Missouri Deposit Account Rates and Deals

Bank of Weston is another bank offering a high-yield reward checking account called Kasasa Cash. There's also a companion savings account called Kasasa Saver. The checking account has the following rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met (as of 9/03/2010):

• 3.51% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 0.51% APY on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.05% base rate if requirements are not met
• ATM fee refunds nationwide of up to $25 per statement cycle

Monthly requirements include:

• 10 debit card purchases
• 1 direct deposit or ACH automatic payment
• Receive eStatements

Other features of this account include:

• $100 minimum to open account
• No minimum balance
• No monthly service charge

The Kasasa Saver account has the following rates if the Kasasa Cash requirements are met (as of 9/3/2010):

• 1.51% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 0.51% APY on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.05% base rate if requirements are not met

Kasasa Saver helps a little for those who have balances over $25K and don't want to open multiple reward checking accounts. It provides a nice alternative over using an internet savings account for your additional funds.

There's an online application link at the Kasaa Cash page. This takes you to the Kasasa.com page. If you search at Kasasa.com, this bank shows up for zip codes in Missouri, Iowa and Kansas. The bank is located in Kansas City, Missouri and in its northern suburbs of Weston, Platte City and Camden Point.

The bank has a Texas Ratio of 15.01% (excellent) and an overall health score of 4 out of 5 at DepositAccounts.com based on 6/30/10 data (see our financial overview for Bank of Weston). The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 1418).

Other High-Yield Reward Checking Accounts

To find reward checking accounts in your state or to find those available nationwide, please refer to the reward checking section of DepositAccounts.com.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) is yet another rate leader to make cuts to its CD rates. Economic data of a slowing economy and falling Treasury yields last month had pointed to a deposit rate environment that would become worse. Unfortunately, that did happen as we saw last week when several CD rate leaders including Alliant Credit Union, Melrose Credit Union, Ally Bank and Discover Bank reduced their CD rates. In this new month PenFed joins this group with its own CD rate cuts. Below are the new CD yields for September 2010. I've noted the old yields in parenthesis.

• 3.49% APY 7-year CD (was 3.75%)
• 2.75% APY 5-year CD (was 3.00%)
• 2.50% APY 4-year CD (was 2.78%)
• 2.00% APY 3-year CD (was 2.25%)
• 1.50% APY 2-year CD (was 1.75%)
• 1.26% APY 1-year CD (was 1.31%)

Minimum deposit is $1,000. The rates are also available in an IRA. These yields are listed in PenFed's Money Market Certificates page as of 9/01/2010. Even though PenFed typically maintains CD rates through the month, they no longer guarantee it.

Below is an updated early withdrawal yield table that shows approximate average yields you would receive if you close these CDs early. It allows you to determine if it makes more sense to buy a long-term CD rather than a short-term CD. I also included Ally Bank's 5-year CD which has a 2.74% APY as of 9/01/2010 with only a 60-day early withdrawal penalty.

Approximate Yields After Early Withdrawal Penalties

As you can see from the above table, if you think you're going to leave the CD untouched for at least 3 years, PenFed's 7-year CD is better than its other CD terms. Ally Bank is still the best deal if you think it's likely you'll break the CD before 4 years (either because you'll need the money or if interest rates shoot up). At year 4, PenFed's 7-year CD becomes the best deal. For more details about PenFed CDs, please refer to my PenFed CD review. For more details about Ally Bank's CDs and early withdrawal penalty, please refer to my Ally Bank CD review.

PenFed's Certificate Reservation Program

I logged into my PenFed account, and I checked the status of PenFed's certificate reservation program. I first reported on this program on August 19th. It allows select PenFed members to reserve CDs in January 2011. The best is a 5.00% APY 10-year CD. As I mentioned, I was informed that the program was only open to PenFed members who had CDs maturing in October. However, several readers who were not in the select group have commented in my post that they have been able to reserve these CDs online. I have not been able to find out if there's any chance that PenFed will not honor these reservations.

PenFed had allocated $240 million of funds for this program. As of this morning (9/01/10), there is $186.68 million left according to PenFed's Certificate Reservations page (available when you're logged in). I'm glad to see the funds are lasting. Perhaps most members are not jumping on this deal because they believe these CD terms are too long.

PenFed Membership

PenFed makes it easy for anyone to join and open accounts online. If you don't qualify based on military, employer or family, you can become eligible by joining the National Military Family Association (NMFA). Please refer to How to Join Overview Page for details. Joining NMFA and PenFed can be done at the same time all online. The yearly membership for NMFA is $20, but your membership in the association does not need to be maintained to continue as a PenFed member.

