Connecticut Deposit Account Rates and Deals

Sovereign Bank is offering a checking and money market promotion in which you can earn a bonus of $150 and receive a 1.50% APY guarantee for 3 months in the money market account. The promo is scheduled to expire 3/13/2010. Here's the promo page link.

First, here are the requirements for the $150 checking account bonus:

• Open a new Sovereign Premier Checking, Business Owner Premier Checking, Interest Checking, or Partnership Checking account by March 13, 2010, with a minimum opening deposit of $100
• Open any Sovereign savings or money market savings account with a minimum opening deposit of $100 or already have a savings or money market savings account
• Enroll in Online Banking at account opening
• Set up and receive one direct deposit within 60 days of opening your account
• Request a Sovereign Debit Card and make 5 Debit Card purchases within 60 days after you open your account

When you qualify, you will receive a credit of $150 to your new checking account within 75 days after you open your checking account.

Some important small print:

• Offer available only to residents in the following states: ME, VT, NH, CT, RI, MA, NY, NJ, PA, MV, MD, DE, and District of Columbia.
• Direct deposits you initiate from an account at another bank do not qualify
• The amount of the bonus credited to your account will be reported to the IRS as interest
• Current personal checking customers or anyone who has had a personal checking account with Sovereign Bank in the last 6 months are not eligible for this offer.
• Current savings customers are eligible

An important note regarding the Interest Checking is that direct deposit is required to avoid a $10 monthly fee. On the plus side is that they provide free checks. The Premier Checking is even worse in terms of potential fees. A $15,000 combined balance is required to avoid a $30/month fee. For the savings accounts, the Money Market Savings appears to be a good choice since it has no monthly maintenance fee and no minimum balance requirement. Note, the monthly fees and minimum balance vary considerably based on your state.

Here are the requirements to qualify for 1.50% APY for 3 months:

• Open a new Premier Checking account and open a new Premier Money Market Savings account by March 13, 2010
• Bonus rate will apply for each day your balance is $10,000 to $499,999 and is guaranteed for 3 months from the date you open your account

Some important small print:

• Same geographic restriction as mentioned above
• Anyone who has had a Sovereign savings, money market savings, or personal checking account with Sovereign in the last 6 months are not eligible for the bonus rate

Unlike the checking account promotion, this requires a Premier Money Market Savings account. Details of this account are in the promo page (click more for this account in the promo page). The Premier Money Savings is free of minimum balance requirements and has no monthly fees as long as you have a Premier Checking account (which, as I mentioned, has its own fees)

When I called Sovereign Bank in April 2008 regarding a similar promotion, I was told that there's no account closure fee if an account is closed after 90 days. Otherwise, it's $25. The CSR also said they don't perform a hard credit inquiry. They just use ChexSystem in the application.

There's an online application link in the promo page. However, the small print states that residential addresses must be located in the northeast states (see above).

Branches are located in the Northeast in the states of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The bank is a FDIC member (FDIC Certificate # 29950).

Other Bank Bonuses

Refer to the Bank Bonus page for the other bonuses at banks and credit unions around the nation.

Hudson City Savings Bank continues to offer competitive rates on its long-term internet CDs. The rates are down a bit since October but they remain competitive. The following are the rates as listed on its internet accounts page as of 12/09/09:

• 2.30% APY 24 month
• 2.80% APY 36 month
• 3.15% APY 48 month
• 3.40% APY 60 month

To see all of the rates, you have to go into the online application, and click on the rates link in the product selection page. Minimum deposit is $5,000.

I have many of the CD details in my October post. I called the bank again this morning, and there haven't been any changes to what I posted in October. Note, rates are typically changed on Fridays. Also, the CD rate locks at the time you apply online.

I asked about one feature that a reader mentioned in a comment. It's when you close an account. Interest on CDs is posted at the end of the month. If you close the account early, not only will you lose 6 months of interest (for terms over 1 year) but you will also lose the interest accrued during the month. The CSR advised that you close accounts near the start of the month.

To reach a CSR responsible for these internet accounts, I used the number 201-967-1900, Ext. 1887. After I called I noticed a toll-free number in the disclosure (866-881-4272).

Another issue that a commenter noted is the early withdrawal penalty. Like the disclosures of many banks, it gives them the right to refuse an early withdrawal request: "withdrawal prior to maturity may be permitted only with the consent of the Bank." In addition, "the bank reserves the right to impose a penalty greater than the minimum." If they comply with the stated early withdrawal penalties listed in the disclosure, it's not too bad compared to other banks: 3 months of interest for terms one year and under, 6 months of interest for terms over one year.

To see the early withdrawal penalties and other CD details, refer to the Truth in Savings document which is available in the online application.

