Rate Chasing - What's Your Cash Doing for You?

What is your bank paying you for the privilege of holding your money? Well, if you're living in New York City, Washington Mutual is paying you a whopping APY of 0.15% on a savings account. That's 15 cents for every 100 dollars of deposits.

What can you do to make your dollars work harder for you? Check out the best rates at Bankrate.com. Not comfortable with depositing your money with some bank called BankUnited in the financial powerhouse city of Miami Lakes, Florida, 5.35% notwithstanding? You can always go with one of the big boys like Citibank E-Savings (currently 4.75% APY), ING Direct (currently 4.5% APY), or HSBC Direct (introductory 6% APY for new deposits through April 30, 5.05% APY thereafter).

Think it's too much of a pain to open up a new bank account? Maybe, but consider that your $10,000 sitting in the Washington Mutual savings account at 0.15% APY will have netted you $460 less in interest than if that same $10,000 had been parked in the Citi E-Savings account. I don't know what Mrs. Honcho would do with an extra $460 in her pocket, but I'd have my eyes on one of these.