Louisiana Deposit Account Rates and Deals

BancorpSouth Bank continues to offer a high-yield reward checking account called Performance Checking. I first reported on this account in May 2008. The rates have fallen a bit, but it remains competitive, and it has a higher-than-average balance cap of $30K. Another thing nice about this bank is that it's large with 289 offices throughout the Southeast. So if you're looking for a local reward checking account, a BancorpSouth branch may be nearby.

The rates are not easy to find at the bank's website. The only place I found the rate was at the start the online application (link to application located at this BancorpSouth page). You first have to select the state and the city of your home branch. The next page has links for each account, and you can click on the link for the Performance Checking to see the rate. It does vary based on your city. I've checked a few cities, and here are the two rates as of 3/11/2010:

• 3.25% APY up to $30K for Baton Rouge, LA & Tyler, TX
• 3.00% APY up to $30K for Destin, FL & Huntsville, AL

Please leave a comment about the rate if you check your city. The Performance Checking account has the typical reward checking features such as debit card usage (12 per month). Refer to this BancorpSouth page or my BancorpSouth checking review for more details.

Performance Savings Account

One thing that has been added since my 2008 post is a high-yield savings account. This also has the Performance name. The Performance Savings has a 1.50% APY (as of 3/11/2010) for all balances if the following two requirements are met:

• Transfer at least $50 into your Performance Savings account each interest cycle electronically via ACH or Internet Banking Transfer.
• Combine your Performance Savings statement with your BancorpSouth Checking account statement (you will no longer receive a separate statement for your Performance Savings account).

If these requirements are not met, the rate falls to the standard rate of 0.15%. This does require the Performance Checking account, but unlike other reward checking/savings combos, you don't have to meet the reward checking requirements to qualify for the bonus rate.

The Performance Checking and Savings accounts provide a nice alternative to savings accounts at internet banks, many of which now have rates of 1.25% or less.

Online Application and Branch Locations

As I mentioned above, there's an online application for both these accounts at this BancorpSouth page. The application makes it appear that you have to live near a branch to qualify. Most of BancorpSouth branches are located in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana. There are also a few in East Texas, the Florida Panhandle and in the Springfield and St. Louis metro areas of Missouri.

Financial Overview

BancorpSouth's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial (based on 12/31/09 data) and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com (based on 9/30/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 11813).

Thanks to the reader who emailed me news of this reward checking account.

Other Reward Checking Accounts

As I mentioned above, BancorpSouth is a large bank with 289 branches, $13.2 billion in assets and $10.6 billion in deposits. There are not many other large banks offering reward checking accounts. I recently reviewed a few large banks offering reward checking, but I forgot about BancorpSouth which happens to be larger than the ones I mentioned in that post.

To find nationally available reward checking accounts and reward checking accounts in your local area, please refer to the reward checking section of DepositAccounts.com.

Northrop Grumman Federal Credit Union is offering special 9-month, 18-month, 30-month and 60-month CDs and IRA CDs. Unfortunately, these are not available to all members (see below). The best rates require a $40K minimum deposit. These are listed at the credit union's rates page as of 2/26/2010 and include:

• 1.92% APY 9 months
• 2.41% APY 18 months
• 2.81% APY 30 months
• 3.63% APY 60 months

Rates are about 25 basis points lower for a $2,500 minimum.

Unfortunately, unlike NGFCU's standard CDs, these specials are available to NGFCU members of record prior to 1/31/2010 and to NGC and LA Metro employees and their family members who are not current members. Note, this restriction is stated near the top of the rates page. This is the same promotion that NGFCU did last year (and the year before), so if you're not already a member, you may want to join now so you can take advantage if they offer this again next year.

For those who don't qualify for these promotions, NGFCU continues to have some competitive rates on its regular CDs. These are listed at the credit union's rates page as of 2/26/2010, and the most competitive ones include:

• 1.63% APY 6 months
• 1.87% APY 12 months
• 2.15% APY 24 months
• 3.32% APY 48 months

The above rates require a minimum deposit of $40K. Rates are about 25 basis points lower for a $2.5K minimum.

Membership Eligibility

Anyone can qualify for NGFUC membership by joining the Southern California Historical Aircraft Foundation (SCHAF). The credit union website has an online application link that takes you to the Andera service where you can join the SCHAF, join the credit union and open accounts. According to the first page of the Andera application:

Members of the Southern California Historical Aircraft Foundation (SCHAF). When you join using this method, you will receive a free one-year membership in SCHAF concurrent with your lifetime Credit Union membership.

Refer to the credit union's eligibility page for more details. For more details about membership and their certificates, please refer to my 2008 Northrop Grumman FCU review post.