In addition to CDs, they also offer an internet money market savings account with a 1.40% APY as of 12/09/09 on balances of at least $2,500. The rate for balances of $10 to $2,500 is 0.75% APY. A $2 monthly fee applies to balances below $100.

Hudson City Savings Bank is a large bank with over $58 billion in assets and with 121 offices in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness continue to be strong: 5 stars (superior) 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 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 13074).

Other Competitive Certificate of Deposit Rates

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

Citizens Bank has a checking account promotion in which you can earn $100. The details of the checking account bonus are listed at www.citizensbank.com/holidayoffer. Offer ends 12/15/2009. The requirements to earn the $100 include:

• $50 for setting up direct deposit of $50 or more
• $25 for making 5 online bill payments
• $25 for making 5 signature-based debit card or credit card purchases

The Green Checking qualifies for this bonus, and it's a free checking account with no monthly fees. Minimum opening balance is $50.

The Green Checking also qualifies for the Green$sense program. Citizens Bank says you can get paid up to $120 per year in Green$ense. However, this would require 100 debit card purchases, online bill payments or automatic payments per month for 12 months. For each of these non-paper transactions, Citizens Bank pays you 10 cents.

There's an online application at the promotions page. However, it only accepts zip codes in their market area. Their market area includes Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Citizens Bank operates under two FDIC charters: Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania (FDIC Certificate # 57282) and RBS Citizens, N.A. which has branches in several states outside of PA and NJ (FDIC Certificate # 57957).

Other Bank Bonuses

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

TD Bank is offering a promotion on its Elite Savings Account with a 1.50% APY guaranteed for 3 months. Minimum daily balance of $10,000 must be maintained to qualify for the 3-month guarantee, and new money is required. Also, a TD Bank checking account is required. The offer is scheduled to end on November 30, 2009. Refer to the bottom of the bank's savings account page for the full details. The account has a $12 monthly maintenance fee if you don't meet the $10K balance requirement or if you are under 62.

Why Report on 1.50%?

An APY of 1.50% is nothing to get excited about, but unfortunately, in today's environment, it's fairly competitive. It's higher than the savings account rates offered by ING Direct, HSBC Direct and iGObanking. Also, for those who prefer to bank at a brick-and-mortar branch, this may a decent option for your short-term money. I doubt the rate will remain competitive after the 3 months.

Branches

There's an online application, but you are still required to select a local bank office to service your account. Branches are located in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia.

TD Bank is part of the bank holding company Toronto-Dominion Bank which is Canada's second largest lender. It was recently reported by Bloomberg that they are actively looking at FDIC-assisted deals to acquire more banks specifically in Florida, Boston and Washington.

TD Bank's ratings for safety and soundness are fair: 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com and 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial. Both ratings are based on 6/30/09 financial data. TD Bank has been a FDIC member since 1961 (FDIC Certificate # 18409).

Thanks to the reader who emailed me info on this promotion.

Other Competitive Money Market Accounts

• Savings Account Weekly Rate Summary
• bank deals by state

Sovereign Bank is offering a unique equity index CD package called the Save & Invest CD Package. It combines a standard 6-month CD (the Save CD) that has a very competitive 2.25% APY and a 3-year equity index CD (the Invest CD). You are required to invest an equal amount in both CDs. The Invest CD is based in the S&P Index. If the S&P Index is higher one, two and three years from 11/30/09, you'll earn 3% for each of those years. So the most you can earn is 3% for each of the three years. However, if the S&P Index is lower on any of those anniversary dates compared to 11/30/09, you won't receive any interest for that year. More details about this CD package are described at Sovereign Bank's Save & Invest CD Package page.

Some additional details from Sovereign's website and from a CSR include:

• Minimum deposit is $2,500 in 6-month Save CD and $2,500 in 3-year Invest CD (web)
• Maximum deposit is $499,999 (web)
• Must be opened on or before November 27, 2009 (web)
• 100% of your principal is guaranteed in the 3-year Invest CD if there is no early withdrawal (web)
• Early withdrawal penalty for the 3-year Invest CD equals 9% of principal for withdrawals in year one, 6% in year two and 3% in year 3 (CSR)
• Not available in IRAs (CSR)
• 2.25% is earned on the 3-year CD until November 30, 2009 (CSR)
• Branch visit is required (CSR)

Is It a Good Deal?

It's interesting to note that they don't list the 3% on their website. I had to call Sovereign Bank (877-768-2265) for the rate. Since you can get 3% on regular 3-year CDs at other banks, the 3% rate hurts this CD package. The 6-month CD rate is nice, but it won't make up for one bad stock market year. In that case, you'll only receive 3% for 2 out of the 3 years and 0% for the bad stock market year. Instead of a 3% 3-year CD, it'll be effectively a 2% 3-year CD.

