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Opening Online Savings and CD accounts is Winning Strategy, but Am I Killing My Credit rating

Article Submitted by: JRodgers
Savings - Checking - CDs


I've recently stepped up my opening of online bank accounts, but now I am getting concerned that while the process makes sense to keep my savings growing, I may be killing my credit rating.

 

Submitted: Jan 10, 2009    Views: 321    Comments: 2    Likes: 1   


Some time ago, I opened online accounts with EverBank, HSBC and ING.  Since opening these accounts, I have purchased and sold real estate and gained loans without any problem.

Last summer, as rates began to fall, I opened CDs between 1 year and 18 months with IndyMac, Chase, Amtrust, Corus and ELoan, using BestCashCow.com as my guide.  I don't regret any of these moves as it enabled me to keep some of my cash growing through this difficult low interest rate period. (I am not sure that CDs make too much sense today as rates have come down).

Like many, I am now struggling to figure out what to do with all of the cash that I have lying around as a result of selling Treasuries and seeing my agency bonds be called.  My choice is clear - leave these monies in money market funds earning around 2% and likely to fall or move them into higher yielding online accounts (the risk being that the rate falls dramatically and quickly and that I am just wasting my time).  I recently opened accounts in the amount of $250,000 with the four leading savings rate accounts on BestCashCow.com (all earning between 4% and 3.5%).  I intend to close these accounts, or at least reduce the balances before December 31, 2009, unless FDIC insurance limits remain at $250,000 (I'll close them more quickly if the rates fall dramatically).   I figure that, if the rates do not fall (or fall by the same amount as money market funds) these four accounts will enable me to earn somewhere between an additional $15,000 and $20,000 on this $1 million that I would otherwise not make if I were to just keep my money in the money markey market funds. 

I've thought about continuing down the list and opening a couple of more savings accounts with some other banks in the 3 to 3.5% savings range, but suddenly I am starting to get nervous about what I do not understand.  It is the following - when credit rating agencies see this history of all of these banks pulling my credit information in a very short period of time, are they likely to get scared, and am I likely to find myself trying to explain the reason to some guy in India in vain when I next need a loan to buy a house?

Any thoughts or information on this would be helpful.


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Comments Received:

ktexas
ktexas

Sol wrote a useful article on this issue @
http://tinyurl.com/8wmnd6

I believe you only have to worry about banks that do a hard credit inquiry when you open an account, and I think many of the banks that you mentioned don't do hard pulls.

Posted: Jan 11, 2009

tightwad

You got a million bucks cash...You don't need to borrow money for a house. lol

Posted: Jan 11, 2009



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