Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

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BitDude
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by BitDude »

Cheryl604 wrote:Ok, but you have to enroll in direct deposit to get the 6%. Otherwise it's 2%.
Yeah you're right. I'm still reading over the terms.

What I'm thinking is maybe direct deposit $3 per month to cancel out that monthly fee, then just add one large $5k all at the beginning. You still technically have a direct deposit, so you should get that 6% interest.
Last edited by BitDude on Sun Mar 08, 2015 3:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
mjb
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by mjb »

I use it. Once you set it up, it is easy and it is very accessible for emergencies.
BitDude
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by BitDude »

rayout wrote:I use it. Very easy to automate, I "direct deposit" $50 from my check account each month to qualify for the 6% rate.
mjb wrote:I use it. Once you set it up, it is easy and it is very accessible for emergencies.
Oh wow there are some of you guys that actually use it already. I just found out about it and thought no one else heard of it yet.

Can you guys give experience on this? I definitely see the upside, but are there any cons with using this $5k as emergency fund storage?
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tuckeverlasting
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by tuckeverlasting »

What about when terms change and it is no longer such a good deal? Maybe too much of a hassle if terms change relatively soon.
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chessmannextmove
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by chessmannextmove »

I thought the 6% was promotional. It's not?
PennySaved
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by PennySaved »

there is also an older Mango thread

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=94135&hilit=mango

I have had one Mango account for two years now and I set up a 2nd account about a year ago. It used to be one could avoid the monthly service fee by direct depositing $500 per month, but now that option has gone away and the service charge is $3 but you still need to direct deposit something. Still not a bad return on one's money for a savings account.
555
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by 555 »

PennySaved wrote:I have had one Mango account for two years now and I set up a 2nd account about a year ago.
How do you set up more than one account? Does this mean you can get 6% (minus fee) on $5k per account, and have multiple accounts?
Last edited by 555 on Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
mjb
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by mjb »

tuckeverlasting wrote:What about when terms change and it is no longer such a good deal? Maybe too much of a hassle if terms change relatively soon.
There are risks with everything. What if 401k and IRA rules change or dividends and LT capital gains are treated as regular income? Just plan based on the best information you have and review when big changes come.
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Jerry55
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by Jerry55 »

6% ? Really ??? What's that old adage ??? If it sounds too good to be true....

I just got out of a Hi-Yield account (HYFAX) that had lower rates....Something sounds fishy, IMHO
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Uncle Pennybags
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by Uncle Pennybags »

They charge $1 to check your balance at an ATM, $2 every time you take out money plus whatever the ATM owner charges.
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by madbrain »

PennySaved wrote:Still not a bad return on one's money for a savings account.
It's a savings account you can't easily access, though. You can't easily transfer out the money back to your bank. As I understand it, if you want to withdraw the balance, you will have to withdraw the balance in cash, and pay fees.

And it appears that there is a $600 per day maximum you can withdraw, so you will have to pay the ATM fee multiple times, also. If your emergency is larger than $600, you may be out of luck.

http://support.mangomoney.com/entries/2 ... purchases-
kazper
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by kazper »

It looks like they kick in an extra $20 if you have 2 direct deposits $50 or more within the first 3 months.

For those of you who have this with the 6%/direct deposit, what do you do? Continue to let the balance build and earn .1% on the remainder?
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by surfstar »

I opened one account in late Dec, then another in Jan. I may need a third soon (I believe the limit is three per person). ~5% net APY on up to 15k is a pretty good deal.

I deposit $5 monthly from my Chase account and that satisfies the direct deposit requirement.

I believe I can do an ACH pull from Chase, if I need to access the money. In an "emergency" I imagine I'd pay with a CC then have weeks to worry about getting my cash out. Yes, you may have a few days delay in accessing it, but that's worth 5% to me :)

Was informed of this Mango deal on bogleheads, and found http://thefinancebuff.com/mango-prepaid ... n-gem.html during my research.

So far, so good.
slbnoob
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by slbnoob »

madbrain wrote: It's a savings account you can't easily access, though. You can't easily transfer out the money back to your bank. As I understand it, if you want to withdraw the balance, you will have to withdraw the balance in cash, and pay fees.

