Thanks again for your help.
I can’t really answer that since I ended up doing a wire but I use Ally as my ach hub and pretty much everywhere I’ve been able to pull using Ally’s limits vs the banks if done external.
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You know it’s funny what things will sometimes intimidate us no matter how wordly we think we are. I had never done a wire so I’d sometimes go to convoluted methods to get money from point A to Point B…A mild example is ally allowing $250K in but you can only send $150K out DAILY so it takes 1 day in and 2 days out…other banks are MUCH worse on outgoing ACH limits.
So a wire…a one page form you fax to your bank where you basically tell it To, From and amount…and if you do it early enough your money is there same day…and yet because I’d never done one I avoided them and hadn’t even looked at what all was involved till I was basically forced to use one to get money to a bank before an offer closed. The cost of a wire appears to be in the $20-$30 range. $250K @ 1.5% (achievable just about anywhere including ally which seems to be trailing everyone for some reason) will earn you a little over $10 a day in interest ($16 a day @ 2%) so if the ACH is going to take you more than 2 days you’ve pretty much already PAID for the wire in lost interest. In my goal to “save money” I ended up costing myself. I need to be less of a frugal chicken. 
Now if I can make myself stop grumbling about Ally pulling funds on Friday to deliver them Monday and lost days of interest the weekend would be brighter. 
I have wired funds here, there, and everywhere (but not internationally) for many years. But more recently a lot less. Couple of things:
Some financial institutions will not accept wire instructions by fax. Certain of them require you to appear in person to request a wire. Requirements and rules vary from one financial institution to the next. You must inquire.
I have found PurePoint’s no-cost instant interest feature to be every bit as good as a wire when collecting funds from another financial institution, and a whole lot easier and hassle free. PurePoint pays you interest on the funds before they even have arrived at PurePoint! Not that’s a sweet deal which is difficult to beat.
Hypothetically speaking how long would it take you to get money moved from external bank A to external bank B using Purepoint as the intermediary? This is what I do with Ally. I note that purepoint is paying 1.90% which is higher than the 1.85% no penalty cd I have @ Cit Bank but have been holding out for the “next great deal”. Is that “instant interest” for checking or savings? I have an ally checking strictly to avoid the 6 transaction limit of the savings. Thanks for the info!
Sure, no problem. But I’m not sure this would work for you. I think we have different goals. Regardless:
As price for their instant interest feature, PurePoint places a four business day hold on your funds. You have no access, and you cannot withdraw the funds during four days of unavailability. You do earn interest for those days, of course, at what presently is the 1.9% rate. I’m hoping that might elevate a bit after July first. With instant interest you literally have zero days of lost interest. Even with the funds still lying in the account from which they are being withdrawn, PurePoint is paying you interest. Does this mean double interest for at least one day? Yes it does.
Once the funds become available for withdrawal at PurePoint, and if I want to move them elsewhere, I generally do an ACH pull from Alliant. Again, this imposes zero days of lost interest. Once the funds are at Alliant I can overnight them, via ACH, anywhere I want. This DOES involve a day of lost interest since no interest is earned the day the funds leave Alliant.
How many external banks does Purepoint and Alliant allow you to have? I currently have 12 or 13 with Ally. I haven’t hit the limit YET but I think I’m right on the line.
Ten, I think, at PurePoint. But, again, I never push money out of PurePoint . . . only pull money in. I do not know PurePoint’s rules for ACH pushes, but I would guess there could be delays involved, days when you would earn no interest.
The number of allowed linked banks at Alliant is unlimited, as far as I know. I am currently approaching thirty.
I actually recently pushed money from Purepoint to Northern Bank. It did result in one day of double interest.
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Thank you for posting. Glad you did. I’m surprised. That is something I need to investigate pronto!! Had no clue. Thought they were like Ally.
Well let me say I’m assuming one day of double interest - funds still showed in Purepoint for one day while they also showed at Northern, however Northern shows 0% as my interest rate in online banking like others so time will tell how things will shake out on their end.
Understood. Yeah but that’s a Northern problem . . . one a bunch of us were discussing up thread. It’s not a PurePoint problem.
I had no clue PurePoint was offering overnight ACH transfers for outgoing money. I’ve always sort of leaned toward PurePoint anyway, regardless the slightly lower interest. This would be icing on the cake.
Got the same gift this month from Purepoint as well. A little more thoughtful than a postcard or email from the others that bother.
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Received the teas. It is a very nice looking gift. Will need to re-gift it, however. Am not a tea drinker.
In other liquid money news, nothing especially earth shaking:
On telephone with Northpointe today. Spoke with rep regarding the higher rate at Northern Bank. Strange situation. She suggested I apply for a rate match. Did so eagerly. Would not have thought, on my own, to do such a thing. Rep contacts me later saying my application had been denied. What the hen was that!
Contacted Northern Bank regarding statement cycle. Was told all of our statements will cycle at month’s end. That is not so long to wait to be able to view correct interest rate for our accounts. Can live with it. My first deposit will not arrive at Northern until tomorrow. So less than one week’s wait for me.
That’s all I have.
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I have another Navy CD that matures the early part of July. Looking at it, I see I only received 2.5% interest, I guess at the time that was pretty good.
I’ll be looking for a placement for these funds. I have an old CD add-on that pays 3%, so probably will move the funds there. Unless I go for Northern Bank as a holding spot.
I have been expecting a 4% short term to come along. Is there a chance? lol
Here is my Northern Bank data point:
Opened telling them I would send check, whereupon they provided me an account number. Account obviously had zero balance. Got to thinking to myself:
Self, I said, you have an account number and you have their ABA routing number. Why not ACH your opening deposit instead? Called bank. They had no problem with change. Trial deposits authenticated last Friday, not a good day to ACH funds. So:
ACHed funds yesterday (Monday) and they are in account this morning. All that was boring, I realize. Here was the surprise for me:
Funds are showing as being available for withdrawal. Maybe this will change, I dunno. But I thought there would be a five day hold. Anyway, if nothing changes am happy camper. Have no withdrawal plans anyway, unless an amazing CD comes along. And that certainly has not happened since Sharonview.
Yes, my experience is that if you push money in, it is available at NBD immediately.
If you initiate a pull from within NBD, there is a hold (and limited to $5k). But the interesting thing is that the money gets credited the same day (double interest for one day).
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Thanks. That is good to know and it’s good news to me.
Well, absent a hold see no reason not to jump into Northern with both feet. Course, again, have no withdrawal plans now. But you never know.
The only remaining wrinkle is their refusal accurately to portray interest rate until after close of cycle. But as I posted up thread, that issue will disappear Sunday or Monday, less than one week hence.
I honestly think it may be more of an ibanking platform issue than the bank not wanting to do it. I have other accounts that use the ibanking platform and have had similar issues the first month. I really wish all of these banks didn’t use ibanking and turn over all of our info to them - it’s very difficult to find information on ibanking’s ownership etc.