IGO Banking has been alive and kicking for a bit over a year now. They came into the game with a whopping 5.30% APY at a time when ING Direct was offering 4.50% APY, since then they’ve adjusted downward with falling interest rates, but have remained near the top of the range of interest rates offered by online savings accounts. Is it where you should put your money? We decided to review the savings account and find out.

IGO Banking is a division of Flushing Savings Bank which is located in New York. The institution was founded in 1929 and offers a number of financial services in addition to its online savings through IGO Banking. The IGO Banking division of Flushing Savings Bank was created in November of 2006, so it is one of the newer members, but not the newest, of the online savings world. Bankrate.com gives the website a four star rating, meaning that its financial stability and customer service is more than satisfactory.

IGO Banking’s high-yield savings account offers a number of features that makes it appear to be very desirable. Currently it is offering an interest rate of 3.28% APY, which is close to the top of the list in interest rates except when dealing with extremely large amounts of money.

The savings account from IGO Banking has no minimum balance, making it a desirable place to start saving money if you don’t have a lot to begin with. In addition the savings account has no fees, so you should not have to worry about any “gotchca’s.” In addition to an online application, there is an option to apply by mail.

The sign-up process istime consuming, because it makes use of the Cashedge financial management system. You have to fill out an application and give them standard personal information, and then wait a few business days for them to put two small deposits in your account. After you verify that information, they will mail you your login credentials, and then you can access your savings account. At this point, you still cannot deposit money into the savings account, because you have to verify your checking account again to transfer money from it. When compared to ING Direct, Emigrant Direct, and the other major online-savings banks, IGO Banking’s sign-up process is much more tedious and time consuming.

If you don’t mind the tedium of actually getting the account setup and going, IGO Banking is definitely worth considering. They have had a 2 year history of offering very decent interest rates and are a relatively healthy bank.

IGO Banking is also offering an online checking account with a 2.65% APY. They have a new promotion which will give you a $50.00 gas card for opening one of their online checking accounts, so you might check that out as well if you’re in the market for an eChecking account.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 10:16 am and is filed under reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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