Smarty pig anyone?

[Jmarie]

Hey fellow villagers.. in my attemps to find a better place to bank.. I happened to stumple on smartypig.. have any of you heard of it? Its an online savings account and the rate is 1.75.

Basically, an online savings account but you have the option of setting up a saving goal and when you plan to complete it and they calculate how much is needed to get there.

[lparker]

google it, you may be amazed.

[Jmarie]

google it, you may be amazed.

I did.. Just asking if anyone else heard anything about it...

[Lady_V]

You peeked my interest with the name... I thought SmartyPig would be some online money-teaching site for kids. After finding out it is an actual bank, I wanted to check it out.

I read a few reviews, good and bad. This one stuck out the most to me, and I think you may find it interesting (no pun intended) since it has to do with the Interest.

The SmartyPig service also has quite a few fee traps. Hey, they've got to make money somehow! You want to contribute $100 to your sister's wedding? They will charge you $5 every time you do it. How come you can add money to your SmartyPig account by electronic fund transfer but you can't pull your money back the same way when your goal is reached? Because they want to earn the interchange fees from the debit card. If it takes 1 year for a typical goal to be reached, they pay you 4% interest on an average of 50% of the ending balance (because money is added to the account over time), but they take back 2% interchange fee from the merchants when you use the debit card. That's smart business (for SmartyPig, not you)! They get to recoup their entire interest cost. What a deal. If you ever lose your debit card, they will charge you $20 for a replacement. Don't want the debit card but want a check instead? $25 fee for producing a check. Are the gift cards with up to 5% bonus such a big deal? You can buy gift cards today from eBay and a few other places at a discount which translates to a bigger bonus. How did SmartyPig become a roach motel where your money can check in but it's so hard to come out? What's wrong with just crediting back to the same checking account the money came from? I'm afraid it's because they don't make any money that way. Breakage from prepaid debit cards and gift cards is a big deal.

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[taxgal1040]

I used Smarty pig last year-just tried to consolidate my accounts this year.

"The Pig" has one of the highest (if you can call it that) interest rates currently. You can set up goals, and put money in the account. Smarty pig will give you updates on how close you are to your goal.

When you reach your goal, you can withdraw the money. You will get extra "bonus" money if you put the money on a gift card. (sometimes up to 10% more). So it you want to save, for example, for Christmas gifts, and want to buy them at one of the Smarty Pig retailers, you can get a bonus amount.

If you discover you need the money before the goal is met, you can withdraw the money, without penalty. You just collect the interest earned to date.

[Jmarie]

I used Smarty pig last year-just tried to consolidate my accounts this year.

"The Pig" has one of the highest (if you can call it that) interest rates currently. You can set up goals, and put money in the account. Smarty pig will give you updates on how close you are to your goal.

When you reach your goal, you can withdraw the money. You will get extra "bonus" money if you put the money on a gift card. (sometimes up to 10% more). So it you want to save, for example, for Christmas gifts, and want to buy them at one of the Smarty Pig retailers, you can get a bonus amount.

If you discover you need the money before the goal is met, you can withdraw the money, without penalty. You just collect the interest earned to date.

This is what I plan on doing for our vacation fund and our personal money challenge.. to see if we can save 7K over the next year..