USAA Bank Update and Extra 1% Rate Special

As I described in a previous post, USAA Bank has many nice features on its accounts and its online banking system. The banking products and services had been open to all. However, this was recently changed. Now to open a bank account, you must either have a military affiliation, be a current bank customer or be a resident of Bexar County, Texas.

For those who are eligible, a reader mentioned an unadvertised USAA special that's similar to what I first reported on last May. USAA will add an extra 1% to the listed rate of the Performance First Savings Account for balances of $50K and over. This extra rate is good for six months. The listed APY as of today is 5.17% for balances of $50K and over. So the APY with the bonus rate would be about 6.17%.

This Performance First Index Account has rates based on the Money Fund Report 7-day net simple yield. It has no monthly service fees or minimum balance requirements. There is an intial deposit requirement of $10K. Below is the current rate tier:

Balance             Stnd APY
$0 - $9,999         2.22%   
$10,000 - $24,999   4.80%   
$25,000 - $49,999   5.06%   
over $50,000        5.17%   

Credit for this find goes to Barbara who mentioned this in the finding deals post.