Branch Locations

Accounts can be opened online, but for those who prefer branches, PenFed has branches in several parts of the country including Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, North Carolina, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Missouri and Texas.

Financial/NCUA Info

PenFed's ratings for safety and soundness continue to be strong: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial, 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com and an overall health score of 4 out of 5 at DepositAccounts.com (see our financial overview of Pentagon FCU). These ratings are based on March 2010 data except for DepositAccounts.com which is based on June 2010 data. PenFed is one of the largest credit unions in the US with $14.33 billion in assets and $11.62 billion in deposits. It's federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 227).

Searching for the Best CD Rates

To search for the best nationwide rates and the best rates in your state, please refer to the following tables at DepositAccounts.com:

• Best CD rates
• Best IRA CD rates

With the news that Alliant Credit Union will be lowering its savings account yield from 1.50% to 1.35% in September, more people may be interested in BankOn. I first reported on BankOn in October 2009. Since then it has maintained a very competitive rate on its Money Market Savings Account. It's currently 1.60% APY as of 8/25/2010, and this rate has been maintained since April.

Unfortunately, BankOn isn't available nationwide. It's one of the rare internet accounts that is limited to only certain states: Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming.

Another downside is the requirement of opening its internet checking account. The checking requires a $100 minimum opening deposit, and it pays no interest. However, there is no minimum balance requirement after opening.

One nice perk with BankOn is a sign-up bonus of $25 when you open the savings account. There doesn't seem to be any additional requirements to receive this bonus. The rules say there's a limit of one per household, and the bonus will be paid within 10 business days of account opening.

There's also a nice refer-a-friend bonus. This is a limited time promotion that rewards both the referrer and the new customer with $25. You can make up to $250 for referring friends.

For more details about BankOn, please refer to my 2009 BankOn review. BankOn is part of Pinnacle Bank which has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 10634). Pinnacle Bank has a link to BankOn at its website so you can confirm the relationship.

North American Savings Bank is offering a new special CD with a competitive rate. It has a 23-month term with a 2.05% APY. Minimum deposit is $1,000. The bank continues to offer its very competitive 14-month CD which has a 1.75% APY. These rates are listed at the bank's CD rates page as of 8/20/2010.

There's an online application via andera.com. The online application only lists the standard CD terms. When I emailed the bank about this in April, I received the following instructions:

You are able to open the promotional CD's online. However, because we do not have an easy way to add these promotional rates to our website, we would ask that you select the 12 month CD and then call us at 816.316.4000, option 3, or email us and let us know which CD term you would like to open. We can change the term from the 12 months to whichever term you would like in our system prior to completing the CD opening process.

Several readers were able to open these old CD specials. I have some excerpts in my May review. Some readers in that post commented about opening these CDs using their cash back credit cards. It appears NASB codes the CD purchases as a purchase instead of a cash advance. However, it may also depend on your credit card issuer.

Branches are located in the Kansas City metro area.

The bank's rating for safety and soundness at Bankrate.com remains at 4 stars (sound). However, it has fallen by one star at BauerFinancial. It's now 3 stars (adequate). It has an overall health score of 3 out of 5 at DepositAccounts.com (see our financial overview for North American Savings Bank). These ratings are based on 3/31/2010 financial data.

The bank's parent mentioned an OTS supervisory agreement in a May 5th 8-K filing. It should be noted that the 8-K states that the 'Bank is not deemed to be in "troubled condition".'

The bank has been a FDIC member since 1940 (FDIC Certificate # 29708).

Searching for the Best CD Rates

To search for the best nationwide CD rates and the best CD rates in your state, please refer to the CD rates section of DepositAccounts.com.

PNC Bank has another $100 bonus for opening a checking account. It's not as good as the $125 July bonus, but this $100 bonus appears to be the best PNC bonus currently available. Here's the direct link to the promotion. It requires direct deposit of at least $400 per month along with 10 check card purchases. According to the small print, the checking account must be opened via the online application by 9/30/2010. Here's some of the small print as listed in the promo page with my highlights of the important things to note:

