Can you guide me to a bank that pays the highest interest? What I would like to do is put in a good lump sum and also be able to pay my bills through this account.

The best savings rates are always a moving target because banks change the rates they pay based on market conditions and their need for cash. That's why I'd prefer to lead you to a good Web source for rates rather than a specific bank. The great thing about Web sources is that they regularly update their data and often provide links to the banks' Web sites so you can open an account online.

My favorite rate-shopping site is BankRate.com. At the top of its home page is a series of tabs, each labeled with a different type of bank account or product. Clicking on the "Checking & Savings" tab brings up a chart that shows the national average rates for different types of checking and savings accounts. You can either click on the type of savings account you want — such as a checking or money-market account — or go to the bottom of that chart, where a link allows you to search for rates in your area.

You'll get another prompt that asks whether you want the site to sort the information by interest rate, state or type of account, such as traditional checking or Internet-based checking. The rates you see may vary depending on how you sort the data.

For instance, a recent search showed that EverBank was offering an interest-bearing checking account with a 3.4 percent rate. But if you searched for money-market accounts that offer check-writing privileges, the same bank offers a 5 percent rate.

I should note that BankRate.com makes its money from advertising by banks seeking your business. But banks don't have to buy an ad or pay a fee to be included in BankRate's rankings, says Greg McBride, a BankRate Inc. analyst. Any bank that offers deposits in all 50 states and whose rates are available to new customers is included.

(Note: The Star-Telegram runs a list of checking, savings and CD rates at local banks and credit unions every Monday in Work & Money. The list is supplied by BankRate.com.)

I recently got my Equifax credit report and FICO score for the first time. My score is 757, which FICO says is "very good."

Under "Key Factors Affecting Your Score," the report mentions "the length of time your accounts have been established is relatively short." (Only time will improve that!) And: "The amount owed on your accounts is too high."

That last statement has me confused. I have two revolving accounts, which I pay off every month. I have never carried a balance. On my older account, which is about 3 1/2 years old, I have a credit limit of $500 and a typical current month's balance of $46. On my other account, I have a limit of $22,000 and a current balance of $309. Together, my combined balance of $355 is only 1.6 percent of my combined credit limit of $22,500. How can a balance that uses up such a small part of my available credit possibly be considered "too high"?

Having made the effort to get as high a score as possible, it irks me that I am being penalized, if only by a few points, for supposedly having too high a balance.

The FICO model is always going to tell you something that you can do to improve your score, but when it resorts to saying your balance is high when you're using just 1.6 percent of your outstanding credit, it's "scraping the bottom of the barrel" for score-boosting advice, said Craig Watts, a spokesman for Fair Isaac Corp., which designed the FICO scoring model.

The biggest factor that affects your score is time, he added. You've obviously been extremely responsible with credit during the nearly four years you've been using it. If you keep it up, your score will naturally rise as you establish a longer credit history.

Once you hit a score of 750, you're already getting nearly every lender's best rates. Boosting your score above that level might be good for your pride, but it's kind of like getting an A-plus-plus instead of an A-plus. That second plus doesn't mean much.

Also realize that a credit score is a snapshot of one moment. You could get another score tomorrow, and it might be a bit higher or a bit lower, depending on your balances when the report was run.

Before you invest in any online savings or money market account, check the current rate being offered by AmTrust Bank on their e-Money Market Account. AmTrust Direct just raised the rate from 5.30% to an industry leading 5.36% APY.

"We want our customers, and potential customers, to know that this is not a so-called ‘teaser’ rate," says Matthew Lehman, Vice-President of Internet Marketing for AmTrust. "We don’t do any form of bait-and-switch. And it’s not only for new money. You’ll get an industry-leading rate on all your money." He adds, "AmTrust Direct has always been known for top-of-the-market rates."

