Colorado Deposit Account Rates and Deals

Greater Western Bank is offering three CD specials. The most competitive one is a 2.18% APY 18-month CD. The other two are a 2.68% APY 38-month CD and a 3.08% APY 58-month CD. These rates include a 0.15% bonus for new or existing checking or savings account customers. Minimum deposit is $5,000, and new money is required. These special CD rates are listed in the bank's CD page as of 2/01/2010.

It appears that a branch visit is required. Branches are located in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Missouri.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1935 (FDIC Certificate # 15289).

• Open any new personal checking account
• First recurring direct deposit must be posted to your account within 60 calendar days of your account opening date
• The 10 bill payments must occur within 60 calendar days of your account opening date
• Bonus will be credited to your account within 60 days after satisfaction of conditions
• Offer valid for a new personal checking account opened from with $100 or more from a financial institution other than Bank of the West
• Offer does not apply to second or multiple checking accounts and/or existing checking customers
• Limit of one $100 bonus per household per calendar year
• Value of the offer reported to the IRS on Form 1099

• Open a new Compass checking account and sign up for Online Bill Pay by 2/28/10
• Pay at least 5 bills online every 30 days for the first 90 days your account is open
• For each month that you do, you'll get $25 - up to $75 total

• Online bill payments must be made to a third party and be at least $25 in order to be eligible
• Each $25 bonus will be deposited into the new checking account from which online payments were made, within 60 days of fifth eligible online payment for each 30-day period.

• Open a new checking account online by 2/28/2010 and sign up for payroll Direct Deposit.
• Get your first payroll Direct Deposit within 30 days that your account is open.
• $75 bonus will be deposited, within 120 days of first recurring payroll direct deposit, into the new checking account that receives the direct deposit.

• Minimum $25 opening deposit required
• Offer available to new checking households only
• Bonus may be subject to income tax reporting
• Limit one bonus totaling $150 per household
• Bonuses are paid on the last business day of the month

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must be a resident of one of the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas.

At the December meeting, our Board of Director approved lower Money Market & IRA Certificate rates for January 2010 than previously announced. We became aware of the change in rates on December 29. It is very rare for the Board of Directors to make a change in the rates after we project them, but in this case; other factors in the market forced us to lower our projected rates slightly.

As indicated in all of our disclosure statements, our rates are always subject to change. Below, I have provided a few key points regarding the rates along with a January 2010 rate chart.

* All members who participated in the CD Rollover Subscription program will have their reservations honored, and they will receive the advertised rate from that promotion: 3 yr/3.50%, 5 yr/4:00% and 7 yr/4.25

* With the exception of CD Rollover Subscription enrollees that will receive the promised CD Rollover Subscription rates, the 0.25% APY certificate rollover bonus will be applied to all qualifying certificates rolling over between December 29, 2009 and February 1, 2010, inclusive. These certificates will receive the "Rollover " rates reflected in the chart below. Update 1/06/09: I received a clarification about the below rates. For those members with CDs maturing December 29-31, 2009 and February 1, 2010 (and did not participate in the CD Reservation program), and wish to rollover, they will receive the rate in effect for that month - plus the 0.25% bonus.

        APY for
CD      CD Subscription  APY for    APY for
Term    Participants     Rollovers  New Money
----    ---------------  ---------  ---------
6 mo    -                1.00%      1.00%
1 yr    -                1.25%      1.25%
2 yr    -                1.75%      1.75%
3 yr    3.50%            3.25%      3.00%
4 yr    -                3.50%      3.25%
5 yr    4.00%            3.75%      3.50%
7 yr    4.25%            4.00%      3.75%

• CD rates at DepositAccounts.com
• My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals

• 3.00% APY 3 year
• 3.25% APY 4 year
• 3.50% APY 5 year
• 3.75% APY 7 year

• Early withdrawal penalty for the terms of 3 to 5 years is 180 days of dividends (all dividends if redeemed before 180 days from issue date)
• IRA CDs available with the same rates
• IRA CD holders over 59½ can avoid most of the early withdrawal penalty (see see post)

Update 1/21/2010: The bank extended the rate guarantee to 5/31/2010.