Offer available only to new PNC customers. New personal checking account must be opened via online application between 8/01/2010 and 9/30/2010. To qualify for the $100 reward a Qualifying Direct Deposit must be received and at least 10 check card purchases made with your PNC Visa Check Card must be posted to the eligible account within 60 days of account opening. Your checking account must remain open in order for you to receive the $100 reward, which will be credited to the eligible account within 60 days after all conditions have been met and will be identified as "Promo Reward Cash Trans" on your monthly statement. A "Qualifying Direct Deposit" is defined as a recurring direct deposit of a paycheck, pension, social security or other regular monthly payment electronically deposited into a Free, Performance, Performance Select Checking account, or the Spend account for Virtual Wallet (each an "Eligible Account") on a recurring month-to-month basis. The amount of each recurring Direct Deposit must be at least $400. The recurring Direct Deposits must be made by an employer or an outside agency. Credit card cash advance transfers, transfers from one account to another or deposits made at a branch or ATM do not qualify as Qualifying Direct Deposits. Offer only available to new PNC Bank checking account customers who open the Eligible Account using the on-line application. Offer only available to residents of DC, DE, FL, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MO, NJ, OH, PA, VA and WI. Offer may be extended, modified or discontinued at any time and may vary by market. This is an online offer that is not available through the branch.

PNC Bank's Virtual Wallet

One of the checking accounts that can qualify for the bonus is the Spend Account which is part of PNC's Virtual Wallet. Another part of Virtual Wallet is the Grow Account which is a savings account that pays 1.10% APY on balances up to $25K as of 8/8/2010. Please see my PNC Virtual Wallet review for more details.

PNC Q2 Results and Its Deposit Strategy

PNC released its second quarter results in late July. It reported a better-than-expected second-quarter profit. One thing I found interesting in PNC's press release was the description of its plans to grow checking account deposits while shrinking CD deposits. Here's an excerpt:

Average deposits of $182 billion declined $.8 billion compared with the first quarter of 2010 and $10.4 billion, or 5 percent, compared with the second quarter of 2009. In both comparisons, average deposits decreased due to the continued reduction of high-cost and primarily nonrelationship certificates of deposit and other time deposits, partially offset by growth in average transaction deposits. This was consistent with PNC’s overall deposit strategy focused on growing demand and other transaction deposits as a lower-cost funding source and the cornerstone product of customer relationships.

You can see PNC executing this strategy with these checking account bonuses and its very-low CD rates (one example: 1.50% 5-year CD in Florida).

The conversion of National City branches was also mentioned in the press release:

PNC successfully completed the National City conversion of 16 million accounts, 6 million customers and 1,300 branches in nine states.

I know many readers will miss those National City CD specials that were so popular a couple of years ago.

PNC Bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 6384).

Other Bank Bonuses

To find other bonus deals at other banks, please refer to my bank bonus page which has all of my recent bank bonus blog posts. Some additional bonuses are also listed in the checking account deals section of the discussion forum.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union came out with its August CD and IRA CD rates. Rates for most terms stayed the same. However, the 7-year CD rate increased from 3.51% APY to 3.75% APY which makes this one of the best nationwide CD rates. The 2-year CD rate also increased, but the new rate of 1.75% APY is still not a top rate. Minimum deposit is $1,000. These rates are listed in the PenFed's Money Market Certificates page as of 8/02/2010. PenFed typically maintains its CD rates through the month, but note that there's no guarantee.

The main downside with this 7-year CD is a hefty early withdrawal penalty. According to the CD application (disclosure on 2nd page), the early withdrawal penalty for the 7-year certificate is:

a) If redeemed within 365 days of the issue date or any renewal date, all dividends will be forfeited;
b) If redeemed thereafter, but prior to the maturity date, dividends for the most recent 365 days will be forfeited.

In short, the penalty is 1-year of interest for an early withdrawal after the first year. You lose all interest for an early withdrawal before the first year. The penalty for the shorter terms is only 180 days of interest.

Special Early Withdrawal Feature for PenFed IRA CDs

PenFed has a nice feature for its IRA CDs. If you have reached the age of 59½, you can avoid an early withdrawal penalty if you only take a partial withdrawal. A partial withdrawal just requires that you leave at least the minimum balance of $1,000 in the IRA CD. So for large IRA CDs, this effectively eliminates the early withdrawal penalty. I described the details of this feature in this PenFed IRA CD review.

Do Long-Term CDs Make Sense?

It might seem unwise to lock into a long-term CD when rates are so low. If rates do go up in the next year or two, you may be able to get much higher rates. So it may seem better to stay in a savings account or short-term CDs until rates improve. The risk is that if rates don't go up, you'll earn much less interest than what you could have earned with the long-term CD. You also have to take into account the early withdrawal penalty. If rates go up substantially, you can break the CD with the early withdrawal penalty and reinvest the money into higher paying accounts. You could make more money in this approach than you could if you kept your money in a savings account or short-term CDs.