NGFCU has branches in several cities of California, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, Louisiana and Florida.

NGFCU ratings for safety and soundness are above average: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial and 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 24292).

Crescent Bank & Trust has several competitive CD rates. There are five CD specials, but many of its standard CDs are actually more competitive. These include a 2% APY 12-month CD, a 2.40% APY 18-month CD and a 3.15% APY 36-month CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000. The most competitive CD special is the 44-month CD with a 3.40% APY. Minimum deposit is $5,000. These rates are listed in the bank's rate table as of 1/08/2010.

A branch visit is required to open accounts. Branches that can process CD applications are located in New Orleans, Metairie, Alexandria, Covington and Shreveport, Louisiana.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are above average: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial (based on 9/30/09 data) and 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com (based on 6/30/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 1991 (FDIC Certificate # 33492).

Other Competitive Certificate of Deposit Rates

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

Regions Bank has adjusted its special CDs, but they remain competitive in many states. All areas appear to have the same long-term CD special rates: 2.50% APY for 23 months and 3.00% APY for 42 months. The 7-month CD special also appears common for all areas, but it's not nearly as competitive with a 1.25% APY. They used to have a 12-month special, but the term is now 15 to 17 months. The APY is 2.00% for many states (I've confirmed this for AL, GA, IL and TX). In some states it's only 1.75% APY (I've confirmed this for FL and IN). The rates vary by area, so you'll have to enter your zip code at Regions CD page to see the rates available for your area. The above rates were checked on 12/16/09.

Minimum deposit for the above specials is $10,000 with a $1 million maximium, and new money is required. Also, the CD page states that you must have or open a Regions checking account. A reader in my last Regions post mentioned that his Texas branch hasn't required him to open a checking account. So you may be able to get out of the checking requirement if you have some nice reps at your local branch.

When I had last checked with Regions on its special CDs, a branch visit was required to open an account. Branches are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Regions lost $473 million in the third quarter, and it's in the process of cost-cutting which includes closing some branches. According to this Herald Tribune article, it's closing 22 offices in Florida and 121 in its 16-state footprint. Regions was one of the major banks that were required to raise capital based on the government's stress test last spring (see post).

Regions Bank's rating for safety and soundness at Bankrate.com is 1 star (lowest) based on 6/30/09 data. At BauerFinancial it was 3 stars (adequate) when it was based on 6/30/09 data. It remains 3 stars based on 9/30/09 data. Regions Bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (Regions' FDIC Certificate # 1368).

Other Competitive Certificate of Deposit Rates

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

Cross Key Bank is offering a high-yield reward checking account called Gold Key Rewards Checking. The account has the following rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met:

• 4.05% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 1.00% APY on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.10% base rate if requirements are not met
• Refunds ATM fees nationwide up to $25 per cycle

The monthly requirements include:

• 12 Visa check card purchases
• 1 direct deposit or ACH auto debit
• Receive e-statements and be enrolled in internet banking

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

• $100 minimum initial deposit
• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly service charge
• Limited to one account per primary account holder

In addition to the online application at the bank's reward checking page, there's an online application at CheckingFinder.com. This bank shows up for all US zip codes at CheckingFinder.com, and you can apply online at this CheckingFinder page. Note, banks often change the availability of these accounts. If the bank starts limiting the account to its market area, the start of the application will reject your zip code. Please leave a comment if this happens.

Branches are located in the Louisiana cities of West Monroe, Monroe, Rayville, Sterlington, St. Joseph, Tallulah and Waterproof.

Cross Key Bank's ratings for safety and soundness are 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 # 9322).

Other Reward Checking Accounts

Nationwide reward checking accounts with rates over 4% are becoming rare. Bank of the Sierra's nationwide reward checking account had been 4.51% APY, but this fell to 4.09% APY last week. If you want a reward checking with a rate of 5% or higher, you'll have to see if one is available near where you live.

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.

Update 1/09/2010: The special CDs have changed, and the rates have fallen. Please check the bank's website for the latest rates.

Regions Bank just came out with a special 12-month CD rate of 2.00% APY. Also, the longer terms specials continue to be very competitive. The rates vary by state, so you'll have to enter your zip code at Regions CD page to see the rates available for your area. The 2% was available in zip codes in Texas, Illinois, Central Florida and Georgia. However, a lower 1.75% APY was listed for South Florida, Indiana and North Carolina. The longer term rates were the same for all of the above areas. The full list of special CD rates as of 10/28/09 include:

• 3.25% APY 42-month CD
• 2.50% APY 23-month CD
• 2.00% APY 12-month CD (1.75% APY in some areas)
• 1.25% APY 7-month CD

Minimum deposit is $10,000 of new funds, and the maximum deposit is $1 million. It also requires a Regions checking account. A reader mentioned in the comments that the Regions Preferred Plus Banking checking is $50 to open, has no annual fee and no monthly fee with the $10,000 CD.

