You can easily find interest higher than a bank

ByABC News
December 24, 2007, 7:04 PM

— -- Q: Is there a good place to park cash that I can get to easily and get a better return than a bank savings account?

A: Unless you have a unique deal with your bank, the plain bank savings account is a bum deal. You should try hard to have as little money as possible in a bank savings account, because the returns are so small.

There are many alternatives for investors who want better returns but still want access to their cash. It probably won't surprise you that many of these higher yielding savings vehicles are online. A few to consider include:

Sweeps offered by online brokerage firms. Most online brokers will allow you to move uninvested cash automatically into a high-yield money market fund. Historically, Charles Schwab has offered some of the best yields on its sweep accounts and is a good place to start looking. Zecco.com, a brokerage that offers free trading commissions for investors with accounts of $2,500 or more, will let you sign up for a free high-yield sweep.

Online banks. Several online banks, such as ING Direct and HSBC Direct have been aggressively offering high-yield savings accounts. And recent questions about E-Trade's survivability have forced it also to pay high yields to customers of its E-Trade Bank.

You can get a list of the institutions with the highest yields at Bankrate.com..

Matt Krantz is a financial markets reporter at USA TODAY. He answers a different reader question every weekday in his Ask Matt column at money.usatoday.com. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com. Click here to see previous Ask Matt columns.