Five days and 3.5%. Yoshi!
The day passed very fast today, and not only because I was doing stupid things, but we'll talk about that later.
Today I was ridiculously pleased with myself because I had just gotten the temporary password to my new HSBC Direct savings account in the mail. I signed up online Jul. 28, and the whole experience was not only highly enjoyable but very fast. The sign-up process is painless, and you are given an application number in case you want to come back later and complete your application, or if you're setting up a joint account, so your partner can login and complete their part of the application. HSBC's security check is thorough enough that you feel safe, but not overwhelmingly so that you begin to doubt your own identity.
I'm really happy with HSBC because
(1) it's a global financial institution.
(2) online bill payment includes not only utilities but people (they'll get a cheque)!
(3) you can send/receive money transfers to/from other banks in the U.S. and other HSBC Direct accounts worldwide.
And talk about great service! E-mails are answered quickly, and when I call customer service, I get a real person after pressing just one key. It's awesome. And they all sound normal and friendly and don't try to sell me credit cards. Can you tell I'm impressed? I'm impressed.