Missouri Banking Rates and News

There had been rumors that Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) was going to finally start offering 10-year certificates to all members in January. A reader reported that he was told by a CSR the yield would be 3.00%. I wasn't able to confirm this 10-year CD last week, and there isn't any mention of this new CD at PenFed's website. New January rates are posted with no mention of a 10-year CD or IRA CD.

There is some good news with PenFed's January rates. First, the 1-year CD yield has increased from 0.99% to 1.16% APY. This is...

In today's awful interest rate environment, the only deposit account where you can find yields of 4.00% is the reward checking account. Even long-term CDs don't have yields this high. However, there are not many 4.00% reward checking accounts. Rates and balance caps have been falling. As I described in my reward checking overview, reward checking accounts only offer high yields for balances up to a certain cap. For those with large savings, this cap is as important as the rate. Many consider a balance cap of $25,000 to be the minimum cap that makes the reward checking account...

North American Savings Bank is offering a new special CD with two competitive rates. It's a 13-month CD, and the highest rate is 1.31% APY. This requires that you are an existing customer with a checking account or savings account opened before August. Without this relationship, the rate is 1.25% APY. Minimum deposit is $1,000. These rates are listed in the bank's rates table as of 12/12/2011.

There's an online application via andera.com. However, the online application only lists the standard CD terms. When I emailed the bank about this last year, I received the...

Beal Bank has some good deals on short-term CDs. However, the best rates are only in a few cities where it has branches. You can check what rates are available in your area by entering your zip code in Beal Bank's CD page. I did this for zip codes of most of the cities where Beal Bank has branches. The city with the best 1-year CD rate is San Diego with a 1.15% APY. Three other cities have 1-year CD rates of 1.10% APY. These include Winter Park, Florida (Orlando metro), Frontenac, Missouri (St Louis metro)...

Many of the best reward checking deals are only available in small areas of the country. These are local deals that often require a branch visit. There are a few good deals that are available online to all residents of one or more states. I covered a few of these in this October post. I found another one of these today at Heritage Bank of the Ozarks which has a reward checking account available to Missouri residents. It's called Kasasa Cash, and it has the following rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met...

On Friday US Bank did something that's rare these days. It raised the rate of its competitive long-term CD. The rate of the 59-month CD special increased from 2.00% to 2.25% APY. The two other special CDs with shorter terms are not nearly as competitive. One is a 1.25% APY 37-month CD and the other is a 1.01% APY 19-month CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000, and the maximum is $249,999. These rates are listed in US Bank's CD page as of 10/31/2011. Rates could change at any time, but they typically change on Friday mornings.

With all the news of Bank of America's new debit card fee, many people have decided to switch to credit unions and community banks. Those looking for a community bank or credit union should consider a reward checking account. The vast majority of reward checking accounts are free checking accounts that give customers an option to recieve a high interest rate and refunds of ATM fees. These extra perks typically have monthly requirements which always include debit card usage. You can see my overview of reward checking in my post 10 Common Traits of High-Yield Reward Checking Accounts,...

PNC Bank's Virtual Wallet has changed quite a bit since I first reviewed it in 2009. The good news is that it's still easy to keep it free without monthly fees. Considering how many of the large banks have added monthly fees and debit card fees to their checking accounts, PNC's Virtual Wallet is noteworthy. The bad news is that you don't get rewarded like you used to. Another downside is that it has become more complicated. Virtual Wallet has never been simple. It's composed of three different accounts:

• Spend Account (checking)
• Reserve Account (for short-term savings & overdraft protection)
• Growth...

Update 1/20/2012: PNC has extended the promotion to 1/31/2012. Here's the new promotion page link. Also note, the full $100 bonus no longer requires the use of online bill pay.

PNC Bank has another $100 bonus for opening a new qualifying checking account and for performing certain activities. This is being advertised on their home page. Here's the direct link to their promo page. The offer is scheduled to end on 10/22/2011. Here's a summary of the requirements for the first $75:

• Open a new Virtual Wallet Performance or other select PNC Personal...

With all the CD rate cuts over the last couple of months, I was happy to see that Pentagon Federal Credit Union kept its CD rates the same in October. These rates have held up since March 2011. At that time, these rates were not that competitive, but now PenFed's long-term CD rates are back near the top for nationally available CDs.

Below are PenFed's long-term CD yields as listed in PenFed's Money Market Certificates page as of 10/05/2011.

• 2.75% APY 7-year CD & IRA CD
• 2.25% APY 5-year CD & IRA CD
• 2.00% APY 4-year CD &...

CoreFirst Bank & Trust is advertising a nice checking and money market account promotion called Checking Incentives. You can earn a bonus of up to $150 for opening its reward checking and money market account. The promotion doesn't seem to be listed on the bank's website. It was advertised in the 9/25/2011 Kansas City newspaper. The ad is available online here.

All of the bonuses require a direct deposit of payroll or monthly credit. They have three account bonuses to choose:

• $150 for opening a Rewards Checking with a money market or CD
• $100 for opening a...

Liberty Bank is offering a free reward checking account called High-Interest Checking. It has the following rates if certain monthly requirements are met (as of 8/22/2011):

• 2.50% APY for balances up to $30,000
• 0.15% APY for portion of balance over $30,000
• 0.15% base rate if requirements are not met

The monthly requirements include:

• 10 check card transactions
• One direct deposit of at least $250 or more
• Maintain online banking and e-statements

Minimum opening deposit is $25. There is no minimum balance requirement or monthly service charges.

I don't see any mention about ATM fee reimbursements. However, in the bank's checking...