United Community Bank is offering several competitive CD rates. The two best are the 2.00% APY 10-month CD special and the 2.25% APY 18-month CD. Minimum deposit is $500. There's also a 2.50% APY IRA CD. These rates are listed in the bank's rates page as of 1/28/2010.
It appears a branch visit is required to open an account. Branches are located in the southeast Indiana cities of Lawrenceburg, St. Leon and Aurora which are just west of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1936 (FDIC Certificate # 29620).
Farmers Citizens Bank is offering a high-yield reward checking account called Kasasa Cash. It has the following rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met:
- 4.01% APY on balances up to $25,000
- 0.75% on portion of balance over $25,000
- 0.15% base rate if requirements are not met
- Nationwide ATM fee refunds up to 5 per month and up to $25
The monthly requirements include:
- 12 debit card purchases
- 1 direct deposit or ACH auto debit
- Receive e-statements
Additional features of the account regardless of the monthly requirements include:
- $50 minimum initial deposit
- No minimum balance requirement
- No monthly maintenance fee
- Free bill pay
There's an online application link at the bank's Kasasa Cash page. However, the application appears to only accept zip codes from Ohio. It accepted a Cleveland zip code. If you've tried other zip codes, please leave a comment.
Branches are located central Ohio in the cities of Bucyrus, Cardington, Fredericktown, Worthington, Shiloh and Upper Arlington.
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 (FDIC Certificate # 10267).
Kasasa?
This is annother Kasasa Account which a new marketing term that was developed by BancVue and FIRST ROI, the main companies behind reward checking. I'm still not sure how to pronounce Kasasa. I can understand them wanting a better name than reward checking, but I think they could have done better than Kasasa.
A branch visit is required to open an account. Most of the branches are located in Ohio and Indiana. The FDIC also shows branches in several other states including California and Arizona. These are the branches that First Financial acquired when Irwin Union Bank failed in September.
First Financial Bank's ratings for safety and soundness are a little 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 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 6600).
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
Offer valid for new Extreme Checking accounts only. Account must be open for at least 60 days to earn cash bonus. One bonus per customer. Maximum bonus of $150. No minimum balance required; however, you must deposit $100 to open account. Miscellaneous income reportable to the IRS.
The Extreme Checking account is a high-yield reward checking account that I first reported on in 2008. It's currently paying 4.50% APY on balances up to $25K, and the rate is guaranteed through the Derby 2010 (starts on the first Saturday in May). Refer to my account review for more details. A commenter in that post reported that there's no hard pull in the application. I've sent an email to confirm. Update: I received the following reply about the credit inquiry: "It is a soft inquiry that will not impact your credit score."
It's rare to see both an attractive bonus and reward checking account.
There's an online application for the account, but it states on the Extreme Checking page that it's only available for residents of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.
Thanks to the reader who commented on this deal.
Other Bank Bonuses
To find other bonus deals, please refer to my bank bonus page which has all of my recent bank bonus posts.
The 2.00% APY 6-month CD rate and the money market rate aren't listed at the bank's website. I just called and confirmed these with a bank rep. According to the bank rep, they had been guaranteeing a 2.25% APY on the money market account, but this guarantee is ending 12/31/09. The rate will then fall to 2% APY without any more guarantee. So the 2% may not last much longer.
The bank is also offering an interest checking account that's paying 1.95% APY for a minimum balance of $500.
I was told by the bank rep that one could open an account by mail. However, it's a small bank so I'm considering this a local deal. The bank is located in Lake Mary which is just north of Orlando.
This bank is a division of United Midwest Savings Bank in Ohio. The parent bank is offering similar CD rates for those in Ohio. However, the 12-month and 24-month CD rates are lower. Refer to United Midwest's rate table for more details.
The bank's ratings for safety and soundness have gone down quite a bit since my January 2009 post on this bank. The ratings are now a little weak: 2 stars (problematic) at BauerFinancial (based on 9/30/09 data) and 1 star (lowest) at Bankrate.com (based on 6/30/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 1986 (FDIC Certificate # 32441).
Other Competitive Certificate of Deposit Rates
- CD rates at DepositAccounts.com
- My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals
It appears a branch visit is requird. It's a small bank with one branch located in Columbus, Ohio.
The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are fair: 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com (based on 6/30/09 data) and 3½ stars (good) at BauerFinancial (based on 9/30/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 2006 (FDIC Certificate # 58215).
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
A branch visit is required, and this promo appears to only be available in areas where National City has branches that have not yet been converted to PNC branches. So this would exclude Florida. Other states with National City branches include IL, IN, KY, MI, MO, OH, PA and WI. All markets are scheduled to be converted by the end of June. More details about the conversions are provided at the PNC transition website.
For those with nearby PNC branches, PNC is offering another $100 checking account bonus. This was advertised in the Sunday edition of the Treasure Coast Newspaper. The ad is available online here. This is in Southeast Florida, so the promo may not be available in all markets. According to the ad:
Open a select new PNC Personal Checking Account with qualifying direct deposit and get more than you expected, like $100 deposited in your account
The offer is scheduled to end on 12/19/09.
PNC continues to offer a $100 bonus for opening its Virtual Wallet account. Refer to my September post for more details. One thing that has changed is that the small print now states that the offer is limited to residents of: DC, DE, IN, KY, MD, NJ, OH, PA, VA.
Other Bank Bonus Deals:
A branch visit is required to open an account. Most of the branches are located in Ohio and Indiana. The FDIC also shows branches in several other states including California and Arizona. These may be the branches that First Financial acquired when Irwin Union Bank failed in September.
First Financial Bank's ratings for safety and soundness are a little 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 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 6600).
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
A 6-year term is long when rates are so low, but if you need a long-term CD for a CD ladder, this is one of the best long-term rates available.
Kemba also has a reward checking account that pays 3.50% APY on balances up to $25K as of 12/07/09 (see post). It may seem like this checking account would be a much better deal than the CD. However, as we learned this year, there's no guarantee that the reward checking rates will hold.
Membership is open to those who live, work, worship or attend school in one of the following Ohio counties: Brown, Butler, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Greene, Hamilton, Highland, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Warren. Refer to the credit union's eligibility page for the full details. Membership requires a minimum balance of $5 in the savings account.
Branches are located in Ohio cities of Cincinnati, Amelia, Harrison, West Chester and the Indiana city of Bluffton.
The credit union'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 credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 61810).
Other Competitive Certificate of Deposit Rates
- 3.50% APY on balances up to $25,000
- 0.25% APY on portion of balance over $25,000
- 0.15% base rate if requirements are not met
- ATM fee refunds up to $20 per month
- 12 debit card 'credit' purchases
- 1 direct deposit or automatic payment
- Access online banking
- Receive E-statements
- No minimum opening balance
- No minimum balance requirement
- No monthly service charge
- Multiple accounts can be opened but qualifications must be met for each
Branches are located in Ohio cities of Cincinnati, Amelia, Harrison, West Chester and the Indiana city of Bluffton.
The credit union'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 credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 61810).
Other Reward Checking Accounts
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.
