I saved $73,000 so far (some of it saved at another bank and transferred to SP)and I am pulling out. They make their money HOLDING ON to your money (and YOUR INTEREST) FOR DAYS and DAYS when you access your Smartypig account and request funds be transferred from your bank to your smartypig account. IT TAKE EVEN DAYS LONGER when you use your smartypig account to transfer money BACK OUT OF SMARTYPIG back to your bank. AND, YOU DO NOT SEE A DIME OF THAT INTEREST. So to recap, THEY keep your money for 3-6 days leaving your bank going to SP (try to request transfer on Monday because THEY WILL use the weekend to keep your money a maximum time). And SP KEEPS YOUR MONEY FOREVER longer than 5-6 days if you use SP website to transfer money BACK to your bank. THAT IS WHEN THEY REALLY rake in the interest.

Read The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide by Martin Weiss. Get your money out of ALL banks and transfer to a short term treasure bill money market account. I no longer trust Smartypig. If the banking system starts to crash, you are screwed because it takes a week or more to get your money back to your bank. The interest no longer interests me. I just want to maintain my principal and make a little money. So I just purchased $60,000 worth of short term treasury bills directly from the gov't and the rest went into a short term treasurey money market fund. There is a pecking order to the gov't money if the banking system crashes and the FDIC is number 3.

I just started using SmartyPig a couple of months ago and I'm cautiously positive about them. The concept is great and I'm a big fan of encouragin people to save for a goal rather than just putting it on credit.

The main concern I had before opening the account was the difficulty of transferring money back to your checking account, but they have now added the option to do that free of charge.

Because it's so focused on the idea of saving towards goals, it's not as flexible as ING, for example. The minimum transfer amount is $25, which can make it a little tricky to set up small goals over shorter periods of time.

The fact that you can get a small bonus for turning your savings into a gift card with one of their partners (such as Amazon) is a nice plus.

I really like the concept of SmartyPig and of course, the super high interest rate they offer. I'm getting 3.9%, which is better than most savings accounts out there. It's a great place to put away money for a rainy day. And as of July 15, 2008, they've finally added the option of being able to transfer your money for free back to your own checking account once you've completed your savings goal. This is the one thing that kept me from rating it a 5 and now they've added the option!