About 5 months into my first credit card experience, I decided that it was time for a credit line increase. No, I wasn’t racking up debt and no, I didn’t have any large expenses that made the credit increase necessary. I wanted an increase because when you have $1,000 each month, it’s easy to have over a $2,000 balance right before the bill is due. With a credit limit of $5,000, that equals a 40% utilization rate, something I’d definitely prefer to stay below. Add in the fact that Bank of America mysteriously skipped a bill cycle and that rate jumps to around 60%.

Sure, it’s not always that high and only if my accounts are checked on those days would it be marked that high, but I’d like to avoid the worry altogether and assure myself that my credit rating is as good as can be. It’s not imperative now, but it’s always good to keep a good credit score.

We know that hard inquiries negatively affect your credit score, so I decided that while I wanted to increase my credit line, I wouldn’t do it if it meant a hard inquiry.

Also, I have great news. Bank of America has one redeeming quality: it makes increasing your credit line very easy.

After logging into my account, I clicked on the “Request a credit line increase” button, filled out the form, and requested another $2,500 in credit.

The next day, I received a call to verify my job, income, and reason for requesting an increase (I have heard that saying that you’ll be making some large purchases works well).

I was approved immediately with only a soft inquiry and suddenly my utilization rate dropped. That same 40% utilization rate suddenly turned into less than 27% on the worst days, something I can definitely accept.

It’s only a small part of my credit score, but every bit helps and good habits now will help when we need it.

Originally posted 2010-03-02 06:00:17.

I love my ING account, it makes everything easy, but why isn’t the American Express 1.70% High Yield Savings Account been advertised more? In online bank aggregators, they list the best savings accounts and rarely is this one mentioned. I am very curious to know why people aren’t talking about it. Ally is mentioned a lot, with their 1.55% rate, but it’s not the best. I’m temped to open an account to find out the advantages and disadvantages. Has anyone had any experiences with them, positive or negative?

Originally posted 2009-12-02 08:56:51.

For awhile, I’ve promoted ING and SmartyPig as my bank accounts. It’s true, I love earning my 2.15% interest rate. If you like earning a top rate on your savings, skip the rest of this post and read my SmartyPig review because like me, you’ll fall in love.

But if you don’t like going with a site with a silly name or with a bank you’ve never heard of, then Discover bank may be for you.

To be clear, I still love my ING checking account. It’s so easy to use and one of these days I should get around to writing a glowing review because I’m a huge fan. It’s the savings account I’m not a huge fan of.

When I signed up for the ING saving account, my interest rate was at 1.40%, which was pretty decent. Then the savings dropped down to 1.25%, which definitely doesn’t excite me. When I heard about SmartyPig I jumped on board, but there are other options, and right now, Discover looks like a damn good one.

Why? Because they offer a 1.35% interest rate on savings accounts, which is far better than many other options out there. For example, it’s over 5 times greater than the national rate for savings accounts. Not a bad start.

Discover Bank Products

Many of you have heard about Discover for their credit cards, but they actually offer a bunch of other financial products, all FDIC insured.

Online Savings: This is what interests me most. Although you need a minimum of $500 to open an account, there are no minimum daily balances, no fees, and they’ve got that nice 1.35% interest rate.

Discover Bank also offers Money Market accounts, Certificates of Deposit, and IRA CDs.

The Money Market accounts have a minimum balance of $2,500. They are very similar to high interest checking accounts, which the exception that there is a limited to 6 withdrawals per month. The advantage of money market accounts is that the money is easier to access than with savings accounts. Click here to see the current money market interest rates.

Certificates of Deposit start at 0.65% for 3 months, move to 1.50% for 12 months, 3.00% at 5 years, and caps off at 3.50% at 10 years. That’s pretty competitive compared to other banks I’ve seen. I don’t want to list all their rates, so click here for their current CD rates.

IRA CDs are a safe and conservative to start an IRA. If you like the idea of an investment with a guaranteed return and no risk, an IRA CD may be for you. Discover offers CDs up to 10 years in length. Click here to view their current IRA CD rates.

One of the most important factors in choosing a bank is customer service. Discover has 24/7 live customer service representatives, which is a huge plus. From others, it sounds like they’re prompt and courteous, which is exactly what I’m looking for.

Readers, would you consider Discover as a bank? Or do you prefer to chase the high 2.15% interest rate of SmartyPig?