You still have a minimum monthly payment. That is standard. Whether or not those payments will pay it off in full is up to how the minimum is structured. A balloon payment at the end may be needed

Yes, FDIC or NCUA (which is the same thing as FDIC but for credit unions) are safe.

I bank at PNC. I transferred the bulk of my savings to Synchrony. 4% apy. Easy to open. Easy to transfer. Just got my first statement. It’s nice having my money make money. Of course, I’ll be taxed on that interest because we don’t want people getting ahead, amiright?

Yes

You should switch. Make sure you don’t save more than 250K in a bank.

Commented elsewhere, but would just like to add - I don’t think that list is accurate as the state I am in is listed as unavailable, but I have the 4%

There’s no good reason not to switch and it takes only a few minutes, but if you don’t feel like switching definitely at least email PNC about it.

I recently sent PNC a note that I was switching for more competitive rates (capital one), they told me to call customer service. I did not feel like calling customer service, so I moved all my savings to my capital one. Two weeks later I have an email from PNC saying my new savings interest rate is 4%. So yeah idk just message them lol

You don't "switch". You open an additional account (or more). These are where your emergency fund lives, or your new car fund, new refrigerator fund, etc. Your local Savings account is to cover your checking account.

Absolutely this is a okay. Just be sure you are not going to be charged any account fees with PNC.

I personally have a free local account with my local CU and bank with Ally.

Yes, that's exactly what it means. You're FDIC insured up to $250k at any FDIC member institution, which is almost all of them (verify "FDIC" shows up on their website and/or verify with the FDIC directly).

One caveat is that some banks can be a pain in terms of customer service, or charging fees if your below a minimum balance, etc., so read the fine print and do a quick Google search to make sure they're legit, but for the most part you can't go wrong.

Keep in mind it changes over time which banks have the best rates. They tend to advertise a high rate to bring in customers, then lag over time, and hope people don't notice or don't care.

Only in certain areas though

This isn’t a thing without a super low interest rate anymore

I think you really need to narrow down where you want to live and how much a house that would fit your needs costs in that area first.

You can buy an awesome cheap house in the middle of nowhere and you’ll hate it because there’s nothing to do. Eventually you do have to go outside and make friends and if you don’t like your area, you’re stuck

0% down doesn’t apply to most people and if does, a pretty ugly PMI comes with it (upfront PMI + monthly PMI) ☹️

PNC Bank has a 4% HYSA. Did you not research your own bank?

https://www.pnc.com/en/personal-banking/banking/savings/high-yield-savings.html

Betterment has 4.2% on cash reserve and up to $2M individual/$4M joint FDIC coverage because they spread your deposits among their program banks to increase coverage.

If you don't put like 20% down the underwriter will almost assuredly required you add Mortgage Insurance ontop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_insurance which just adds more fees and to escrow

In fact, I'm not sure when I'd ever need a physical branch to walk into.

But if I did-- Is it okay to keep most of my money in an online bank & transfer it to my PNC account whenever I need a brick-and-mortar? Like is that legal/will there be random charges for this/etc

That’s an annualized rate, it’s $90 for 3 months.

Additionally the rate is variable based on the amount you put in; I don’t remember the table off the top of my head but I believe the 3 month CD only has the 3.5% rate up to $25k.

The only reason is that you won’t have a physical branch to walk into. Otherwise no reason. Do it please - don’t let PNC steal money from you.

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I moved most of my savings from PNC to a HYSA and no-penalty CD at Ally.

They’re paying 3.75% & 4.75% respectively.

If you’re wanting a CD; Chase has a 3.5% rate on a 3 month CD if you deposit >$10,000 right now. Good balance between long and short term IMO.

Currently considering a Wealthfront cash account which is 4.3%

I knew I wanted to move states a few years ago. Decided it was time to prep and switched from a local CU to Alliant. I also have an Ally account. I have savings in both places for different purposes. All my interactions with both companies have been great. Did an auto loan with Alliant and it was great. They were also very much on top of things when it was time to wire money for escrow and the down payment for the house we bought.