New Mexico Deposit Account Rates and Deals

Mountain America Credit Union still has a competitive 5-year CD and IRA CD rate of 3.00% APY. Minimum deposit is $500. This yield is listed in the credit union's current rates page as of 8/17/2010.

The credit union used to offer some competitive shorter-term CD rates, but these are no longer noteworthy. It also used to have a very mild early withdrawal penalty. They made changes to their website, and I could no longer find any mention of the early withdrawal penalty. So I emailed the credit union. It appears they have increased the penalty. According to the credit union rep, the "penalty for early withdrawal on a 5 year term deposit is 180 days worth of interest."

Credit union membership is open to members of the American Consumer Council. Council membership costs $12, and is open to anyone. This council is listed in the credit union's SEG Affiliated Associations page. For more ways to qualify for membership, please refer to the credit union's Become a Member page. In my recent email to this credit union, I mentioned that I was interested in becoming a member via this council. Here's the reply I received:

We would be happy to take a membership application for you. If you have a branch near you please visit them with your picture ID. They will need $25.00 to get the account open and going. If you plan on opening a checking account that will require a minimum of $100.00.

If you are not near a branch location you can apply online or call us at 1-800-748-4302.

Branches are located throughout Utah. Also, branches are located in Mesa, Arizona; Las Vegas and Sparks, Nevada; and in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The credit union's ratings for soundness are a little weak: 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial, 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate and an overall health score of 3 out of 5 at DepositAccounts.com (see our financial overview for Mountain America CU). These ratings are based on March 2010 data. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 24692). It's a large credit union with $2.8 billion in assets.

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.

I see BBVA Compass is making the most out of its new alliance with SmartyPig. I just noticed Compass is advertising this $150 checking account bonus on SmartyPig's home page. Here's the direct link to the promo, and here are the requirements for the $150:

• Open a new Build to Order Checking account online
• Set up payroll Direct Deposit and earn $75
• Sign up for Online Bill Pay and earn $25 per month by paying at least 5 bills per month for 3 months

Unlike SmartyPig which is available nationwide, Compass bank products are only available where they have branches which includes AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, NM & TX. The offer is scheduled to last until 8/31/2010, and is only available to new consumer checking households.

Here is the small print which includes some details of the requirements:

To get $75 for a recurring payroll direct deposit, you must establish the recurring payroll direct deposit of at least $300 within 30 days following the date you open a new BBVA Compass consumer checking account. $75 bonus will be deposited, within 120 days of first recurring payroll direct deposit, into the new checking account that receives the direct deposit. Account must be open at time this bonus is paid in order for you to qualify for bonus. Bonuses are paid on the last business day of the month.

To get up to $75 for using Online Bill Pay, you must pay at least 5 eligible bills via Online Bill Pay every 30 days for the first 90 days after you open a new BBVA Compass checking account. To be eligible, each online payment must be for at least $25 and must be made to an unrelated third party. You'll receive $25 for each 30-day period in which you make the required online payments, up to $75. Each $25 bonus will be deposited into the new checking account from which online payments were made, within 60 days of the fifth eligible online payment for each 30-day period.

BBVA Compass Build-to-Order Free Checking

I completed a Compass checking promotion in 2006 and received the promised $50 gift card without any problems. One downside is that I did received two hard credit inquiries by Transunion.

The Build-to-Order Free Checking comes with some basic features. Two additional premium features are allowed without cost. The notable basic feature is no minimum balance or direct deposit requirement. Also, bill pay is free. The notable premium feature for those who want to make extra money is a $25 anniversary cash bonus. One feature that is lacking is free checks. A reader in a previous Compass post mentioned that the first order of checks is free.

The disclosure has some of the details of $25 anniversary cash bonus feature. I switched my Compass checking account to this Build-to-Order Free Checking in December 2007 and chose the $25 anniversary cash bonus as one of my premium features. Then I set up small monthly ACH debits from my online bank account to keep the checking active. I received the $25 bonus for both 2008 and 2009.

BBVA Compass Bank is a member FDIC (FDIC Certificate # 19048).

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.

