5.12% Reward Checking Account at Bank of the Southwest in NM - Local Only

Bank of the Southwest is offering a high-yield reward checking account called True Checking. It has the following rates if certain monthly requirements are met:

• 5.12% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 0.25% APY on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.25% base rate if requirements are not met

The monthly requirements include:

• 15 debit card purchases (credit based)
• 1 direct deposit or online bill pay or electronic payment
• Write 5 or fewer checks per month (They don't want heavy use of paper checks)
• Receive electronic statements

Additional features of the account regardless of the monthly requirements include:

• $100 minimum initial deposit
• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly maintenance fee
• Free Bill Pay
• Automatic refunds of up to 3 ATM surcharges per month

It appears that a branch visit is required to open an account. Branches are located in the New Mexico cities of Roswell, Las Cruces, Hatch, Farmington, Kirtland, Bloomfield, Truth or Consequences (that's a strange city name!) and Elephant Butte.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial (based on 9/30/09 data) and 5 stars (superior) at Bankrate.com (based on 6/30/09 data). It's rare to find a bank with 5 stars at both BauerFinancial and Bankrate. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (">FDIC Certificate # 2247).

Other Reward Checking Accounts

As several readers have noted, many banks have been cutting rates and leaving the 5% reward checking club. A recent example is Bank2 in Oklahoma which had started its reward checking last March as a nationwide deal with 5% guaranteed through 2009 (see post).

To find reward checking accounts in other areas of the nation, please refer to the reward checking section of DepositAccounts.com. To learn more about reward checking, please refer to this reward checking overview.