And it appears that there is a $600 per day maximum you can withdraw, so you will have to pay the ATM fee multiple times, also. If your emergency is larger than $600, you may be out of luck.

http://support.mangomoney.com/entries/2 ... purchases-
Wow, this is very inconvenient. I think this itself will put me off with getting an account with them. I want to be able to ACH deposit my money back into my checking account anytime I want and have it deposited in 2-3 days.
Does Ally Savings have similar limitation too?
PennySaved
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by PennySaved »

555 wrote:
PennySaved wrote:I have had one Mango account for two years now and I set up a 2nd account about a year ago.
How do you set up more than one account? Does this mean you can get 6% (minus fee) on $5k per account, and have multiple accounts?
Yes you can have more than one account. You need to have a different mobile (cell) phone number for each account. I believe this is so you can use the Mango phone apps, although I only access my account using my personal computer. Each savings account attached to a prepaid debit account can qualify for the 6%. I also have a UnionPlus prepaid debit account that offers 5.1% APY on savings account up to $5,000 with direct deposit to the debit account. Monthly service fee is $2 with direct deposit. You can transfer money between Mango account and the UnionPlus prepaid account very easily online because they all use the same bank. I direct deposit $50 a month to each of my three accounts and each has $5,000 in the savings accounts for a total of about $15,000.

https://www.myunionprepaid.com/login.do
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by tdogz »

Uncle Pennybags wrote:They charge $1 to check your balance at an ATM, $2 every time you take out money plus whatever the ATM owner charges.
Does anyone know what machines, if any, will not charge a fee in addition to the $2 fee from Mango? (i.e. are their cards part of a network like MoneyPass?)

Can you get cashback on a purchase without any fee from Mango?
PennySaved
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by PennySaved »

kazper wrote:It looks like they kick in an extra $20 if you have 2 direct deposits $50 or more within the first 3 months.

For those of you who have this with the 6%/direct deposit, what do you do? Continue to let the balance build and earn .1% on the remainder?
I try and keep the savings account balances no more than $5000. You can just spend the money on the debit card for small items or lunches, although I don't do that because it is too hard for me to keep track of the balance. I am putting $50 in direct deposit on each of three different accounts (2 Mango and 1 UnionPlus), plus I have about $25 in interest per month from each savings account, so I have about a total of $225 every month that I need to get off the debit account. So every few months, I transfer the excess savings (interest) over $5000 back to each debit account. Then I transfer the balances from 2 of the debit accounts into the 3rd debit account (leaving enough to cover the $2-3 monthly fee). Very easy to do online and the transfers happen right away. Then I go to Post office and buy a $500-600 money order using the debit card (Money order costs $1.25 for up to $500 and 1.65 for $500-$1000). The post office is right downstairs from my work, so this is not inconvenient for me. Then I use the money order to pay part of my credit card bill. This is a systematic and cheap way for me to access and use the direct deposit money and the interest that is not getting the high interest rate.
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tfb
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by tfb »

madbrain wrote:It's a savings account you can't easily access, though. You can't easily transfer out the money back to your bank.
This is not correct. Rather than rehashing in a duplicate thread everyone should just read and post in the original thread and keep the info in one place.

Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
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PennySaved
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by PennySaved »

I am reading some of the other blogs' threads about Mango and how to get the money out. Some folks have had some success pulling back Mango money to their bank using ACH, but success varies with the different banks and some people experience glitches or their bank will not recognize the Mango account routing number. Others has said they were able to get money out by paying their credit card bills on the credit card website using Mango (I guess using its routing number as checking account number?). I may try this now. Also I realize now I don't need to Direct Deposit $50 per month per account, I only need to direct deposit, say $5 to make sure monthly fee is covered. I know that I have used Mango at the grocery before for purchases and gotten cash back. the cash back allowed will vary from store to store.
555
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by 555 »

Do they send you a 1099-INT each year?
I assume you are taxed on interest, rather than interest minus fees, so that's part of the calculation.
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Meg77
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by Meg77 »

Thanks for the tip!! I've never heard of this but it could be worth the hassle for an effective yield of 5%+ on at least $10K...my bank accounts only pay 1%.
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by DesertMan »

555 wrote:Do they send you a 1099-INT each year?
I assume you are taxed on interest, rather than interest minus fees, so that's part of the calculation.
Great question. Also, is there any support for Quicken, TurboTax and the like? Perhaps through the bank hosting the savings account? Since you are earning a not insignificant amount of interest, it would be painful to miss that 1099 and then have to amend.
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by madbrain »

tfb wrote:
madbrain wrote:It's a savings account you can't easily access, though. You can't easily transfer out the money back to your bank.
This is not correct. Rather than rehashing in a duplicate thread everyone should just read and post in the original thread and keep the info in one place.

Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
Nice to know I was wrong. But to be fair, I didn't see it mentioned anywhere on the Mango site how you can do other non-ATM withdrawals, eg. ACH transfers . And I looked.
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by madbrain »

DesertMan wrote:
555 wrote:Do they send you a 1099-INT each year?
I assume you are taxed on interest, rather than interest minus fees, so that's part of the calculation.
Great question. Also, is there any support for Quicken, TurboTax and the like? Perhaps through the bank hosting the savings account? Since you are earning a not insignificant amount of interest, it would be painful to miss that 1099 and then have to amend.
They do, but not a correct one, apparently, from what I read in the existing Mango threads :)
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by 555 »

madbrain wrote:
555 wrote:Do they send you a 1099-INT each year?
I assume you are taxed on interest, rather than interest minus fees, so that's part of the calculation.
They do, but not a correct one, apparently, from what I read in the existing Mango threads :)
Yikes, I've seen that now. That kind of hassle factor brings it all into question.
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by LadyGeek »

FYI - I moved BitDude's thread into here, which is in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (credit / debit / prepaid cards).
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Ketawa
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by Ketawa »

slbnoob wrote:
madbrain wrote: It's a savings account you can't easily access, though. You can't easily transfer out the money back to your bank. As I understand it, if you want to withdraw the balance, you will have to withdraw the balance in cash, and pay fees.

And it appears that there is a $600 per day maximum you can withdraw, so you will have to pay the ATM fee multiple times, also. If your emergency is larger than $600, you may be out of luck.

http://support.mangomoney.com/entries/2 ... purchases-
Wow, this is very inconvenient. I think this itself will put me off with getting an account with them. I want to be able to ACH deposit my money back into my checking account anytime I want and have it deposited in 2-3 days.
Does Ally Savings have similar limitation too?
You can ACH pull from the checking account. I have drained a Mango account in two days with ACH pull from USAA. It took two days due to daily limits with USAA.

I have monthly ACH push and pull for $50 set up from my USAA checking account for two different Mango accounts. I also have $500 per month push/pull from a Union Plus account.

The only fees I have been charged are the monthly fees. There is no need to use ATMs. With Union Plus, it's worth it to push/pull $500 since it is effectively a 4.8% tax free return from avoiding the monthly fee.

There is supposedly a limit of three total accounts per household across the two products. My second Mango account was set up using a Google Voice phone number.

Between my Mango, Union Plus, and Santander accounts, I have about $17k invested making 5.8% FDIC insured.
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Ketawa
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by Ketawa »

555 wrote:Do they send you a 1099-INT each year?
I assume you are taxed on interest, rather than interest minus fees, so that's part of the calculation.
Yes, they send a 1099-INT. This year there were errors with interest reported in the wrong box, but they were corrected a few weeks later.
Last edited by Ketawa on Mon Mar 09, 2015 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
madbrain
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by madbrain »

Ketawa wrote: You can ACH pull from the checking account. I have drained a Mango account in two days with ACH pull from USAA. It took two days due to daily limits with USAA.
That's great. Why doesn't Mango mention the possibility of doing this on their web site ?
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by johnny847 »

madbrain wrote:
Ketawa wrote: You can ACH pull from the checking account. I have drained a Mango account in two days with ACH pull from USAA. It took two days due to daily limits with USAA.
That's great. Why doesn't Mango mention the possibility of doing this on their web site ?
Because I do not believe that is their intent of providing you the routing and account numbers. I'm pretty sure they only mean for you to deposit money through ACH.
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Re: MangoMoney account: 6% APY for Emergency Funds

Post by chemeng »

johnny847 wrote:
madbrain wrote:
Ketawa wrote: You can ACH pull from the checking account. I have drained a Mango account in two days with ACH pull from USAA. It took two days due to daily limits with USAA.
That's great. Why doesn't Mango mention the possibility of doing this on their web site ?
Because I do not believe that is their intent of providing you the routing and account numbers. I'm pretty sure they only mean for you to deposit money through ACH.
Correct. The Mango account is essentially designed to keep the funds in the account without frequent moving in and out. The inability to easily liquidate your money is what I would assume to be part of the reason they are able to offer the 6% interest rate, and thus is not in their best interest to provide the "loophole" (ACH push/pull) that many have been able to use. As many have described, once you set up the account, everything becomes automated and simple to use. I've had my account for almost 2 years and it has worked flawlessly using this method:

1. Automatic transfer $50 every month from Wells Fargo into CIT Bank Savings Account
2. Automatic ACH push $50 from CIT bank every month into Mango Acct
3. Automatic ACH pull $50 from Mango every month into CIT bank
4. Automatic transfer $50 from CIT bank into Wells Fargo

Doing this satisfies the "direct deposit" requirement and prevents the buildup of funds in the account past $5000.
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by Lafder »

Having just marathon watched many episodes of American Greed in the past week(thank you to whoever brought it up last week and got me started on it marathon fashion !) how do we know Mango card is not just a big Ponzi scheme???

American Greed features a number of large companies that carried on their scheme for years before being caught.

What catches my attention first off is the 6% interest rate. Even at 4.8% or even at 2% it is above what most banks offer.

Lafder
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Ketawa
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by Ketawa »

I'm not aware of a Ponzi scheme that would intentionally limit the amount you want to invest. Or a Ponzi scheme that lets you take your money out at any time. The bank is FDIC insured.
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by tj »

Lafder wrote:Having just marathon watched many episodes of American Greed in the past week(thank you to whoever brought it up last week and got me started on it marathon fashion !) how do we know Mango card is not just a big Ponzi scheme???

American Greed features a number of large companies that carried on their scheme for years before being caught.

What catches my attention first off is the 6% interest rate. Even at 4.8% or even at 2% it is above what most banks offer.

Lafder
We aren't their target market. the 6% is a teaser, they expect to and do profit off the debit card usage I suspect.
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by Uncle Pennybags »

tj wrote:We aren't their target market. the 6% is a teaser, they expect to and do profit off the debit card usage I suspect.
I used to do things like this to make a few extra dollars. It is fine if one has the time and puts in the effort but make one mistake and the small profit gets wiped out plus some.
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Ketawa
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by Ketawa »

Uncle Pennybags wrote:
tj wrote:We aren't their target market. the 6% is a teaser, they expect to and do profit off the debit card usage I suspect.
I used to do things like this to make a few extra dollars. It is fine if one has the time and puts in the effort but make one mistake and the small profit gets wiped out plus some.
I don't know of any mistake that could wipe out my $1k in interest each year, and there is minimal time involved now that I have it set up.
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by slbnoob »

My CU does not have free ACH push. Do you think the following automation will work fine for each month using Ally and Mango after establishing 5k:

Ally pulls $10 from CU (source of funding)
Ally pushes $10 to Mango as 'direct deposit'
Ally pulls $10+$25-$5 (monthly 5%interest-fees) from Mango 5 days later to clear the excess over 5k.

Has anyone used Ally with Mango before?
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by Barefootgirl »

If I can summarize,

If one opens 3 accounts, funds them each with $5K, for a total deposit of $15K, after one year, net of fees, one can earn approx $1,800 in insured accounts?

Also, the primary "catch" if you will is limited ability to make withdrawals and monthly direct deposits need to be made into the accounts, but these can be minimal.

Does this sum it up or am I missing something big?

Thanks
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by stoptothink »

Lafder wrote: What catches my attention first off is the 6% interest rate. Even at 4.8% or even at 2% it is above what most banks offer.

Lafder
There are others out there with extremely similar accounts and rates not significantly lower: Paypal prepaid, netspend, vision, and union plus just to name a few.
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by Ketawa »

Barefootgirl wrote:If I can summarize,

If one opens 3 accounts, funds them each with $5K, for a total deposit of $15K, after one year, net of fees, one can earn approx $1,800 in insured accounts?

Also, the primary "catch" if you will is limited ability to make withdrawals and monthly direct deposits need to be made into the accounts, but these can be minimal.

Does this sum it up or am I missing something big?