Branches are located in the Northeast in the states of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The bank is a FDIC member (Certificate # 29950).

Thanks to the readers who commented on this CD package.

$100 Checking/Savings Account Bonus

Sovereign Bank still has a $100 checking/savings account promotion, but it's scheduled to end on 10/31/09. Refer to my post for more details.

Other Equity Index CDs and Regular CDs

Compass Bank has offered similar Equity Index CDs a few times this year. The last one was in September. In this March post I described how you can build your own stock market CD. Whether you build your own stock market CD or just want regular CDs, a higher CD rate always helps. Refer to the following pages to find the best rates:

• 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

NewAlliance Bank is offering a checking account bonus in which it's possible to earn up to $250 in bonuses. He's how the bank describes how to qualify for the bonuses:

When you open a NewAlliance Free Checking account with Direct Deposit and a Free Savings account, we'll deposit $25 into your checking account for each qualifying direct deposit transaction through December 15, 2009 - up to $250

Both the checking account and the savings account have no minimum balance requirements or monthly fee.

In the promo page you're instructed to visit one of the bank's branches to open the accounts. They do have an online application via andera.com, but the application states that you must reside in either Connecticut or Massachusetts. Most of the bank's branches are located in Connecticut with a few in south central Massachusetts.

Some of the important small print of the promotion includes:

• Direct Deposit Bonus: Maximum of ten qualifying bonuses of $25 each may be paid (for a total of $250 in bonuses) on direct deposits made to a NewAlliance Free Checking account from 9/15/09 to 12/15/09. To qualify for $25 bonus, each direct deposit must be in the amount of $250 or more.
• Bonuses will be credited to the Free Checking account by 1/31/10
• Offer is available to new and existing customers who open both a Free Checking and Free Savings account by 11/15/09 and have not had any direct deposits (including single ACH credits) to any NewAlliance account from 6/1/09 to 9/15/09

NewAlliance Bank has been a FDIC member since 1960 (FDIC Certificate # 18261).

Credit goes to iBankDesign for this find.

Other Bank Bonuses

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

KeyBank has a new checking account promotion in which you can receive up to $225 when you:

• Open a qualifying checking account and enroll in KeyBank Rewards by November 20, 2009
• Make one debit card transaction and a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by January 22, 2010

The $225 bonus requires that you open either the Key Privilege Checking or Key Privilege Select Checking. Both of these have high minimum balance requirements to avoid a monthly service charge. A smaller bonus of $125 is available for opening the free checking account which has no minimum balance requirement or monthly service charge.

Here's an important detail listed in the promotion's FAQs:

• This offer is not available in all states. Individuals and businesses will only be eligible in areas where KeyBank has branches. Key has branches in the following states: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.

And here's some of the important small print:

• Direct deposit transactions are limited to: payroll, social security, pension and government benefits.
• Automated payments exclude Key Bill Pay, debit card automated payments, PayPal transactions and account to account balance transfers.
• Offer not available to individuals who have opened a KeyBank checking account in the last 12 months.
• The value of the gift card will be reported on Form 1099-INT.
• If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.

It appears you can apply online, by phone (1-877-539-6659) or at a branch. Note, if you want the 60,000 KeyBank Rewards instead of the $125 cash bonus, you'll need to call or visit a branch.

According to the customer service rep, they don't do a hard credit inquiry. They only use ChexSystem in the application approval process. This is based on my conversation with the CSR last year.

KeyBank has been a FDIC member since 1956.

Credit to iBankDesign for this find.

Other Bank Bonuses

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

Hudson City Savings Bank is offering some very competitive rates on its long-term internet CDs. Minimum deposit is $5,000. The following are the rates as listed on its internet accounts page as of 10/05/09:

• 2.50% APY 24 month
• 3.00% APY 36 month
• 3.25% APY 48 month
• 3.50% APY 60 month

To see all of the rates, you have to go into the online application, and click on the rates link in the product selection page.

I first reported on these internet accounts in February. I called the bank this morning to see if anything has changed. It appears to be the same. These internet accounts are available to people in any state. The application is provided by the Andera service which is common for online applications. Initial funding can be done by electronic ACH transfer.

