New Jersey Banking Rates and News

Oritani Bank is offering a checking account promotion with a new-account bonus and a money market promotion with a very competitive rate guaranteed until mid-year. Both of these promotions are listed on the bank's front page as of 1/19/2012.

The checking account promotion is the same as what the bank was offering last year. You can earn up to $125 if you meet the following requirements:

• Open a TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Free!) Checking Account
• $50 will be deposited into your TGIF account when you receive Direct Deposit within 100 days of account opening
• An additional $50 will be deposited into...

It has been over a year since I last reviewed Andrews Federal Credit Union and its share certificates. It continues to offer competitive certificates that can be opened by people in any state. Its best deals are long-term CDs and IRA CDs. These include a 2.30% APY 5-year CD, 2.05% APY 4-year CD and a 1.55% APY 3-year CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000. These rates are listed in the credit union's rates page as of 1/13/2012.

The credit union's Truth in Savings disclosure provides the CD details including the early withdrawal penalties....

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...

Certificates of deposit with yields of at least 3.00% are rare these days even for terms as long as 10 years. There are a few local deals that still offer this yield. One is Royal Bank America which is offering 3.00% APY on its 10-year CD and IRA CD. Some other of its competitive long-term CDs include a 2.65% APY 8-year CD, a 2.00% APY 5-year CD and a 1.60% APY 3-year CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000. These rates are listed in the bank's rate sheet as of 12/19/2011.

The last time I checked with...

Cross River Bank continues to offer some competitive CD rates. The best deal is its 18-month CD which has a 1.75% APY. Its 1-year CD rate is also very competitive with a 1.25% APY. Its 3-year and 4-year CD rates have fallen since my July review, but they're still good deals: 2.00% APY for 3 years and 2.25% APY for 4 years. Minimum deposit is $500.

The rates on the bank's savings account, I Connect Select Tiered Savings, has also fallen since my July review, but they remain competitive especially for large balances. The top rate is 1.50%...

Wilshire State Bank continues to offer an installment savings account that it calls Rainbow Savings. I last reviewed this account in January, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see the rates have gone up. The best rates require an automatic transfer from a Wilshire State Bank deposit account. The yields range from 2.02% APY for a 1-year term to 2.79% APY for a 3-year term. These rates are listed in the Rainbow Savings page as of 11/22/2011.

For those trying to squeeze as much interest from deposit accounts as possible, the installment savings account is something...

We are still seeing checking account bonuses from the big banks. Those who are careful may be able to profit from these, but the banks know that they will most likely profit in the end. The latest big bank offering a checking account bonus is M&T Bank which is offering a $100 cash bonus for customers who add direct deposit to a MyChoice Checking account. M&T Bank has this promotion advertised on its home page and on its special website raisethegreenflag.com/mychoice.

Those who try to qualify for this bonus should be aware of the potential...

XCEL Federal Credit Union has several competitive CD and IRA CD rates. The best ones are its long-term CDs. These include a 2.70% APY 5-year CD and a 2.45% APY 4-year CD. Minimum deposit is $100K. Rates are 5 basis points lower for a $20K minimum and 10 basis points lower for a $500 minimum. For very large deposits of at least $250K, you can get an extra 5 basis points. These rates are listed in the credit union's rates page as of 10/24/2011.

The credit union also is advertising a 2-year bump-up CD with...

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 &...

Update 5:40pm 10/04/2011: The 5-year CD APY with a $10K minimum has fallen to 2.25%.

If you missed the 5-year CD deal at US Senate FCU, this might be another chance to lock into a 3% CD. McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union is listing a 5-year share certificate with a 3.00% APY for a minimum $10,000 deposit. This is listed in the credit union's rates page as of 12:00pm 10/04/2011. I was a little skeptical of this rate since it was so much higher than the lower tier rate that requires a $500 minimum. I just...