Thanks
Three accounts will net you around $750.
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tfb
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by tfb »

slbnoob wrote:My CU does not have free ACH push. Do you think the following automation will work fine for each month using Ally and Mango after establishing 5k:

Ally pulls $10 from CU (source of funding)
Ally pushes $10 to Mango as 'direct deposit'
Ally pulls $10+$25-$5 (monthly 5%interest-fees) from Mango 5 days later to clear the excess over 5k.
Will not work. The interest is paid to the savings account. ACH hits the card. Must add a manual step to transfer from savings to card before ACH pull. Easiest would be not doing the monthly pulls. Having up to $300 earn 0.1% is not the end of the world when they are paying you 6% on $5k. No need to wring out every last drop.
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Mrxyz
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by Mrxyz »

So, if I have one account of $5000 and not touch the account for one year, I get 5% back ($250) and then subtract the fees of $3/month x 12 = 36$ and thus 250 - 36 = $214. Then pay taxes on this income. Is this correct?
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by slbnoob »

tfb wrote:
slbnoob wrote:My CU does not have free ACH push. Do you think the following automation will work fine for each month using Ally and Mango after establishing 5k:

Ally pulls $10 from CU (source of funding)
Ally pushes $10 to Mango as 'direct deposit'
Ally pulls $10+$25-$5 (monthly 5%interest-fees) from Mango 5 days later to clear the excess over 5k.
Will not work. The interest is paid to the savings account. ACH hits the card. Must add a manual step to transfer from savings to card before ACH pull. Easiest would be not doing the monthly pulls. Having up to $300 earn 0.1% is not the end of the world when they are paying you 6% on $5k. No need to wring out every last drop.
Thanks for that. So it looks like there there is no way to fully automate this process, unless the ACH push hits the savings. I guess I have to manually transfer the interest but that can be done whenever convenient.
555
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by 555 »

Why not simply spend the interest?
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by johnny847 »

555 wrote:Why not simply spend the interest?
If you have rewards earning credit cards, then you're losing out on the cash back. It's only a couple percent at most (unless, of course, you're trying to meet a signup bonus on a cc). But, Mango returns 6% in a year. A rewards earning cc can typically earn you 1-5% in guaranteed cash back instantly, or even higher if you're actually earning miles and you can redeem your miles well. And credit card rewards aren't taxable, while Mango interest is.

EDIT: Haha oops I forgot that we're comparing 6% of $5k, and 1-5% of the 6% earnings. Still though, it is a minor optimization point that some people want to make.
555
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by 555 »

johnny847 wrote:
555 wrote:Why not simply spend the interest?
If you have rewards earning credit cards, then you're losing out on the cash back. It's only a couple percent at most (unless, of course, you're trying to meet a signup bonus on a cc). But, Mango returns 6% in a year. A rewards earning cc can typically earn you 1-5% in guaranteed cash back instantly, or even higher if you're actually earning miles and you can redeem your miles well. And credit card rewards aren't taxable, while Mango interest is.

EDIT: Haha oops I forgot that we're comparing 6% of $5k, and 1-5% of the 6% earnings. Still though, it is a minor optimization point that some people want to make.
Right. 2%(rewards) of 6%(interest) is 0.12%.
nanoanalyzer
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by nanoanalyzer »

Just wondering why people prefer Mango over Netspend? Yield chasing? Popularity? Netspend has no fee, lower auto-ACH amount needed, and essentially the same return.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1432026/
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Ketawa
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by Ketawa »

nanoanalyzer wrote:Just wondering why people prefer Mango over Netspend? Yield chasing? Popularity? Netspend has no fee, lower auto-ACH amount needed, and essentially the same return.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1432026/
I wasn't aware of this. I will open one.

My understanding is it works almost exactly like Mango/Union Plus, the main difference being that there is a fee if the account doesn't have activity for 3 months. I can just schedule a minimal monthly ACH push/pull to avoid the account maintenance fee.
johnny847
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by johnny847 »

nanoanalyzer wrote:Just wondering why people prefer Mango over Netspend? Yield chasing? Popularity? Netspend has no fee, lower auto-ACH amount needed, and essentially the same return.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1432026/
It's a better return than Mango if your marginal tax rate (federal + state + local if applicable) is 28% or higher. Many people ignore the effect of taxes on the Mango return. With Mango, you earn 6%, get taxed on that, and then pay $36/yr in fees. Many people cite a 5.28% return on Mango ($300 - $36)/($5000), but it is not a 5.28% pre tax yield. (The OP calculated 4.8% in the same manner, except back then there was a $5/month fee that was avoidable as opposed to a $3/month fee).
slbnoob
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Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY

Post by slbnoob »

Netspend seems interesting too.

I also thought one advantage of Mango was that one could open upto 2 accounts ($10k) using different phone numbers. Is that still true? This may allow simplicity in being able to access 2 savings accounts with one login. Is this correct or do I need 2 different logins for the 2 accounts?
Last edited by slbnoob on Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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