Great Money Market Deal in Louisiana at First NBC Bank

I’m starting to see higher rates on checking and money accounts at a few banks. These have been local deals, and that’s the case with First NBC Bank in Louisiana. This bank is offering very competitive rates on its checking, savings and money market accounts. Its Premier Investment Money Market Account is the best deal with a top-tier interest rate of 1.51% APY. This requires a minimum balance of $1 million. The lower tiers are still good deals that don’t require a huge balance. The interest rate tiers are shown below and are based on the bank’s rate sheet as of 3/21/2014:

• 1.51% APY for $1 million and up
• 1.38% APY for $250K to under $1 million
• 1.26% APY for $10K to under $250K
• 0.50% APY for $5K to under $10K

As you can see, just a $10K balance allows you to earn an interest rate that’s higher than any rate you can get from nationally available liquid bank account that isn’t a reward checking account.

The Premier Investment MMA has no monthly service charge. It does require a minimum initial deposit of $5,000, and you have to maintain at least $5,000 to earn any interest. As is common with money market accounts, you can write up to six checks per month.

Availability

I was told by a bank CSR that a branch visit is required to open an account, and you must reside in their market area in Louisiana.

Bank Overview

First NBC Bank branches are located in several Louisiana cities. Some of these include New Orleans, Jefferson, Metairie, Hammond, Slidell and Denham Springs.

It’s a sizeable community bank with over $3 billion in assets. The bank has an overall health grade at DepositAccounts.com of an A+ with a Texas ratio of 5.12% (excellent) based on December 2013 data. Please refer to our financial overview of First NBC Bank for more details. The bank has been a FDIC member since 2006 (FDIC Certificate # 58302).

How This Money Market Account Compares

The highest rate on a nationally available money market account is 1.15% APY at Connexus Credit Union. This requires a $100K balance and an active checking account. The highest rate without a checking requirement is 1.01% APY. This is available from the savings account at SFGI Direct. These rates are accurate as of 3/21/2014.