BBVA Compass Bank is offering another checking account bonus for its Build-to-Order Free Checking Account. The bonus amount is $100, and direct deposit is required. It's down from the $150 they were offering earlier this year. Here's the promotion page link. It's scheduled to expire on May 31, 2010. Below is the important small print:

$100 minimum opening deposit required to qualify for offer. Offer available for consumers only. Accounts opened online between 04/30/2010 and 05/31/2010 that establish a recurring payroll direct deposit by 06/30/2010 will receive $100 bonus. Bonus deposit will occur within 120 days of account opening in the checking account that receives the recurring payroll direct deposit. Account must be open at time of reward. May be subject to income tax reporting.

Requirements for Opening Compass Bank Accounts:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Have a permanent residence within a state where BBVA Compass has a banking center (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas) and your permanent residence must be located in close proximity to a BBVA Compass banking center.

BBVA Compass now has branches in California after its acquisition of the failed Guaranty Bank last August.

BBVA Compass Checking Accounts

I completed a Compass checking promotion in 2006 and received the promised $50 gift card without any problems. One downside is that I did received two hard credit inquiries by Transunion.

The Build-to-Order Free Checking comes with some basic features. Two additional premium features are allowed without cost. The notable basic feature is no minimum balance or direct deposit requirement. Also, bill pay is free. The notable premium feature for those who want to make extra money is a $25 anniversary cash bonus. One feature that is lacking is free checks. A reader in a previous Compass post mentioned that the first order of checks is free.

New Build My Savings Program

BBVA Compass has a new savings program that's similar to Wachovia's Way2Save. I did a detailed review of Build My Savings on Saturday.

BBVA Compass Bank is a member FDIC (FDIC Certificate # 19048).

Other Bank Bonuses

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

BBVA Compass has a new savings program called Build My Savings that has similarities to Wachovia's Way2Save program. Like the Way2Save program, Build My Savings requires monthly transfers from your BBVA Compass checking account to the Build My Savings account. Unlike Way2Save, no transfers are done for any debit card usage or ACH transactions. There are only two ways to get money into the Build My Savings Account: 1) initial deposit and 2) monthly transfers.

As with any of these programs, it's not a great deal for those with large savings. However, the program is currently set up so that a depositor could make a very respectable yield on deposits over $40,000.

Here are the steps to open the Build My Savings account

1. Open a BBVA Compass consumer checking account if you don’t already have one
2. Open the Build My Savings Account with an initial deposit ($25 minimum)
3. Set term of the account (from 6 months to 3 years)
4. Set the amount of the reoccurring transfers ($25 minimum)
5. Set the frequency of the reoccurring transfers (at least once a month)

If your initial deposit and reoccurring transfers are large enough, you can receive a Match Bonus of $250 per year. The account also earns interest, but it's practically nothing (currently 0.10%). So your rate of return is primarily based on this Match Bonus which will be paid 30 days after maturity.

How Much Can You Earn?

How much does it take to earn the $250 Match Bonus? Compass provides a calculator which allows you to see how much it'll take. The lowest initial deposit and monthly transfers that I could find to qualify for $250 in one year is an initial deposit of $1,000 and 12 monthly transfers of $640. This would require a total deposit of $8,680.

If you have a lump sum to invest, you can make it simple and treat it like a CD. You would deposit $8,680 in your Compass checking, and open the Build My Savings account with a $1,000 initial deposit from the checking and set up $640/month transfers. This should allow you to qualify for the $250 Match Bonus. That would result in an annual rate of return of about 2.88% (250/8680). Below is the snapshop that I took of this tool:

According to the disclosure (TX), there's a limit of 5 Build My Savings accounts per customer. So if a customer opens 5 of these accounts as described above, the total deposit would be $43,400. A one-year rate of return of 2.88% on $43K is a good deal these days (It appears the $250 Match Bonus would apply to each of the 5 accounts).

