The online savings account can come in handy if you’re interested in GE Capital Bank’s CDs. The CDs have competitive rates, low minimum deposit requirements and several nice features.
Bank Overview
Don’t confuse GE Capital Bank with the old GE Capital Retail Bank. The latter recently changed its name to Synchrony Bank so that should eliminate the confusion. GE Capital Bank was established with FDIC insurance in 1993 (FDIC Certificate # 33778). In 2012 the bank changed its name from GE Capital Financial Inc. to GE Capital Bank. According to GE Capital Bank’s About page, they are a "Utah state-chartered industrial bank owned by General Electric Capital Corporation" and they "act as a multi-product commercial finance bank, and use deposit accounts to fund [their] commercial loans and leases."
GE Capital Bank is sizable with almost $20 billion in assets. It has a health grade of an "A+" at DepositAccounts.com with a Texas ratio of 1.07% (excellent) based on September 30, 2014 data. Please refer to our financial overview of GE Capital Bank for more details. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1993 (FDIC Certificate # 33778).
"Many non-banks — from insurers and asset managers to industrial conglomerates — have been rubbing their hands in recent years, relishing the opportunity to steal business from more tightly regulated banks. This “shadow banking” market has been growing fast, just as banks themselves have been getting smaller."
"But the blunt truth is that GE Capital is so big — with a $500 billion balance sheet and a stubborn reliance on unfashionable capital market funding — that like the banks it competes with, it too has fallen foul of tough post-crisis regulation."
"But, there is a broader message in all this for the “non-bank” financial sector — particularly over the issue of what constitutes a systemically important institution that attracts potentially suffocating regulation. Challenge the banks and steal their lunch, by all means, but get too big and too banklike and it may all end in tears."