Opening an Online Money Market Account

Any recommendations?

[Jane_Doe]

There seems to be a glut of places offering relatively high rates for money market accounts opened online - Ing, Paypal, Citibank's E-savings, etc.

Does anyone have a favorite?

[lawman]

My local bank has good money market accounts so I don't do online. My brother likes emigrant direct.

[gopi]

ING is good, but i prefer money market funds (ex: Fidelity Cash Reserves or Fidelity Government Money Market Fund) than money market bank accounts.

MM Funds offer the same liquidity/safety but their yields are better than a traditional money market bank account and especially helpful if you are thinking to stash more than 100k (the limit for FDIC insurance)

[walkman]

Jane,
why a Money Market fund? Safety? Plenty of relatively safe mutual funds can provide double the return.

[LifeinAsia]

Cost and ease of getting money are 2 major reasons to go the MM route instead of mutual funds. A MM account is basically a glorified savings account with higher interest. You put money in, you take money out. With online banking, there is usually a day or 2 delay as the money is sent to al alternative account, but the transfers are generally free.

With mutual funds, you usually have to pay fees to put money in or take it out. Many brokerages also pay for wire fees or only sned money by checks (so you have to pay a FedEx fee for faster delivery).

We've been using ING for about a year- they have a good referal program for bringing in new accounts for friends & family. No problems so far getting money out- usually in the bank in 1-2 business days.

[Jane_Doe]

Plenty of relatively safe mutual funds can provide double the return.

I actually usually don't keep much cash around, but this year we are fixing up our house and have a lot of major home repair projects. So I need some place to set aside the cash, where I won't lose any principal, so I can pay the contractors as the bills become due.

[Essex_boy]

I place mine with my stockbroker they have a holding account that pays MM rates.

[skibum]

I use E*Trade - best CD rates in the country but their MM isn't quite what ING and the other high yield savings accounts are.