Possible Gotchas

There are risks that you may never see the Match Bonus. These are described in the product disclosure (see the disclosure page). The following is from the Texas disclosure:

• You will not be eligible for the Match Bonus if the Transfer is cancelled, stopped or missed or if the Transfer amount is reduced during the term of the Savings Plan, and will result in cancellation of the Savings Plan.
• If the Transfer does not occur [due to an overdraft], any applicable NSF fees will be charged to your checking account and you will no longer be eligible for the Match Bonus and your Savings Plan shall be cancelled.
• The initial Savings Plan deposit amount must be received within 6 calendar days of account opening or you will not be eligible for the Match Bonus.

One thing that does not appear to put the Match Bonus at risk is an early withdrawal. However, they do charge you $10 for each early withdrawal. That is the only penalty I see. This may not be a bad deal. Since the account earns practically no interest, it may be worthwhile for the 2-year or 3-year terms to do yearly withdrawals.

Another thing that worries me a little is that you have to trust the Build My Savings calculator. The match percentages that the calculator displays don't seem to be consistent with the dollar amounts of the match. I called Compass yesterday for more explanations, but the CSR wasn't much help. I would recommend taking a snapshot of the calculator tool output for future reference.

Another risk is if BBVA Compass is closed by regulators. I'm not sure how the FDIC would handle a Match Bonus. When banks fail, the FDIC guarantees that you receive all accrued interest up to the day of closure. I doubt the Match Bonus would be handled this way.

Do you see any other possible gotchas?

Maximizing Your Rate of Return

One way to improve your returns is to avoid doing a lump sum deposit into the checking account. You can set up monthly transfers from a high-yield savings account into the Compass checking account before the automatic transfers into the Build My Savings Plan take place. That would allow you to earn a decent rate on around half of your money, and this would not affect the Match Bonus.

Do you have any other tips to receive a higher rate of return?

Account Opening Info

According to the CSR, you can fund the Build My Savings account with an ACH transfer from another bank. You can also fund it by check or from an existing Compass account. You do have to first open a Compass consumer checking account. Opening a Compass checking account does result in a hard credit inquiry (which can ding your credit score). However, according to the CSR, there's no hard pull for opening the Build My Savings account.

In addition to opening the accounts at a branch, you can also apply online. However, there are some restrictions:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Have a permanent residence within a state where BBVA Compass has a banking center (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas) and your permanent residence must be located in close proximity to a BBVA Compass banking center.

BBVA Compass now has branches in California after its acquisition of the failed Guaranty Bank last August.

New $100 BBVA Compass Checking Account Bonus

I just noticed a new BBVA Compass checking account bonus. It's not as good as the previous one, but it's a good deal if you're interested in this Build My Savings program. Here's the promotions link. This is scheduled to last until May 31, 2010. This does require direct deposit. Here's the important small print:

$100 minimum opening deposit required to qualify for offer. Offer available for consumers only. Accounts opened online between 04/30/2010 and 05/31/2010 that establish a recurring payroll direct deposit by 06/30/2010 will receive $100 bonus. Bonus deposit will occur within 120 days of account opening in the checking account

BBVA Compass Bank is offering another bonus of up to $150 for opening a new checking account, using online bill pay and direct deposit. Here's the promotion page link. It's not as good as the January promotion since the $150 is not all cash. $50 of the bonus is a hotel gift card. Here are the important details of this new promotion:

• Open a new Build-to-Order checking account online by 4/30/2010
• $100 cash when you establish a recurring payroll direct deposit by 04/30/2010
• $50 hotel gift card when you pay at least one bill for at least $25 to an unrelated third party via online bill pay by 04/01/2010

Note, according to the small print, the $50 hotel gift card is also available for existing BBVA Compass checking customers who haven't used online bill pay in the last 90 days. I don't know the "true" value of the hotel gift card. It can only be used for hotels booked at www.myhotelgiftcard.com and requires a two night minimum stay.

Requirements for Opening Compass Bank Accounts:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Have a permanent residence within a state where BBVA Compass has a banking center (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas) and your permanent residence must be located in close proximity to a BBVA Compass banking center.

BBVA Compass now has branches in California after its acquisition of the failed Guaranty Bank last August. However, these branches may not be transitioned over yet to allow people to qualify for these Compass promotions. If you're in California and interested in this promo, it may be worth a call to Compass.

