Bucks Blog: Those Incredible Shrinking Savings Account Rates

As far as savings accounts go, 2012 appears to be a continuation of last year’s Incredible Shrinking Rates.

“It is a bit of an Alice in Wonderland environment, where everything is getting smaller,” said Richard Barrington, senior financial analyst at MoneyRates.com, a banking Web site.

Rates were already anemic at the end of 2011, according to a quarterly report on the “best” savings rates from MoneyRates. (The list highlights banks that have consistently higher rates on savings accounts, rather than one-time promotions, and is based on average rates over the quarter.)

That analysis found just two banks — Sallie Mae and Discover, both online banks — that offered an average of 1 percent annual yield on their basic savings accounts in the fourth quarter. But a check of the two banks’ Web sites on Tuesday showed that only Sallie Mae is actually offering 1 percent now. (Discover’s rate is now 0.90 percent.)

The other online banks, which are typically able to offer better rates because they don’t have to maintain brick-and-mortar branches, have also dropped their rates since the end of last year.

Customers of ING Direct are particularly unhappy about the continued decline in that bank’s savings rate. On the bank’s Facebook page, an ING post observing that “Savings don’t hurt” prompted several responses like this one: “But interest rate cuts every month do.”

ING Direct is now offering 0.80 percent on its savings account — compared with an average of 0.899 in December, according to MoneyRates. That’s roughly on par with the current offering from Capital One, which has an agreement to buy ING Direct. (The deal is under review by federal banking regulators.) A spokeswoman for ING Direct said in an e-mail that the bank is offering competitive interest rates, given the current market, and that it continues to see people saving money.

Mr. Barrington of MoneyRates said that despite consumer skepticism of the ING Direct’s acquisition by Capital One, the rate change at ING Direct has to be seen in context of the overall low-interest rate environment. “You can’t look at any one bank in isolation,” he said. Even with interest rates at historic lows, he noted, “they manage to maintain a relatively competitive rate.”

And that’s how consumers have to think right now, he said. Even though rates over all are low, some banks are offering better rates than others. So you should shop around. As paltry as the “best” rates being offered may seem, they far outshine the overall average rate for the quarter of 0.217 percent, according to MoneyRates. “Interest rates may be lower,” he said, “but people have more information at their fingertips. So they should avail themselves of that.”

Have you seen the interest rate on your savings account drop? Are you thinking of moving your funds as a result?

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=449a7c22727a3c6e32fc6785edcd8540