I last posted on these specials in September. Before today the 42-month CD rate had gone down to 3% APY in many areas.

When I had last checked with Regions on its special CDs, a branch visit was required to open an account. Branches are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Regions Financial Overview

Regions Financial reported its third quarter results last week. According to this Reuters article, Regions' third-quarter loss was more than what analysts expected. However, the results were good enough to be encouraging to analysts.

One interesting thing to note in the earnings report is that Regions plans to close 121 branches to cut costs. Also, as you might expect with the CD specials that they have offered for many months, their deposits have grown with 270,000 new checking accounts. Average low cost deposits increased $1.3 billion versus the second quarter. These were highlights in the earnings report and show why they require a checking account with these special CDs.

Regions was one of the major banks that were required to raise capital based on the government's stress test last spring (see post).

Regions Bank's rating for safety and soundness at Bankrate.com has dropped from 2 stars to 1 star (lowest). It continues to be 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial. Both ratings are based on 6/30/09 financial data. Regions Bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (Regions' FDIC Certificate # 1368).

Thanks to the reader who mentioned this new 12-month CD special in the bank deals hub page.

Other High 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

Landmark Bank is offering a reward checking account with the following rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met:

• 5.01% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 1.01% APY on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.25% on all balances if requirements are not met
• Refunds ATM fees nationwide up to $25 per cycle and $5 per ATM transaction

The monthly requirements include:

• 10 Visa check card purchases (excludes ATM transactions)
• 1 direct deposit or automatic payment
• Enroll in online banking and receive e-statements

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

• $100 minimum initial deposit
• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly service charge
• Multiple accounts can be opened, but requirements must be met for each account to receive the top rate

There's an online application at the bank's micro-website. However, it states that you are expected to come into a branch to complete the application process. Branches are located in Clinton and Zachary which are in the suburbs of Baton Rouge.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 6/30/09 financial data.

The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 307).

Other Reward Checking Accounts

To find reward checking accounts in other areas of the nation or to learn more about these accounts, please refer to my High Yield Checking website.

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.

Regions Bank continues to offer some competitive special CD rates. The rates vary by state, so you'll have to enter your zip code at Regions CD page to see the rates available for your area. For zip codes in Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois and Indiana, the special CD rates as of 9/20/09 include:

• 3.25% APY 42-month CD
• 2.50% APY 23-month CD
• 1.60% APY 10-month CD

Minimum deposit is $10,000 of new funds, and the maximum deposit is $1 million. It also requires a Regions checking account.

I last posted on these specials in July, and the 2-year CD rate has actually gone up a little.

When I had last checked with Regions on its special CDs, a branch visit was required to open an account. Branches are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Regions was one of the major banks that were required to raise capital based on the government's stress test last spring (see post). Regions Bank's ratings for safety and soundness continue to be a little weak: 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial (based on 6/30/09 data) and 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com (based on 3/31/09 data). It has been a FDIC member since 1934 (Regions' FDIC Certificate # 1368). It's a large bank with $135 billion in assets.

Other High 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

Carter FCU is offering a reward checking account called My Carter Rewards Checking. It has the following rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met:

• 5.01% APY on balances up to $30,000
• 1.01% APY on portion of balances above $30,000
• 0.11% base rate if qualifications are not met
• ATM fee refunds nationwide without limit

The monthly requirements include:

• 11 Visa check card purchases
• One direct deposit or ACH auto debit
• Receive e-statements (valid email address required)

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

• $100 minimum opening balance
• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly service charge
• $5 [$1 primary savings; $4 membership processing fee]

Multiple accounts may be opened, but qualifications must be met for each. An online account application at their microsite is available, but a branch visit is still required.

Membership is open to those who live, work, worship or attend school, or are a business or other legal entity in Caddo, Bossier, Webster, Bienville, Claiborne, DeSoto or Red River Parishes, all in Louisiana, plus Columbia or Lafayette Counties, both in Arkansas. Please refer to the credit union's Who Can Join Page for the full details.

Branches are located in the Louisiana cities of Haughton, Shreveport, Springhill, Mansfield and Minden as well as in Magnolia, Arkansas.

The credit union's ratings for safety and soundness are average: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial and 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com. These rates are based on 3/31/09 financial data. The credit union started in 1954 and is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 9164).

Other Reward Checking Accounts

To find reward checking accounts in other areas of the nation or to learn more about these accounts, please refer to my High Yield Checking website.