Editor’s note: This week, Celsias writer Britt Gordon-McKeon looks at a new savings account option from socially conscious banking trailblazer ShoreBank. This post was originally published on October 16, 2007.

For the first time in the U.S., a triple-bottom line bank (working towards social, environmental and financial goals) is offering a high-interest online savings account. ShoreBank’s new ShoreBank Direct account currently offers a 5.00% APY with a $1 minimum, competitive with the best internet savings accounts currently available. The savings accounts can be managed online, receive direct deposits, and link to up to three checking accounts for electronic transfers.

I wrote about ShoreBank Pacific here a few months ago, and its focus on environmental banking in the Pacific Northwest:

While most banks make their lending decisions based solely on financial profitability, ShoreBank Pacific lends only to businesses and non-profits which are committed to improving their environmental footprint by using energy efficiently, working to reduce waste and pollution, and conserving natural resources. The bank has a scientist on staff and evaluates loan clients annually using a scoring system based on The Natural Step principles of sustainability, helping clients identify areas for progress and offering technical assistance. - Personal Banking for Environmental Sustainability

The money from this new account goes into the parent bank, ShoreBank, which also makes loans in the Midwest in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland. While ShoreBank Pacific places the environment as its top concern, ShoreBank has a more broad-based approach, attempting to balance environmental sustainability with community development; still, according to their annual report, 35% of ShoreBank’s 2006 loans were considered "conservation loans," promoting "efficient energy use and alternative sources of energy; the promotion of efficient use of materials and natural resources, the use of nontoxic materials, and the elimination of toxins; and the protection, increased capacity, and revitalization of land and water."

The new high-yield savings account beats interest rates at many of the online banks that have traditionally led the pack, such as EmigrantDirect (4.75% APY), HSBC Direct (4.50%), and ING (4.30%), as of 10/8/07. In fact, Bankrate.com currently lists only three no-minimum accounts that beat the ShoreBank rate, and those only by slim margins ( 5.05-5.17% APY)– a difference of less than $2 a month in interest per $10,000 in the account.

A key impetus for the unveiling of the program is the way the recent subprime mortgage crisis has hit low-income homeowners, although that is only one part of ShoreBank’s plans.

ShoreBank will use the deposits to help fuel its ambitious community development and conservation loan origination growth strategy. The strategy includes plans for rescuing more than 10,000 homeowners on Chicago’s South and West Sides at risk of foreclosure by helping them to refinance and consolidate debt.

"The ShoreBank online high-yield savings account will streamline the deposit process and provide a more efficient way to manage our banking relationship and account activity while making a greater impact," said Joseph E. Hasten, President and CEO of ShoreBank. "Besides providing depositors with access to a competitive rate of return, it is the vehicle by which the bank will use to raise core deposits to fund mortgage lending and rescue homeowners at the risk of foreclosure as well as finance new environmentally-friendly, sustainable development opportunities," added Hasten. - ShorbankCorp