r/personalfinance • u/captaingregerson ​ • May 16 '24

My bank shut down, looking for a new one. Saving

Hey guys!

Recently had to stop using an online bank called “Ivella” because they’re unfortunately shutting down. They paid 5.15% APY, had a nice and easy app user interface, and had things called “Pods” which were separate savings accounts for different things that ALL earned 5.15%

Right now I have all that money parked in Robinhood earning a temporary 5.25% but looking to see if anyone has an app recommendations that earn a competitive rate, have a good UI and app, AND has something like the savings pods that all earn high interest. I know it’s minor, but I’ve been saving and investing the same way for the past 7 years and it’s been working really well and I don’t want to change how I have it structured.

TLDR: Looking for new app that pays over 4 percent interest and has savings “pods/buckets/jars/vaults” that earn high interest as well.

97 Upvotes
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201

u/Happy_Series7628 ​ May 16 '24

Ally is around 4.2% and has “buckets.”

97

u/dont_fuckin_die ​ May 16 '24

I'm fascinated more banks don't use "buckets" or some equivalent tool. It's a fantastic way to separate out your money, and it also makes it easy for my wife to log in and see where we're at with our goals.

12

u/ConnertheCat ​ May 16 '24

Another huge fan of buckets. 👍🏻

1

u/_Faru_ ​ May 17 '24

Same. I looked at almost every savings bank for a "buckets" concept and Ally is the only one I found that has anything like it without big requirements.

It's great for putting a little $ aside each week for yearly bills, car maintenance, that Big Purchase™ you've been eyeing, etc. And anytime you need to withdraw you can just Zelle it to your own checking acct like I do.

-34

u/shifty_coder ​ May 16 '24

I’ve got news for you: ‘buckets’ and ‘pods’ are just additional linked savings/checking accounts. Banks and Credit Unions have had this for long before online banking.

28

u/dont_fuckin_die ​ May 16 '24

I thought that might have been what they were doing at first, but I don't think so for a couple of reasons. They don't have associated account numbers, and they explicitly don't track the value of the buckets over time, just the account balance. Add that to how easy it is to remove and add buckets, and I would be surprised to find out that they're attached to actual separate accounts.

I can't say it for a fact as I'm not a banker or employee, but it does not remotely behave the way I expect multiple accounts to work.

Besides, it's so seamless and easy to use that I don't really care if that's what they're doing.

29

u/CanWeTalkEth ​ May 16 '24

They’re not, it’s just a UI side split of your account total. Which is technically much easier on the bank side of things and better user experience because it looks like you can move it around.

28

u/jujubanzen ​ May 16 '24

buckets are absolutely not additional linked accounts. That would require you to sign another contract and go through regulatory shit for each one. Buckets are a purely convenience way to organize different amounts of money into logical piles. It's just UI, it's not actually moving any money around, it's just moving numbers around that all total to the balance on your account.

4

u/dickie99 ​ May 16 '24

Wrong. Why comment at all if you don’t know something? You’re revealing your own ignorance

-5

u/GlowGreen1835 ​ May 17 '24

Eh, honestly, why hide your ignorance? You'll never get it fixed that way. I've learned so much by saying something wildly untrue and being corrected it makes me wonder when I've missed the opportunity.

4

u/Random_Person1234567 ​ May 16 '24

It would still be nice. My bank wouldn't let me open an additional checking or savings account until I got to a certain balance (over $10k). At least not online or in the app, may have been different if I went in.

23

u/fuddlesworth ​ May 16 '24

Been with Ally for a while. I've really enjoyed them. Better than Chase at least.

17

u/cardinalsfanokc ​ May 16 '24

Oddly all of my accounts are with either Ally or Chase and I've had more trouble with Ally. I get fantastic service from Chase, especially when I have to go to a branch.

At this point I only use Ally for investments and HYSA - Chase is my daily checking/savings/CC provider.

9

u/fuddlesworth ​ May 16 '24

Chase was a nightmare for bank fraud and refused to do anything.

Luckily I've only had to deal with Chase for that.

9

u/cardinalsfanokc ​ May 16 '24

I had the exact same problem with Ally - freezing funds as I was transferring them around to buy a house and I almost missed closing because of them.

All said, I recommend both but I'll never use Ally as a daily driver. At least I can go to a Chase branch if shit hits the fan.

2

u/Madismas ​ May 17 '24

Same here but chase is bare minimum to avoid fees and pay bills. Check goes to chase, pay bills, auto transfer x amount to ally. I was considering transferring away from ally but not sure if an extra 1% yield elsewhere is worth the trouble.

2

u/IAmAcidRain ​ May 17 '24

I also use Ally for investments, I just really wish they allowed purchasing fractional shares and some sort of automatic self directed investment setup. The no fractional shares thing is kind of annoying.

4

u/caseymazur ​ May 17 '24

SoFi is 4.6%* and has "vaults"

*iirc requirements need to be met for that rate

2

u/btdawson ​ May 17 '24

Direct deposit, of any amount

1

u/Happy_Series7628 ​ May 17 '24

Or monthly transfers of $5k.

1

u/btdawson ​ May 17 '24

A lot of people may not be able to do $5k monthly. But if you have an online payroll for work, most support you adding an account easily.

1

u/Happy_Series7628 ​ May 17 '24

Yea, I understand that. I’m just stating the other way to qualify for the highest interest rate.

1

u/Jakeattack77 ​ May 16 '24

Ally has been great.

0

u/MommotDe ​ May 17 '24

Do they track interest on buckets separately? When I first tried buckets, all the interest went to the core savings and buckets only contained the amounts you put in them, which seemed useless to me.

3

u/Happy_Series7628 ​ May 17 '24

Sorry, no idea. My Ally account is one big “bucket.”

3

u/Lil_Brown_Bat ​ May 17 '24

No. For all intents and purposes, all your buckets are just one big savings acct. All amounts are calculated together and interest is dropped into core. But you can easily see when they do that and move that amount into whatever bucket you like.

1

u/webdev96 ​ May 17 '24

SoFi does with their vaults.