3.00% Reward Checking Account at an Oklahoma Bank (Legacy)

Update 10/30/08: The yield has fallen to 3.00% APY. See bottom of post for the rate history.

Legacy Bank is offering a reward checking account called Win Win Checking that pays 3.00% APY on balances up to $50K (0.03% for above) and refunds some ATM fees if the following requirements are met: 1) 12 VISA check card purchases per month, 2) register for eBanking within 30 days of opening account, and 3) receive monthly electronic statements. If these requirements are not met, the rate falls to 0.03%. The minimum initial deposit is $100.

It appears direct deposit may not be required. At the top of the promotional page, there's a "if available" next to the bullet for direct deposit. In addition, the small print at the bottom of the page doesn't have direct deposit as one of the requirements.

The ATM fee reimbursements have more conditions than typical. Non-Legacy ATM fees will be reimbursed up to $3 per transaction, and the Legacy ATM surcharges will be refunded if the withdrawal is a minimum of $100.

This is one of the first banks to offer a high yield reward checking account. I posted on this in November 2006. At that time, the yield was only 5% APY.

It appears that you have to visit a branch to open this account. Branches are located in several cities of Oklahoma including Duncan, Edmond and Oklahoma City. The bank is FDIC insured (Certificate # 4042).

Popularity of the Reward Checking Accounts?

After one year of offering this reward checking account, I thought it would be interesting to see how the deposits have changed at Legacy Bank. By clicking on the "generate report for Assets and Liabilities" in the Legacy Bank's FDIC page, you can see the total deposits as of June 30th of both 2007 and 2006. The total deposits have actually dropped (from $467 million to $464 million). Perhaps that's why they increased the yield from 5% to 6% APY. With a 6% yield and a $50K cap, I'm surprised there's not some gain in the deposits. If 1,000 people open this account with an average of $25K in new deposits, that would add $25 million.

Rate History:
10/30/08: 3.00% APY for balances under $50K. Yield for balances over $50K and when requirements are not met has changed from 0.06% to 0.03%.
08/01/08: 4.00% APY (scheduled as of 7/20)
05/01/08: 5.00% APY
11/18/07: 6.00% APY

Edit 1/27/09: Updated ebank sign-up requirement time from 45 to 30 days.

Tags: Legacy Bank, checking account, Oklahoma, reward checking account