New Banking Site Mixes High Yield Savings with Social Networking
March 10, 2008
This week marks the launch of Smartypig an online savings account program which uses West Bank for maintaining deposits and the Smartypig.com social network site to allow friends and family to contribute to either public or private savings goals of accountholders. The annual percentage yield on the Smartypig savings account is currently 4.30% with no fees except a $4.95 processing fee for contributing to someone else's savings goal. There is a minimum $25 deposit to start and a maximum $10,000 deposit limit for any 24-hour period. After a savings goal is reached funds can be withdrawn by check ($25 fee), via gift cards from participating retailers, or through a Smartypig Mastercard Debit card.
West Bank, the issuing bank for the savings accounts, is FDIC-insured so the same banking and FDIC rules and regulations apply for the Smartypig account as would any other bank savings account. The 4.30 APY is very high on the list of best savings rates posted at money-rates.com. although depositors can certainly expect the yield to drop if the Federal Reserve continues to lower rates as expected.
As far as security the Smartypig website makes this comment,
"SmartyPig.com is tested and certified daily to pass the HACKER SAFE® Security Scan. HACKER SAFE® is the world’s leading provider of website security services and probes SmartyPig.com daily for known vulnerabilities. SmartyPig.com utilizes the most trusted and secure option for SSL, VeriSign® True 128-bit Extended Validation SSL. This provides the strongest encryption available. SmartyPig also undergoes regular financial and security audits."
The Savings Investor will post more detailed reporting of this savings program after a few months of operation.
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