3.5% Online Savings HSBC

I've just recently set up an online savings account with HSBC. www.hsbc.com. The 3.5% interest rate is HUGE compared to my current rate of .1% at Wachovia. .1% is the average APR for most savings accounts.

To compare:

$1,000 at .1% will earn exactly $1 over the coures of 12 months. In 10 years, that $1,000 at .1% APR will be $1,010.05

$1,000 at 3.5% compounded monthly earns $35.57 over the course of 12 months. In 10 years, that same $1,000 but with 3.5% APR will be $1418.34.

Earnings at 3.5% are roughly 41 times as large as that at .1%.