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As banks battle for deposit growth, SmartyPig’s ten-fold deposit growth in six months – from $10 million in January to $100 million today – is attracting: the attention of customers seeking the very attractive current 2.75 % savings rate; the envy of other bankers seeking to raise core deposits; and the infusion of cash from investors like Red McCombs seeking a nice equity position in a high-growth company.

As I blogged about last December, online savings tool SmartyPig, in conjunction with Iowa-based West Bank, lets users save money online for specific financial goals such as weddings, trips, college funding, cars and presents.

“In one of the worst financial markets in years, SmartyPig has managed to grow largely through word of mouth of its customers. It harnesses the microblogging site Twitter to communicate with users, and it has a fan page on Facebook,” says co-founder Jon Gaskell in an interview published in San Antonio Express-News.

Will SmartyPig stay on course with its meteoric deposit growth? Or will it see a run-off of deposits as users reach their goals?

In an email to NetBanker blogger Jim Burene, Jon Gaskell replied, “Fifteen months after launch, our data suggests that a vast majority of our customers are staying focused on their predetermined goals and the deposits are “CD-like” in nature.”

As I wrote back in December, if bankers didn’t have enough to worry about, this example should be another wake up call about the huge fight for deposits moving online, and the increasing impact of social media on banking.

With a run-rate indicating $500 million in deposits by the end of this year, 15-month-old SmartyPig appears to be living up to its virtual piggy-bank name.