People are wondering where and how to save their money. Lately one can forget about mutual funds that used to give a guaranteed interest on savings. I heard something about index stocks. But if you're wanting to go that way get ready to put at least 5000 away which is the same amount of money I'd like to put down on a condo in Montreal. Just as well move your funds away from my "trusted" bank which has been charging me for services and transfer them to to ING where there are no service charges and no charges for the number of transactions done a month. The interest is also better. Why isn't it that the other banks haven't woken up on this competition though? Another thing I like about the Ing site is that interest is tabulated and is easy to view.
Over the years banks have taken advantage of the then low 6 to 7 % interest of the sixties by creating an excuse that they needed to pay for their services! On the contrary, with the downsizing that has occurred via incorporating computerized systems and their amalgamating job functions like in other businesses, there shouldn't have been a reduction in interest with the excuse that the cost of labor is going up. And I don't need to be an account expert to say that! If you get mailings offering discounted cheque rates for your transfers, read the fine print! Otherwise rip up the "gift", you'll only get screwed with a few months of low interest and then wham, it'll go back to what it was. The banks know that people have short memories and will likely amalgamate their accounts by transferring to a lower interest Royal Visa for example only to forget that the offer for low interest is only temporary. I can say the same for lines of credit; if you really don't need it, don't go there either! In the beginning you are tempted because of the low pay bacfk interest rate but on the bottom of the page offering the service there is always the fine print saying the offer is subject to change without notice! And electronic payments screw people too, especially when paying visa bills, the payments do not go through in real time and you are still paying interest until the payment gets processed!!That might be the next business day or not. Transferring from one bank to another is another horror, people should be aware the receiving bank will not tabulate the transfer until the funds are "checked" and that could take a couple of business days. So unless you have to transfer, don't do it.
