Smarty Pig is FDIC insured online piggy bank that lets you save money without any fees and extremely competitive interest rates. It’s a good option to consider for helping children learn to save money.
Smarty Pig offers services completely free of fees! There mantra is to promote the mentality of ‘saving and then spending’, instead of ‘buy now and pay later’ which is exactly the lesson we want to teach our kids!
Once you have a Smarty Pig Savings Account, you can define your specific goals that you are saving towards. You also define a timeline by when you need to save for the goal. Smarty Pig will suggest a monthly contribution automatically. Goals can be securely tied or linked to different funding sources and if you find extra money, you can add it towards faster achievement of your saving goals.
Once you have achieved your savings goals, Smarty Pig offers cash back savings if you use one of their retailer gift cards or you can earn up to 10% cash back if you put all or part of your goal onto your SmartyPig cash rewards card.
Again, Smarty Pig savings accounts have competitive interest rates. APY is 1.10% for balances $0-$50,000 and 0.50%, if the balance in your account is more than $50,000.
The Online Savings Account is available to individuals with a SmartyPig Account and after creating a SmartyPig Savings Goal. You can apply for the account online at the SmartyPig website. Make sure to have all the require information, like, ID, SSN and permanent address. You will need to create five security questions and five security phrases and choose an image you can remember.
You need to be 18 years or older to open an account. If younger, a legal guardian can open an account for you and add you as a Limited Access User. You can get a view only access to the account. If you have other friends with a Smarty Pig savings account, you will be able to link with them and have an option to share your savings goal with them. It is a ‘social Networking’ bank!
SmartyPig encourages customers to save towards their goals. So it’s important to know that the bank does not allow withdrawing partial goals; you must wait for the goals to be complete or withdraw all of the funds saved towards that goal through ACH. ACH withdrawals are free. This is why they can offer competitive interest rates. Average savings goals are four years into the future. So, SmartyPig can provide rates that are on par with those of a longer term CD.
With SmartyPig there is not a routing number or an account number. Other sources or bank accounts cannot be used to initiate ACH transfers and there are no direct deposits of paychecks. These restrictions insure you’re saving towards your goal and not withdrawing early.
SmartyPig has been selected as the winner of the First Annual Plutus Award for Best Savings for Money Market Account. You want to save and Smarty Pig will help you to save.