BBVA Compass Checking Accounts

I completed a Compass checking promotion in 2006 and received the promised $50 gift card without any problems. One downside is that I did received two hard credit inquiries by Transunion.

The Build-to-Order Free Checking comes with some basic features. Two additional premium features are allowed without cost. The notable basic feature is no minimum balance or direct deposit requirement. Also, bill pay is free. The notable premium feature for those who want to make extra money is a $25 anniversary cash bonus. One feature that is lacking is free checks. A reader in a previous Compass post mentioned that the first order of checks is free.

The disclosure has some of the details of $25 anniversary cash bonus feature. I switched my Compass checking account to this Build-to-Order Free Checking in December 2007 and chose the $25 anniversary cash bonus as one of my premium features. Then I set up small monthly ACH debits from my online bank account to keep the checking active. I received the $25 bonus for both 2008 and 2009.

BBVA Compass Bank is a member FDIC (FDIC Certificate # 19048).

Credit for this find goes to this iBankDesign thread.

Other Bank Bonuses

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

Edit 4/18/2010: The small print now says the offer will continue to 4/30/2010.

Bank of the Southwest is offering a high-yield reward checking account called True Checking. It has the following rates if certain monthly requirements are met:

• 5.12% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 0.25% APY on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.25% base rate if requirements are not met

The monthly requirements include:

• 15 debit card purchases (credit based)
• 1 direct deposit or online bill pay or electronic payment
• Write 5 or fewer checks per month (They don't want heavy use of paper checks)
• Receive electronic statements

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

• $100 minimum initial deposit
• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly maintenance fee
• Free Bill Pay
• Automatic refunds of up to 3 ATM surcharges per month

It appears that a branch visit is required to open an account. Branches are located in the New Mexico cities of Roswell, Las Cruces, Hatch, Farmington, Kirtland, Bloomfield, Truth or Consequences (that's a strange city name!) and Elephant Butte.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial (based on 9/30/09 data) and 5 stars (superior) at Bankrate.com (based on 6/30/09 data). It's rare to find a bank with 5 stars at both BauerFinancial and Bankrate. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (">FDIC Certificate # 2247).

Other Reward Checking Accounts

As several readers have noted, many banks have been cutting rates and leaving the 5% reward checking club. A recent example is Bank2 in Oklahoma which had started its reward checking last March as a nationwide deal with 5% guaranteed through 2009 (see post).

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.

BBVA Compass Bank is offering a bonus of up to $150 for opening a new checking account, using online bill pay and direct deposit. Here's the promotion page link. To earn the first $75 requires the use of Online Bill Pay. The second $75 requires direct deposit. The new checking account must be opened by 2/28/2010. Here are the details:

Earn up to $75 when you use online bill pay

• Open a new Compass checking account and sign up for Online Bill Pay by 2/28/10
• Pay at least 5 bills online every 30 days for the first 90 days your account is open
• For each month that you do, you'll get $25 - up to $75 total

Some important small print:

• Online bill payments must be made to a third party and be at least $25 in order to be eligible
• Each $25 bonus will be deposited into the new checking account from which online payments were made, within 60 days of fifth eligible online payment for each 30-day period.

$75 for signing up for Payroll Direct Deposit

• Open a new checking account online by 2/28/2010 and sign up for payroll Direct Deposit.
• Get your first payroll Direct Deposit within 30 days that your account is open.
• $75 bonus will be deposited, within 120 days of first recurring payroll direct deposit, into the new checking account that receives the direct deposit.

Some important small print for both bonuses:

• Minimum $25 opening deposit required
• Offer available to new checking households only
• Bonus may be subject to income tax reporting
• Limit one bonus totaling $150 per household
• Bonuses are paid on the last business day of the month

Requirements for Opening Compass Bank Accounts:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must be a resident of one of the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas.

BBVA Compass now has branches in California after its acquisition of the failed Guaranty Bank last August. However, these branches may not be transitioned over yet to allow people to qualify for these Compass promotions. If you're in California and interested in this promo, it may be worth a call to Compass.