Here are the CD features I was told by the CSR:

• $100,000 ACH deposit limit, no limit for mailing in a check
• Rate locks when the application is submitted
• You can specify up to 2 beneficiaries in the application. Additional ones can be added afterwards
• At maturity, ACH transfer and wire transfer are not options. CSR can transfer to an internal account or mail you a cashiers check
• Rates typically updated on Fridays
• The Internet Banking Department can be reached at 201-967-1900, Ext. 1887

Additional details are listed in the Truth in Savings document which is available in the online application. Some important details include:

• Early withdrawal penalty is 6 months of interest for terms of more than one year
• Grace period is 10 calendar days after the maturity date

In addition to CDs, they also offer an internet money market savings account with a 1.75% APY as of 10/05/09 on balances of at least $2,500. The rate for balances of $10 to $2,500 is 0.75% APY. A $2 monthly fee applies to balances below $100.

Hudson City Savings Bank is a large bank with over $57 billion in assets and with 121 offices in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness continue to be strong: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial (based on 6/30/09 data) and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com (based on 3/31/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 13074).

Thanks to the reader who mentioned these CD rates in the bank deals hub page

Other Competitive Certificate of Deposit Rates

• 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

Citizens Bank has a checking account promotion in which you can earn $100. They also have a savings program called Green$sense which is similar to Bank of America's Keep the Change program.

The details of the checking account bonus are listed at www.citizensbank.com/220/. Offer ends 11/13/2009. The requirements to earn the $100 include:

• $50 for setting up direct deposit of $500 or more
• $25 for making 5 online bill payments
• $25 for making 5 debit or credit card purchases

Citizens Bank also lists $120 for enrolling in GreenSense. However, this would require 100 debit card purchases, online bill payments or automatic payments per month for 12 months. For each of these non-paper transactions, Citizens Bank pays you 10 cents. Refer to the Green$sense page for more details. The Green Checking appears to qualify. It's a free checking account with no minimum balance requirement.

There's an online application. However, it appears to only accept zip codes in their market area. Their market area includes much of the Northeast along with Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan.

Citizens Bank operates under two FDIC charters: Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania (FDIC Certificate # 57282) and RBS Citizens, N.A. which has branches in several states outside of PA and NJ (FDIC Certificate # 57957).

Credit for this find goes to SlickDeals member SUCHaDEAL who posted it on this SD thread.

Other Bank Bonuses

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

Capital One Bank's SmartCents is a new savings program that is very similar to Bank of America's Keep The Change Program. Below are the main features of SmartCents:

• Every time you make a debit card purchase or pay a bill online, 50 cents of your money is transferred from your checking to your savings
• Capital One matches 100% of your eligible SmartCents transfers made within the first 3 months, and 5% after that (up to $300/year)
• Get $15 for your first direct deposit plus an extra $15 for your first online bill payment

It requires that you have both a Capital One SmartCents checking and a savings account. However, according to the disclosure, "eligible savings accounts include personal savings and personal money market accounts offered by the retail branch bank." So this doesn't include the Capital One's Direct Banking savings accounts which offer rates as high as 1.75% APY as of 9/27/09 (see account review). The branch savings accounts have lower rates and two of the three have minimum balance requirements to avoid a monthly fee. At least the SmartCents checking has no monthly service fees or minimum balance requirements.

Another downside to SmartCents is that it's currently not available nationwide. It's only available at Capital One branches. You can apply online, but you're required to visit a branch to complete the application process. Branches are located in Connecticut, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia.

Some important small print includes:

• Bonuses are for new to bank checking customers only
• New to bank checking customers receive a 100% match on all eligible automatic SmartCents transfers made within the first 3 months, then 5% thereafter (sounds like existing checking customers may not receive the 100% match)
• Matching for online bill payments is limited to 10 per month

Comparison to Bank of America's Keep the Change Program

Both the BofA's KTC program and Capital One's SmartCents offer 100% match in the checking-savings transfers for the first 3 months. After the first 3 months, it goes down to a 5% match. The matching is maxed at $250 per year for the KTC and $300 per year for SmartCents. For both programs, the matching will only be significant for the first 3 months.

In BofA's KTC program, the money transferred from the checking to savings can be as high as 99 cents. They round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the difference from your checking account to your savings account. For Capital One's SmartCents, the amount for each transfer is fixed at 50 cents. One advantage of SmartCents is that transfers can also be initiated by online bill pay and recurring pre-authorized payment. However, the matching is limited to 10 bill payments per month.

Other Savings Programs

The best savings program in my opinion is Wachovia/Wells Fargo's Way2Save program (see account review). In the Way2Save program you can easily make about $80 more than if you just had an online savings account during one year, and this doesn't require any debit card usage.

These savings programs are becoming popular. Earlier this month I reviewed US Bank's new START program. As I mentioned in that post, you have to be careful with these programs. The benefits of these programs can be erased if you have any overdrafts with your debit card. If you have sizable savings and want to profit for debit card usage, you'll be better off with high yield reward checking accounts.