Alternatives to ING Direct / Capital One 360

Alternatives to ING Direct / Capital One 360

I have a confession to make. I love to save money. However, saving money only became fun when I learned how to put my money hard at work for me. Unfortunately, millions of Americans only know how to put their money hard at work for the bank when “saving” money. Today, over 10 trillion dollars ($10,000,000,000,000) is sitting idle within banks and money markets. I call this lazy money.

I thought it was time to uncover some great alternatives to giving your money to big banks and credit card companies like Capital One (360). Here are a few alternatives you may want to consider:

Credit Unions
As you may already know, credit unions are not-for-profit, and just like banks, they are fully backed by the full faith and credit of the US Government. You become an owner/member when depositing your money, and because credit unions offer lower rates when borrowing, and pay higher rates when saving, this is a great place to do your short-term banking with little or no fees. Personally, I earn 2% interest on my eChecking account at the Burbank City Credit Union. Here is the link:https://www.burbankcity.org/checking.aspx
If you are a member of a credit union and are not getting a good interest rate on your checking account, forward this post to your local credit union and see if they can increase their rates to their members. If my credit union can do it, so can yours. You may have to set up direct deposit and auto-pay some bills but it is worth jumping through a few hoops to get more of your money working for you.

Pay off debt:
Many times the best way to get your savings working hard for you is to pay off debt. I sit with American families every week that have thousands of dollars in savings and CD’s earning less than 0.5%, yet they carry thousands of dollars in credit card debt at 16%, or more. Liquidating CD’s and savings to pay off high interest credit card debt is a great way to stop the bleeding and free-up cash flow. It is important to know that lending your savings to a bank, while they convince you of the advantages of borrowing it back at a higher rate is just one of the many scams of your bank. See the top 10 banks scams for more info.

www.lendingclub.com

You may never need a brick-and-mortar bank again if you understand all the ways to save, borrow and invest without using traditional banks. With Lending Club you can borrow from other savers, and potentially reduce interest costs, and lend to other borrowers to earn a higher rate of return. Although there are risks when using “peer lending,” you should do your own research and decide if the rewards are greater than the risks. The alternative of losing all the purchasing power of your savings due to inflation is a big risk on it’s own–especially since the government does not include food and energy when reporting the inflation rate to the American public.

www.Kasasa.com
Kasasa is a way you could earn up to 4% return on your checking account at your local bank or credit union. Because credit unions don’t have shareholders and don’t pay taxes, many are finding ways to pay far higher returns to their members than any bank. Unfortunately, Kasasa is not available everywhere and the closest location to me was over 300 miles away from my home. Click here to find if a credit union near you has the Kasasa saving option. Watch the attached short video below for more useful information:

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