fnbo direct | Online Savings Blog

HSBC Direct Drops Online Savings Account to 3.25% APY
09.16.08 | Online Savings Accounts | 2 Comments | by junger

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After a summertime promotion, HSBC Direct is lowering its online savings account APY to 3.25% APY.

The account had offered a 3.50% APY, originally launched in June but extended until 9/15 about half-way through the promo.

While I'm a fan of HSBC and use it to hold our housing fund, dropping back to 3.25% puts it further out of the top-rate leaderboard, with DollarSavingsDirect (3.75% APY), FNBO Direct (3.50% APY) and WT Direct (3.26% APY) leading the way.
FNBO Announces 'Pay Yourself First' Semi-Finalists
09.10.08 | Online Savings Accounts | 0 Comments | by junger

FNBO Direct has selected the semi-finalists for its Pay Yourself First YouTube contest.

The bank says it has chosen 20 people from the 150 videos submitted into the contest. Each of the 20 received $500 in cash, while five finalists will have their savings matched up to $5,000.

“Interest in the Challenge from across the country has been phenomenal and we’re impressed by the wide variety of clever and creative videos we received,” said Rajive Johri, President, First National Bank of Omaha. “FNBO Direct obviously tapped in to something that’s very important to Americans. Selecting the five finalists and the eventual grand prize winner will be difficult,” said Johri.

FNBO says that the savings challenge will be "documented in real-time," with the grand prize winner receiving an all-expenses paid spa vacation.

It doesn't look like the names/videos of the semi-finalists are public yet, but FNBO says the finalists will be announced in October.
FNBO Launches Pay Yourself First YouTube Contest
05.06.08 | Online Finances | 1 Comment | by junger

FNBO, which has made itself pretty well known among online bankers, is launching an online video contest: the Pay Yourself First Challenge.

FNBO Direct wants to hear about your savings obstacles. Have you been struggling to save for college tuition or a wedding, pay off medical bills, go on the vacation of a lifetime or just get out of debt? Whatever the reason, we want to hear about it. Make us laugh. Make us cry. Make us say, "Wow! This person really needs to learn how to Pay Yourself First!"

To enter the contest, you have to shoot a 10- to 60-second video on your savings challenges and upload it to FNBO's YouTube channel.

The winner, as judged by FNBO, receives a "Restore Your Balance" vacation — a trip to a resort and spa (or cash in place of the voucher).

What are the judges looking for?

According to the official rules …

* Saved the most money during the challenge – based on percentage increase, rather than dollar amount saved (50%)
* Ranking by financial experts based on challenger's saving skill level: tactics for saving, ability to meet saving goal, and sharing saving challenges and solutions with PYF community (20%)
* Vote by American public via poll on www.PYFChallenge.com that judges the challengers' saving skill level: tactics for saving, ability to meet saving goal, and sharing saving challenges and solutions with PYF community (20%)
* Adherence to contest requirements, including active participation in the challenge activities such as blogging on www.PYFChallenge.com, and other promotional activities (10%)

Check out FNBO's promotional video for the contest.

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