Adams Bank & Trust is offering a high-yield reward checking account called SuperSmart e-Checking. It has the following rates and features if you meet certain monthly requirements:

• 4.00% APY on balances up to $35,000 (guaranteed until 5/31/2010)
• 2.00% on portion of balance over $35,000
• 0.20% base rate if requirements are not met
• ATM fee refunds up to $10 per month

The monthly requirements include:

• 25 debit card purchases (PIN or signature based)
• 1 direct deposit or direct payment (ACH)
• Receive e-statements

Additional account features include:

• $100 minimum initial deposit
• $7 monthly membership fee if requirements are not met

For those who don't want to do 25 monthly debit card purchases, the bank offers the Smart e-Checking which has easier requirements but the rates are lower:

• 2.00% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 1.00% on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.15% base rate if requirements are not met
• ATM fee refunds up to $10 per month

The monthly requirements include:

• 15 debit card purchases (PIN or signature based)
• 1 direct deposit or direct payment (ACH)
• Receive e-statements

Another reason to choose this account over the SuperSmart e-Checking is that it lacks the monthly fee if you fail to meet the monthly requirements.

It appears that a branch visit is required to open an account. Branches are located in Nebraska and Colorado.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial (based on 9/30/09 data) and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com (based on 6/30/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 1962 (FDIC Certificate # 18489).

Other Reward Checking Accounts

The high debit card usage requirement and the monthly fee when requirements are not met are rare for reward checking accounts. Most only require 10 purchases a month and have no monthly fees regardless of meeting the requirements. The only good thing about these requirements is that it should encourage people to use the account as their primary checking account which should make it easier for the bank to maintain the high rates.

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.

Rate History:
4.00% APY up to $35K; 2.00% over (guaranteed to 5/31/10)
4.00% APY up to $35K; 2.00% over (guaranteed to 2/27/10)

• CD rates at DepositAccounts.com (overview of DepositAccounts.com)
• My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals

• The current Rollover Certificate promotion is for existing PenFed Money Market and IRA certificates that are due to mature in January 2010 AND the member elects to rollover.
• The former Certificate Reservation program only included 3, 5 and 7 year certificates. The new promotion includes 3, 4, 5 and 7 year certificates.
• With the former Reservation program, members secured the following yields: 3 yr/3.50%, 5 yr/4:00% and 7 yr/4.25%. **The new Rollover Certificate promotion will yield the following (which includes the 0.25% bonus): 3yr yields 3.50%, 4 yr yields 3.75%, 5 yr yields 4.00% and 7 yr yields 4.25%.
• All members who participated in the Certificate Reservation program will have their reservations honored and they will receive the advertised rate.
• If a member has a PenFed Money Market or IRA certificates that is due to mature in January and wishes to call PenFed and confirm the rates for the Rollover promotion, they may do so as our representatives have been provided with the January's 2010 certificate rates.
• A member with a maturing certificate in January may participate in the promotion by accessing their accounts via PenFed Online. On PenFed Online, the member can locate their certificate(s) and elect to have the certificate "rollover" at maturity. They may also contact a member service representative to assist them with the rollover election.

• 3.25% APY 3 year
• 3.50% APY 4 year
• 3.75% APY 5 year
• 4.00% APY 7 year

Once the membership has been established, the member may subsequently request Alliant-initiated ACH transfers to/from other financial institutions via Skybranch up to $10,000 per day. The process is free of charge. As the process involves batch processing through the Federal Reserve ACH, it can take 2-3 banking days to complete.

Alliant has variable maximum limits that are based on the following criteria: Length of membership, Loans, Average Daily balance and if the member is in good standing.

• High Rate Checking review
• Savings Account review

• Savings Account Weekly Rate Summary
• My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals
• My weekly list of all nationwide CD deals
• Index by state of local CD, savings account and other deals

• 4.25% APY 7 years
• 4.00% APY 5 years
• 3.50% APY 3 years

Your email inquiry regarding our Rollover Certificate Promotion was reviewed by upper management today with much thought and consideration.

It was concluded that PenFed will in all likelihood extended the promotion to February 2010, but it will depend on what January's demand for this promotion looks like before a final decision can be determined. At this time, PenFed will not be including certificates that mature in December 2009 as part of this promotion

• 4.00% APY 7 years
• 3.00% APY 5 years
• 2.75% APY 4 years
• 2.50% APY 3 years

• 5 Points for every $1 you spend with airlines
• 3 Points for every $1 on dining and hotels (until 12/31/2010)
• 1 Point for virtually every dollar you spend anywhere else
• No limit to the points you can earn

• My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals
• My weekly list of all nationwide CD deals
• Index of state CD and bank deals