Below is a comparison of the approximate annualized yields that would result if you closed PenFed's 7-year CD at year 1, 2 and up to year 6. The yield is approximated by removing one year of interest and then computing the new effective average yield for that time period. The yield at year 2 is easy to compute since you essentially cut the amount of interest that you earn in half. So you just divide 3.75% by 2 which is approximately 1.88% APY. As you can see, this is a pretty competitive yield for 2-year CDs.

For comparison, I included PenFed's 5-year CD and Ally Bank's 5-year CD. PenFed's 5-year CD's early withdrawal penalty is 180 days of interest (only half of the 7-year CD penalty). Ally Bank's 5-year CD has only a 60-day interest penalty. The rates are as of 8/02/2010.

Average Yields After Early Withdrawal Penalties

As you can see in the table above, you will earn more with the 5-year CDs if you take an early withdrawal before 3 years. After 3 years, the 7-year CD starts to outperform the PenFed 5-year CD, and after 4 years, the 7-year CD starts to outperform Ally's 5-year CD. Fore more details about Ally Bank's CDs and early withdrawal penalty, please refer to my Ally Bank CD review.

PenFed Membership

PenFed makes it easy for anyone to join and open accounts online. If you don't qualify based on military, employer or family, you can become eligible by joining the National Military Family Association (NMFA). Please refer to How to Join Overview Page for details. Joining NMFA and PenFed can be done at the same time all online. The yearly membership for NMFA is $20, but your membership in the association does not need to be maintained to continue as a PenFed member.

Branch Locations

Accounts can be opened online, but for those who prefer branches, PenFed has branches in several parts of the country including Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, North Carolina, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Missouri and Texas.

Financial/NCUA Info

PenFed's ratings for safety and soundness continue to be strong: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial, 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com and an overall health score of 4 out of 5 at DepositAccounts.com (see our financial overview of Pentagon FCU). PenFed is one of the largest credit unions in the US with $14.2 billion in assets and $11.51 billion in deposits. It's federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 227).

American Eagle Credit Union is offering up to $100 for opening a new checking account and adding some free services. The promotion requires some work to receive the full $100:

• $25 for opening a Visa Check Card and using it once
• $25 for direct deposit (credited when the credit union receives one direct deposit within 30 days of opening)
• $25 for enrolling in bill pay and paying 3 bills within 30 days of opening
• $25 for doing all three

The offer is scheduled to last through 10/31/2010.

Credit Union Membership

For Missouri, membership is open to those who live or work in St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin or Jefferson County. For Texas, membership is open to those who live or work in the city of Paris, Lamar County, and in parts of the Dallas metro area. There are also other areas and several select employer groups in which you can be eligible to join. Please refer to the credit union's Who-Can-Join page for the full details. Membership requires a minimum $5 deposit in the savings account.

American Eagle Credit Union is a division of Anheuser-Busch Employees' Credit Union. Consequently, there are branches in several states including California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. Anheuser-Busch Employees' Credit Union also has this same checking account promotion. Unfortunately, membership at Anheuser-Busch Employees' Credit Union is primarily limited to select employee groups.

The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 62715).

Other Bank Bonuses

To find other bonus deals at other banks, please refer to the bank bonus page which has all of my recent bank bonus blog posts. There are also additional bonuses listed in the checking account deals forum.

Bank of the West has another $100 checking account bonus. This new bonus is scheduled to last until 8/20/2010, and like the last one it allows either direct deposit of at least $250 or 10 online bill payments. The details are listed in the bank's promotion page. Below is the promotion's small print. I've highlighted the important details:

Open any new personal checking account, and either establish one monthly recurring direct deposit of at least $250 to your new account or make 10 bill payments at Bank of the West Online Banking and receive a $100 bonus. Direct deposit must be payroll, social security, pension or other government benefit. The first recurring direct deposit must be posted to your account within 60 calendar days of account open date. The 10 bill payments must occur within 60 calendar days of account open date. Bonus will be credited to your account within 60 days after satisfaction of conditions. Offer valid for new personal checking accounts opened from 7/6/10–8/20/10 with $100 or more from a financial institution other than Bank of the West. Offer subject to change without prior notice and may be terminated or extended based on response. Offer does not apply to second or multiple checking accounts. Limit of one $100 bonus per personal household per calendar year. Offer not valid in CA, CO, UT, NV or WY. To the extent required by law, Bank of the West will report the value of the offer to the IRS on Form 1099. Any applicable taxes are the responsibility of the account holder. All accounts are subject to the Bank’s standard terms and conditions and fee schedule.

