Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
No. of Recommendations: 3
No. of Recommendations: 3
Chasing that asterisk:
This product is not currently available for residents of CT, DE, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, and RI. Rate for this product will be based on the residential zip code entered when account is opened within online application process. This is a variable-rate account....
The one makes me wonder what there is about this offer or those States that make it only spottily available. The big red flag for me, though, is that variable rate bit. Depending on how much it varies and how frequently, the same hassle you're thinking about for switching into that account is the same hassle that will keep folks from switching back out. The size and frequency of variations makes me wonder about how long that high rate will last and how far it will fall.
Also, I recall some while ago, warnings that turned out to be valid in too many cases, that banks that offered rates so much higher than the industry average were doing so because they were that desperate to attract capital (savings), and they were in trouble. Santander has been around for a long while and seems sound. It subsidiary Openbank not so much. I'm also paranoid (perhaps excessively so) about banks that exist only in the æther of the Internet.
There're also these two bits from their "Who's eligible:"
You must have an active U.S. mobile phone number
You must have a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) with face- or fingerprint-recognition capabilities, on which you can download and use the Openbank app —which you’ll set up your trusted mobile device.
For me, those are absolute deal breakers. I will have no financial connection via my cell phone.
Eric Hines
No. of Recommendations: 1
She speculated that since those excluded states have a brick & mortar branch of Santander, they don't want to compete with themselves.
Santander seems like a solid bank, so low risk there.
Agree that this 5% is probably a teaser rate to quickly get new accounts.
Before I even got to the "mobile device (smartphone or tablet) with face- or fingerprint-recognition capabilities" I decided it wasn't worth the effort to me.
Being retired and having frozen my credit, I have to unfreeze all 3 credit bureaus to open a new financial account of any kind. Generally it's not worth the hassle.
BRIO is paying 4.85%
No. of Recommendations: 0
I will have no financial connection via my cell phone.
What do you use instead for 2-factor authentication?
No. of Recommendations: 0
I will have no financial connection via my cell phone.
What do you use instead for 2-factor authentication?
What makes you think I don't use 2-factor authentication?
My laptop does just fine.
Eric Hines
No. of Recommendations: 3
You know, you can buy a cheap Tracfone smartphone and use it only for 2-factor authentication.
If you are really cheap, you can get the "textnow.com" app and have a free phone number.
I just got a Moto smartphone from Walmart for $35. Comes with 1 year of Tracfone service. After the year I'll spend $5 for a textnow SIM and transfer the phone number to it for permanent service.
No. of Recommendations: 1
My laptop does just fine.
How do you use your laptop for 2FA???
I prefer to use authenticator apps because a thief who steals my phone number would still not have access to the codes (typically sent via SMS, and a very popular way for crooks to gain access to accounts with 2FA). And they work without internet connection present for added security.
No. of Recommendations: 3
How do you use your laptop for 2FA???
There are plenty of authenticator apps for both Windows and macOS. Most if not all password managers support "Google authenticator"-like 2FA (technically Time-based One Time Passwords), plus there are apps that just do TOTPs. And if someone is super-paranoid, the algorithm is available and not too hard to implement.
Brian
No. of Recommendations: 1
You know, you can buy a cheap Tracfone smartphone and use it only for 2-factor authentication.
I can be even cheaper and not drop a dime on another phone. The one I have does perfectly well.
How do you use your laptop for 2FA???
There are lots of ways to do that, ranging from dongles to emails to text messages to....
Eric Hines