AmTrust is a division of Ohio Savings Bank, founded in 1889 and one of the fastest growing financial institutions in America. The Bank has grown from a local savings and loan with one office to a nationally recognized leader in retail banking with branch offices in Florida, Ohio and Arizona. The Bank is among the top 20 mortgage loan originators in the country, and also specializes in commercial construction lending.

AmTrust Direct has always paid among the top rates in the country, and since launching their e-Money Market Account in August 2006, the account has consistently paid a rate in excess of 5.15% APY. Their e-Money Market account requires just $1,000 to open, with no minimum balance fees, and all the customer’s money earns the same high rate.

"We try to make it easy for our customers," states Lehman. "Our CDs automatically roll over to the highest rate for that term, so our customers never have to worry about where their money is going to work the hardest for them. They can relax, do nothing and still enjoy one of the highest rates in the country."

Sales fever has hit the high street over the last week but as well as bargains on clothes and electronics, the new year can also be a good time to grab decent deals on your finances.

A number of banks and building societies have launched new rates on savings accounts, credit cards and mortgages. But these rarely come free of pitfalls, so it is worth paying attention to the small print.

Barclays tops the polls for one of the best interest rates on a savings account with its new regular saver paying out 12.5 per cent gross. The rate has been increased by 25 per cent from the start of this month until the end of February. It is fixed for 12 months and applies exclusively to regular deposits of between £25 and £250 per month.

If you pay in the maximum monthly contribution of £250, you would receive £203.94 gross at the end of the year term, or £163.15 if you are a basic rate taxpayer and £122.36 for higher rate taxpayers. If you paid in £150 monthly, you would receive around £122 in gross interest.

To qualify for this account, you must already have a Barclays current account that you pay at least £1,000 into each month. Another downside is that you cannot make any withdrawals during the year. If you withdraw money or miss a payment you will lose the 12.5 per cent rate for the entire year, and instead receive the less attractive Barclays Easy Saver account rate of just 3.46 per cent.

The options include index and actively managed funds, but the actively managed funds are not individual funds. They are portfolios of funds that contain so many funds — up to 19 in some cases — that they could end up performing a lot like index funds. Or worse when you take into account their higher fees.

For better or worse, many of Fidelity’s best-known funds — Magellan, Contrafund, Low-Priced Stock, Diversified International — are not in the plan. It does contain some fine actively managed funds, but you won’t be able to buy them individually.

The index funds will cost investors 0.5 percent a year, or $50 on a $10,000 investment. That’s lower than the old TIAA-CREF funds and lower than most index funds offered by rival 529 plans.

The actively managed funds (excluding the money market fund) will cost 0.87 to 1.09 percent a year. That’s higher than the old TIAA-CREF funds.

A fund’s performance is calculated after these fees have been deducted. But the fees are worth knowing because over a long period they can affect performance.

The new Fidelity options fall into three categories:

– Two age-based options: These portfolios start off aggressive (invested mostly in stocks) and gradually become more conservative (moving more into bonds and money market funds) as the child gets closer to college age.

One age-based option invests in a group of index funds, the other invests in a collection of actively managed funds.

– Six static options. Fidelity offers three portfolios that do not change over time. One remains 100 percent in stocks, one remains 70 percent in stocks and 30 percent bonds and the third remains 100 percent in bonds and other fixed-income investments.

Each static option comes in an indexed-version and an actively managed variety, for a total of six static options.

– Individual funds. Fidelity offers six individual funds: the Spartan 500 index fund, a total market index fund, an international-stock index fund, an intermediate-term Treasury bond fund and a stock fund with social criteria.

When choosing a money market account the first thing you look for is finding the best money market account rate possible.  MoneyMarketaccount.org keeps you up to date on the ever changing rates. We let you know about the best options available on this bull market.  For example banks like Fidelity, Citibank, Bank Of America,  and Wachovia are consistently out there fighting for your business offering you the best money account rate they possibly can. It is an investors market right now. It is time for everyone to make some money !