When I checked with Bank of the West in March, I was told that the online account application is limited to states which have Bank of the West branches. Also, as you can see in the small print above, the offer is not valid in CA, CO, UT, NV or WY. That leaves the following states which should be eligible for this promotion: AZ, ID, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, NM, ND, OK, OR, SD, WA and WI.

Regarding a hard credit pull, I was told earlier this year that 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.

Several reader commented in my previous post that Bank of the West closed their accounts for no apparent reason. It appears that when Bank of the West started to restrict availability to their market areas, out-of-area customers who had opened the account before the change were being targeted for account closure. Some readers also reported not receiving the bonus. Most readers who were in the market area have reported success with the promotion. One reader commented:

Just got bonus posted and ACH from online bank to yourself for over the necessary amount DOES count as a DD and only needed to be done 1 time.

Bank of the West is one of the large regional banks. It has $61.18 billion in assets and $41.38 billion in deposits. 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.

River Region Credit Union is offering a high-yield reward checking account with a good top rate but a balance cap and a debit card usage requirement that are a little unfavorable. Below are the rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met. Note, only the top rate is listed at the credit union's checking page as of 6/29/2010. I had to contact the credit union for the other details.

• 4.00% APY on balances up to $20,000
• 0.10% APY on portion of balance over $20,000
• 0.10% base rate if requirements are not met
• Refunds 3 ATM surcharges or $7, whichever is less

Monthly requirements include:

• 15 non-PIN debit card purchases
• Direct deposit
• Must log in to MyCU@Home at least twice during the month
• Receive e-statements and maintain a valid email address

Other features of this account include:

• No minimum balance
• No monthly fee

One odd thing about the ATM refunds is that they are not automatic like most reward checking accounts. Receipts for the ATM transactions must be presented at a RRCU office by the 12th business day of the month following the month inwhich the transactions were done.

Another downside to the account is the balance cap and debit card usage requirement. Most reward checking accounts have a $25K cap and require only 10 debit card purchases a month. However, more institutions have been lowering the cap and raising the debit card usage requirement. At least River Region continues to pay an above average top rate. Most reward checking accounts now pay under 3.50%.

Another Debit Card Reward Checking Account

In addition to the reward checking account, River Region offers a checking account that's similar to Bank of America's Keep Your Change program. It's called Easy Checking, and here's how the credit union describes it.

Every RRCU debit card transaction on your Easy Checking account will be rounded up, with the difference going into your Easy Savings share. What’s more, River Region will match a percentage of the funds saved.

There appears to be a match of up to $300. This type of checking account may be better for those who have small balances.

Membership

Membership includes anyone who lives or works in Boone, Cole, Osage, Callaway, Moniteau or Miller counties in Missouri. In addition, several select employer groups are eligible. Please refer to the credit union's become-a-member page for the full details. Membership requires a $1 minimum balance in the share savings account.

Credit Union Overview

Branches are located in Jefferson City and Columbia, Missouri.

The credit union's ratings for safety and soundness are above average: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial, 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com and an overall health score of 4 out of 5 at DepositAccounts.com (see our River Region CU financial overview). These ratings are based on March 2010 data except for Bankrate which is based on 12/31/09 data. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 64283).

Other High-Yield Reward Checking Accounts

Please refer to the reward checking section of DepositAccounts.com to find reward checking accounts in your state or that are available nationwide.

Southern Bank is listing several competitive CD rates. The most competitive ones include a 3.50% APY 60-month CD, a 2.25% APY 24-month CD and a 2.00% APY 18-month CD. Minimum deposit is $500. These rates are listed in the bank's rates page as of 6/27/2010. Note, there's a March date at the top of this page. I've sent a message to the bank to confirm these rates are still valid.

In addition to top CD rates, the bank also offers a very competitive high-yield reward checking account called Kasasa Cash. It has been paying 5.01% APY on balances up to $25K since June 2009 (see my Southern Bank review).

There's an online application for both the CDs and the reward checking account. However, both applications state that only Arkansas and Missouri residents are eligible to open accounts. The apply button for the CDs is available here.

Branches are located in southeast Missouri and in northeast Arkansas.

In 2009, the bank added four branches in northeast Arkansas, and the bank's name changed from Southern Missouri Bank to Southern Bank.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial, 4 stars (strong) at Bankrate.com and an overall health rating of 4 out of 5 at DepositAccounts (see our Southern Bank financial overview page). Ratings are based on 3/31/10 data except for Bankrate which is based on 12/31/09 data. The bank has been FDIC insured since 1951 (FDIC Certificate # 28332).

Searching for the Best CD and Reward Checking Rates

• Best CD Rates
• Best Reward Checking Rates