Everyone is looking for a great interest rate. Unfortunately, even the gold standard of high yield savings accounts, ING Direct, cut back from 3% to 2.75% when the fed cut rates.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still try to make money from your money. Even if it is less money, free cash is nothing to sneeze at. Seriously, who doesn’t like free money?

The problem has been, other than savings accounts, if you want to get into a good money market checking account or other interest-bearing checking account you needed a huge sum of money you would just, you know, leave in the bank. (By huge I mean $5,000 or more. If that’s not huge for you, can we be friends and you can totally buy me lunch?)

At Charles Schwab, if you open up a brokerage account (meaning you’re going to buy a share of stock or more) you qualify to open a high yield checking account that (after the fed cut) pays %2.2 interest. With no minimum balance required.

They send you checks, a debit card…it’s a real bank. The only downside is that the bank is located in Nevada. So you can’t just walk in. But if you need deposits overnighted to the bank you can find a local Schwab office and drop your deposits there instead of mailing them. (If you do send them in the mail they provide a self addressed, stamped envelope.

Jennifer Gnidecki is an investor, a mom, and a pretty cool chick. She writes about fun things at Beyond Mom, too.