I am a self confessed bank rate chaser. What that means is that if there is a higher rate at another bank for my savings account, I will switch all my deposits to the new bank. All that within reason though, I am not going to switch because one bank’s APY is 0.1% higher… my cutoff is around 1%.

Most of the time I do not close my old accounts in case the rate goes back up there. However I have found that usually when it goes down a significant amount, it never comes back up. So in the interest of simplicity I have decided its time to go through my checking and savings accounts and weed some of them down.

Accounts I’m Keeping

• Charles Schwab Investor Checking (1.00% APY) – While the rate has plummeted since I first opened this account last year I am using it as our main checking account. It would be a huge headache to switch this one over to a different bank. Plus it has some pretty decent perks which keep me around – ATM rebates, free checks, free prepaid envelopes for deposits, and a pretty good website.

• Dollar Savings Direct (3.5% APY) – This one has also dropped a bit since I opened it, but remains one of the higher savings accounts out there. It will remain my main savings account.

• HSBC Free Checking / Online Savings (0% / 2.45% APY) – I like to have a local bank just for certain situations. Since Schwab doesn’t have a local branch I will keep HSBC around as a backup.

Accounts To Close

• Countrywide Bank SavingsLink (1.65% APY) – This was my latest main savings account, but the rate dropped like a rock when the credit crisis started. I don’t see this going back up anytime soon.

• Emigrant Direct (2.40% APY) – This is one I had quite some time ago. The rate has not been competitive in years so I think its time to abandon ship.
• KeyBank Express Checking (0% APY) – This is another account I haven’t used in years. I no longer have any checks from here, just haven’t gotten around to closing it out.

Debating

• ING Direct Orange Savings (2.20%) – This is another account that has not been competitive in quite a long time. However they have a great website, and also a pretty good referral program I may use at some point.

My goal is to have these accounts closed out by the end of the month.

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