SmartyPig

I recently signed up for a SmartyPig savings account that will be used to help Gayle and me fund our upcoming wedding and honeymoon trip to the Iberian Peninsula. I also have a strange feeling that all this just might cost a little bit more than we expect, so why not start now?
SmartyPig is part of West Bank in Metro Des Moines and is where savings meets social networking. Their system lets you set savings goals, how much, and by when. SmartyPig then calculates a monthly amount and automatically withdraws it from your linked bank account. You can also broadcast your savings goals to friends and family and invite them to contribute too. Competitive rates (currently a little over 2%) are offered and funds are FDIC insured. And once a savings goal is achieved, you can can also cash out with a debit card or receive a gift card through any of more than two dozen retail partners.
So far, customer service has been pretty good and they were very helpful getting me through some account set-​up issues. I also read an Iowa article where they even worked with a mother who wanted to find a way to temporarily turn off her children’s SmartyPig accounts — which she set up to pay their allowances — if they’ve been acting badly.

Signed up for a SmartyPig savings account recently and really like it so far. SmartyPig allows you to set up multiple savings accounts underneath your main account. You decide how much money you want to save for a particular goal and the date you want to have finished saving by. SmartyPig then calculates the amount of money you will need to save each month and automatically withdraws it from your linked bank account on a specific date once a month.
It would be great if you could have money withdrawn every two weeks, instead of just once a month, since that’s the way most people get paid. Smarty Pig offers competitive rates (currently 2%), although I imagine that they’ll keep them for awhile, until they build up their customer base and then gradual start lowering them and count on people being too lazy to change banks (a la ING). On the plus side, you can have friends or family contribute to your savings goals, they’re FDIC insured and integrate easily with
, unlike other online savings accounts (that’s right, I’m talking about you again, ING).