Compass Checking Accounts

I completed a Compass checking promotion in 2006 and received the promised $50 gift card without any problems. One downside is that I did received two hard credit inquiries by Transunion.

The Build-to-Order Free Checking comes with some basic features. Two additional premium features are allowed without cost. The notable basic feature is no minimum balance or direct deposit requirement. Also, bill pay is free. The notable premium feature for those who want to make extra money is a $25 anniversary cash bonus. One feature that is lacking is free checks. A reader in my last Compass post mentioned that the first order of checks is free.

The disclosure has some of the details of $25 anniversary cash bonus feature. I switched my Compass checking account to this Build-to-Order Free Checking in December 2007 and chose the $25 anniversary cash bonus as one of my premium features. Then I set up small monthly ACH debits from my online bank account to keep the checking active. I received the $25 bonus for both 2008 and 2009.

BBVA Compass Bank is a member FDIC (FDIC Certificate # 19048).

Thanks to the reader who commented on this promo in the bank deals hub.

Other Bank Bonuses

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

Washington Federal Savings is offering some competitive mid-term CD rates. These include a 24-month CD with a 2.50% APY and a 36-month CD with a 3.00% APY. Minimum deposit is $1,000. Jumbo CDs with a $90K minimum receive an extra 5 basis points. These rates are not listed at the bank's website. A reader mentioned these rates, and I called two of the bank's branches in Redmond, Washington and in Las Vegas on Friday. The CSR at Redmond said rates are usually updated on Fridays so she expected these CD rates to last through next week.

A branch visit is required to open an account. Branches are located in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington State. Rates may vary by area, so make sure you confirm the CD rates with your local branch.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are a little above average: 3½ stars (good) 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 1935 (FDIC Certificate # 28088). It's a sizable bank with $12.6 billion in assets and $7.9 billion in deposits.

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

Update: This BBVA Compass promotion has ended. For those who live in parts of New York, another bank is offering an iPod touch bank promotion that's scheduled to last through 9/30/2010. BBVA Compass has regularly offered an Apple iPod promo each year, so hopefully, we'll see another one at the end of 2010.

BBVA Compass is offering a 8GB iPod touch for opening a new Build-to-Order Free Checking account by 12/15/09 and setting up payroll direct deposit. Here's the promotion page link. As instructed at that promo page, make sure you first register to receive the claim code.

Some important details listed in the small print include:

• $100 minimum opening deposit required to qualify for the bonus
• Direct deposit must begin within 6 weeks of account opening and must continue at least once per statement cycle
• At 6 months your account will be verified again to confirm you are still meeting the payroll direct deposit requirement. If not, BBVA Compass will debit $180 (the approximate cost of the iPod touch) from your checking account.
• You must pay for shipping and handling of the iPod touch
• Does not apply to anyone who already has a BBVA Compass checking account
• Limit one iPod touch per household
• BBVA Compass may report its value to the IRS

Requirements for Opening Compass Bank Accounts:

The online application specifies the following requirements for opening a checking account:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must be 18 years old (19 in Alabama)
• Have a permanent residence within a state where Compass Bank has a banking center (Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas).

Compass Checking Accounts

I completed a Compass checking promotion in 2006 and received the promised $50 gift card without any problems. One downside is that I did received two hard credit inquiries by Transunion.

The Build-to-Order Free Checking comes with some basic features. Two additional premium features are allowed without cost. The notable basic feature is no minimum balance or direct deposit requirement. The notable premium feature for those who want to make extra money is a $25 anniversary cash bonus. One feature that is lacking is free checks. A reader in my previous Compass post mentioned that the first order of checks is free.

The disclosure has some of the details of $25 anniversary cash bonus feature. I switched my Compass checking account to this Build-to-Order Free Checking in December 2007 and chose the $25 anniversary cash bonus as one of my premium features. Then I set up small monthly ACH debits from my online bank account to keep the checking active. Last December I received the $25 credit as promised. I confirmed with a CSR that this bonus will occur every year as long as the checking account remains active.

Compass Bank is a FDIC member (FDIC Certificate # 19048).

Credit for this find goes to FatWallet member rcbullock who posted the deal at this FW 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.