I recently had a chance to look at EverBank and in particular their Yield Pledge Money Market account. As far as I can tell, it’s one of the best out there. To give you a little background first, EverBank has a long standing history as one of the nation’s most prominent privately held mortgage companies. However, they have evolved into a family of companies now offering innovative banking, lending, and investment products and services. They are based in Jacksonville, Florida. They really pride themselves on innovative approaches to banking. They currently have a little over 500,000 customers.
The Yield Pledge
Building on that innovative approach is the Yield Pledge Money Market Account. This is truly innovative because very rarely do you ever see any kind of “guarantees” when it comes to rates and returns on money market accounts. The markets have rarely been as volatile as they have been in the recent past, which makes this guarantee even a little more enticing.
The actual pledge is that they basically guarantee that your yield on this money market account will always be in the top 5% of competitive accounts of leading banks. This guarantee is based on the Bankrate.com National Index, which is a pretty reputable source.
The features of the account include a low $1,500 initial deposit, and include “no fee” online and mobile banking. You are allowed up to six withdrawals per month and the account is FDIC insured.
Performance
It states a third quarter (2009) net income of $15.7 million. This is a 197% increase over the third quarter of 2008. They also state a bank deposit growth of 26% during that same quarter to over $6 billion. The account is performing well and attracting a lot of customers.
The Rates
The rate that they offer on this Yield Pledge is for new customers only and equates to a 2.25% 3-month bonus rate which when combined with the current variable rate of 1.25% will give you a 1.51% first year APY on balances up to $50,000.
Keep in mind that the bonus rate applies to balances of up to $50K; after that, your money will earn the current variable rate of 1.25%.
The 1.51% figure is EverBank’s “blended” APY, which simplifies things for you by giving you an annualized figure. Basically, this blended figure is designed to help you understand what you can expect to earn, roughly, for the first year of your account. This blended rate will be the 1.51% rate discussed earlier.
Any balance in excess of $50,000 will earn in the range of 1.26%-1.51%.
Federal regulation limits the amount of withdrawals you can do in any particular month to 6. This includes transfers or withdrawals. After that, they are subject to a fee.
The Fees
Which brings me to my next subject—the wonderful world of fees. One of the more refreshing things about this site is that nowhere, at least regarding this offer for their money market account, did they make any claim to being “fee free.” Nor did they mention the latest tricky catchphrase of the banking industry: “no monthly fees.” If you’ve read any of my other reviews, you’ll know this is very rare.
The EvreBank Pledge does come with a fee if you go over the federally regulated limit of 6 transfers or withdrawls in any one month. It is $10 per transaction. And honestly, I cannot fault the bank for imposing this fee as the limit is federally mandated.
They also will impose an $8.95 fee in any month in which your average balance falls below $5,000.
As I said, the site does not make any misleading claims to the existence of fees for the account. However, they do make them a little hard to find. Normally, when reviewing a site, they have a table at the bottom usually titled “Fees” or “Terms & Conditions” or “Disclosures.” The fee schedule is normally easily available. On this site, I found no such tab. I actually had to go through the application process to get their schedule of fees. It is here where I found the amount of $10 for their fee of going over the limit on monthly transactions.
Also, if you were going to open this money market account and also use it as a bill-paying source or potentially consider other accounts, make sure to look at EverBank’s schedule of fees.
Overall, the money market account looks like it is a pretty good option that offers a pretty high rate and provides exactly what most people need in a money market account.
The Reviews
As far as any reviews out there on the money market account itself, they were difficult to find. However, reviews on EverBank itself were plenty. I think its worth going into these a little because if you decided to open the money market account then of course you would be dealing with the bank itself as well.
The results were fairly positive with some negative ones mixed in as usual. The consensus opinion is that EverBank offers great rates and services. At the same time, some users were unhappy with their customer service and the quality of the service. Keep in mind that many of the comments I looked into were fairly outdated, so it’s possible EverBank has made strides in its cusomter service since then.
My Take
Overall, I think taking a closer look at their Yield Pledge Money Market Account may not be a bad idea. Look, the interest that you will earn opening a money market account anywhere is certainly not going to break the bank for you, and I firmly believe that the rates they offer are in the top 5% nationally. If you are looking for a higher yield for your money, there are certainly other places you could go. But in the way of money markets accounts, which do offer a higher level of convenience and flexibility, I would certainly consider EverBank. I think it’s a great teaser rate and I would certainly consider taking full advantage of that three month introductory rate. Their application process takes a few minutes at most; however, I would recommend at least taking a quick look at the site, reading about all the services, fees, and other qualities regarding the money market account. I rarely like to actually apply for anything without having done some personal research first (even though I’ve done my best here to do the legwork for you). I would do the same here. To conclude, I think the EverBank Yield Pledge Money Market Account has some pretty unique features that would not disappoint you and it’s definitely worth signing up for.
Have any of our readers had any experience at all with EverBank? Feel free to share below.
