3.01% Reward Checking Account at a Washington State CU (Gesa)

Update 4/11/09: The yield has fallen to 3.01% APY. See bottom of post for the rate history.

Gesa Credit Union is offering a reward checking account called Colossal Checking that pays 3.01% APY for balances up to $10,000 (0.15% for above) and refunds ATM fees without limit if the following monthly requirements are met:

• 12 debit card purchases
• one direct deposit or ACH debit
• receive eStatements
• access online banking

If these are not met, the rate falls to 0.15%. There are no monthly service charges, and no minimum balance required to open or maintain the account.

The big downside to this account is the low $10,000 cap. Most reward checking accounts still have a $25,000 cap. This low cap definitely hurts this deal, but I thought it was worth reporting at least for how this could be a start of a trend.

Membership is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in the State of Washington. Also, you can be eligible if a close relative qualifies as a member. Please refer to their Membership page for more details. Membership requires a minimum balance of $5 in the share savings account.

Branches are located in the Washington cities of Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, Walla Walla and Wenatchee. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 68278). It has $631 million in assets and 74,930 members.

Other High Yield Reward Checking Accounts

To find reward checking accounts in other areas of the nation (many with much higher caps) or to learn more about these accounts, please refer to my High Yield Checking website.

Rate History:
04/01/09: 3.01% APY on balances up to $10,000, 0.15% APY for above
03/01/09: 4.01% APY on balances up to $10,000
01/05/09: 5.00% APY on balances up to $10,000, 0.20% APY for above, ATM fee refunds now unlimited
11/01/08: 6.01% APY on balances up to $10,000, 0.30% APY for above
10/01/08: 6.01% APY on balances up to $10,000.
08/08/08: 6.50% APY on balances up to $10,000.
05/21/08: 6.01% APY on balances up to $10,000, 1.01% APY for above, first 8/mo ATM fees refunded

Edit 7/10/09: Updated credit union URLs
Edit 1/02/09: Updated APY for above cap.

Tags: Gesa Credit Union, Washington, checking account, reward checking account