Colorado Deposit Account Rates and Deals

Digital Credit Union is offering a free FICO credit score service to its members. Details are described in this credit union page. It states that "through DCU you can receive your Equifax FICO Credit Score via Message Center once a month FREE." Additional details are listed in the credit union's FAQ page.

Free credit scores from one of the major credit bureaus are not easy to find. Free trial periods are common, but these require you to sign up for a monthly subscription. You'll have to cancel before the trial period to avoid being charged the monthly fee. Other sites that offer free credit monitoring services may not be offering FICO scores.

You can get a free copy of your credit report once a year from each of the bureaus from AnnualCreditReport.com, the website setup by the government. However, this does not provide your credit score.

Another reason to join DCU is their CD specials. Every now and then DCU comes out with a nice CD special. The last one was in February when DCU was offering 2% for a 14-month term.

Anyone can join DCU via membership in an association. Refer to this credit union page for the list of associations. The least expensive membership is $10 for joining Reach Out for Schools. You can be immediately eligible to join DCU if you live, work, worship or attend school in parts of Georgia and Massachusetts. Refer to the Join DCU page for the full details.

In the instructions for joining DCU there are links to an online membership application and a PDF application. A reader who commented on his experience with the online application in my DCU post from 2008 provided the instructions he received from DCU after he applied:

In order to continue processing your application, please mail a $5 check or money order payable to DCU to fund your membership.

If you have joined through a sponsoring organization, then please make sure to also include funds to cover that organization's membership fee.

Also, please mail a copy of your driver's license or passport. If sending a passport, or if your license does not show your current address, please also send either a utility bill in your name (electric, gas, home telephone) or a copy of your apartment lease agreement. If you have listed a Joint Owner on your application, that person must also send the required ID and address proof.

Please note, we do not accept cell phone bills, bank statements, credit card statements or pay statements as address verification.

Make sure to check with the credit union for the latest instructions. One downside to joining is a potential hard credit inquiry (which can temporarily ding your credit score). Here's what a commenter mentioned in my August 2008 DCU post:

I also have been a five-year DCU member, holding several jumbo CDs with them. Yet, when I added checking to my account this past January, they ran a check on me through Equifax!

Branches are located throughout Massachusetts, in Hudson, Merrimack and Nashua in New Hampshire, in Colorado Springs, Colorado and in Alpharetta, Georgia.

DCU is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 23521). It's a large credit union with $4.2 billion in assets and 376,824 members.

Credit for this find goes to FW member jackcrawfish who mentioned it on this FW thread.

BBVA Compass Bank is offering another bonus of up to $150 for opening a new checking account, using online bill pay and direct deposit. Here's the promotion page link. It's not as good as the January promotion since the $150 is not all cash. $50 of the bonus is a hotel gift card. Here are the important details of this new promotion:

• Open a new Build-to-Order checking account online by 3/31/2010 (small print says 3/31 even though headlines say 4/30)
• $100 cash when you establish a recurring payroll direct deposit by 04/30/2010
• $50 hotel gift card when you pay at least one bill for at least $25 to an unrelated third party via online bill pay by 04/01/2010

Note, according to the small print, the $50 hotel gift card is also available for existing BBVA Compass checking customers who haven't used online bill pay in the last 90 days. I don't know the "true" value of the hotel gift card. It can only be used for hotels booked at www.myhotelgiftcard.com and requires a two night minimum stay.

Requirements for Opening Compass Bank Accounts:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Have a permanent residence within a state where BBVA Compass has a banking center (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas) and your permanent residence must be located in close proximity to a BBVA Compass banking center.

BBVA Compass now has branches in California after its acquisition of the failed Guaranty Bank last August. However, these branches may not be transitioned over yet to allow people to qualify for these Compass promotions. If you're in California and interested in this promo, it may be worth a call to Compass.

BBVA Compass Checking Accounts

I completed a Compass checking promotion in 2006 and received the promised $50 gift card without any problems. One downside is that I did received two hard credit inquiries by Transunion.

The Build-to-Order Free Checking comes with some basic features. Two additional premium features are allowed without cost. The notable basic feature is no minimum balance or direct deposit requirement. Also, bill pay is free. The notable premium feature for those who want to make extra money is a $25 anniversary cash bonus. One feature that is lacking is free checks. A reader in a previous Compass post mentioned that the first order of checks is free.

The disclosure has some of the details of $25 anniversary cash bonus feature. I switched my Compass checking account to this Build-to-Order Free Checking in December 2007 and chose the $25 anniversary cash bonus as one of my premium features. Then I set up small monthly ACH debits from my online bank account to keep the checking active. I received the $25 bonus for both 2008 and 2009.

BBVA Compass Bank is a member FDIC (FDIC Certificate # 19048).

Credit for this find goes to this iBankDesign thread.

Other Bank Bonuses

To find other bonus deals, please refer to my best bank bonuses page which has all of my recent bank bonus posts.

Bank of the West has extended its $100 checking account bonus. According to the bank's promotions page, the new checking account must be opened by 4/16/2010. You can receive a $100 when you open a checking account with funds new to Bank of the West and set up direct deposit of at least $250 OR pay 10 bills online. I reviewed the small print in this January post.

Update: It appears Bank of the West has changed the availability of the promotion since January. According to the CSR, online account opening is limited to states which have Bank of the West branches. These states include AZ, CA, CO, ID, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, NV, NM, ND, OK, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI and WY.

When I contacted the bank in January, I was told this bonus was available to people in any state, and you didn't need to come into a branch. Readers seemed to confirm this in the comments in January. Here's one of the comments:

We did this offer in late 2009 as well. We did NOT visit a local branch. We filled out the application online. We used direct deposit to fulfill the requirement. $100 bonus was paid eventually.

If you have participated in similar promotions in the past, please leave a comment about your experience.

Also from my January call, I was told they don't do a hard credit inquiry in the application (only a soft pull). So you shouldn't have to worry about a ding to your credit score. It should be noted that I've often received wrong info on this issue from CSRs so please leave a comment if you have personal experience on this issue.

Checking Account with no ATM Fees for One Year

Bank of the West's free checking account qualifies for the bonus. In addition, they have a new checking account called Choice ATM checking which offers one year of free ATM use within the USA. This allows you to withdraw cash from any financial institution's ATM free of charge for one year. Surcharges assessed by other banks will be automatically refunded. One thing to note about this Choice ATM Checking is that you have to worry about a $10 monthly fee unless you meet certain balance or activity requirements. Also, Choice ATM checking is only offered in the following states: CA, CO, MN, NV, OK and OR.

Online Savings Account

Bank of the West continues to offer an online savings account with a competitive yield. It has gone down from 1.50% APY in January to 1.25% APY as of today (3/10/10). Unfortunately, 1.25% APY is a decent savings account rate these days. This rate requires a $10,000 minimum balance. The low tier rate has also gone down by 0.25%. It's now 0.25% APY for balances under $10,000. In August I was told by the CSR that there's a $2/month fee if the balance falls below $300. Another downside is that their ACH bank-to-bank transfer service has a transfer limit of $2,000 per day.

Bank Overview

Branches are located throughout the Western and Midwestern states including Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and California.

Bank of the West is one of the large regional banks with $60 billion in assets and $40.2 billion in deposits. Its ratings for safety and soundness are a little weak: 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial (based on 12/31/09 data) and 1 star (lowest) at Bankrate.com (based on 9/30/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 3514).

Other Bank Bonuses

To find other bonus deals, please refer to my bank bonus page which has all of my recent bank bonus posts.

American Bank of Commerce is offering a competitive 2-year CD yield of 2.32% APY. Minimum deposit is $1,000. This CD rate isn't listed at the bank's website. A reader emailed me news of this, and I just contacted the bank for additional details. The CSR didn't know how long this rate would last. It has been this rate since January. According to the CSR, this rate is available at all of their branches. The early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest.

A branch visit is required to open an account. Branches are located in Texas cities of Austin, Lubbock, Mansfield, Plano and Wolfforth, and in the Colorado cities of Pueblo and Colorado Springs.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are a little mixed: 3½ stars (good) at BauerFinancial and 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1962 (FDIC Certificate # 18609).

United Western Bank is offering a special 22-month CD with a 2.22% APY. Minimum deposit is $500. This special doesn't appear to be listed at the bank's website. It was advertised in a Colorado newspaper today (2/14/2010). The ad is available online here. The small print says to refer to offer code VP0110CD.

It appears that a branch visit is required. Branches are located in the Colorado cities of Denver, Boulder, Cherry Creek, Hampden, Fort Collins, Centennial, Longmont and Loveland.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are a little weak: 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial and 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1962 (FDIC Certificate # 31293).

Digital Credit Union is offering a special 14-month certificate with a 2.00% APY. Minimum deposit is $500. It's also available in an IRA. The CD is listed in the DCU's special offers page as of 2/10/2010.

Every now and then DCU comes out with a nice CD special. The last one was in October when DCU was offering 2% for a 9-month term. You can see the interest rate environment has continued to worsen since October.

Anyone can join DCU via membership in an association. Refer to this credit union page for the list of associations. The least expensive membership is $10 for joining Reach Out for Schools. You can be immediately eligible to join DCU if you live, work, worship or attend school in parts of Georgia and Massachusetts. Refer to the Join DCU page for the full details.

In the instructions for joining DCU there are links to an online membership application and a PDF application. A reader who commented on his experience with the online application in my DCU post from 2008 provided the instructions he received from DCU after he applied:

In order to continue processing your application, please mail a $5 check or money order payable to DCU to fund your membership.

If you have joined through a sponsoring organization, then please make sure to also include funds to cover that organization's membership fee.

Also, please mail a copy of your driver's license or passport. If sending a passport, or if your license does not show your current address, please also send either a utility bill in your name (electric, gas, home telephone) or a copy of your apartment lease agreement. If you have listed a Joint Owner on your application, that person must also send the required ID and address proof.

Please note, we do not accept cell phone bills, bank statements, credit card statements or pay statements as address verification.

Make sure to check with the credit union for the latest instructions. One downside to joining is a potential hard credit inquiry (which can temporarily ding your credit score). Here's what a commenter mentioned in my August 2008 DCU post:

I also have been a five-year DCU member, holding several jumbo CDs with them. Yet, when I added checking to my account this past January, they ran a check on me through Equifax!

Branches are located throughout Massachusetts, in Hudson, Merrimack and Nashua in New Hampshire, in Colorado Springs, Colorado and in Alpharetta, Georgia.

DCU's rating for safety and soundness has gone down from 3 stars to 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com since my October post. DCU continues to be rated as 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. DCU is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 23521). It's a large credit union with $4.2 billion in assets and 376,824 members.

Other Competitive Certificate of Deposit Rates

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