Oregon Deposit Account Rates and Deals

HomeStreet Bank has brought back its $215 checking account promotion that I last reported on in July 2009. The bonuses amounts appear to be the same as before. The largest bonus is for direct deposit, but you can still make $135 without it. Details are listed in the bank's promotion page as of 1/21/2010. I don't see any expiration date, but based on its history, the promo comes and goes. The following activities are required to receive the full $215:

• $80 for direct deposits of payroll, pension, social security or other income to your account
• $60 for using your new Visa Check card ($2 per purchase up to $60)
• $40 for using free Online Bill Pay ($10 per payment up to $40)
• $10 for receiving e-statements
• $25 for giving the bank your old checks and debit card from your old bank ($15 for your check card and $2 per pad of checks up to $10).

Some important small print of the offer includes:

• Minimum opening deposit for the checking account is $100
• The Totally Free Checking qualifies
• All transactions eligible for a bonus payment must be made within the first 3 statement cycles after account opening
• Offer is limited to one account per household
• Accounts closed by the customer within 90 days of opening are subject to a $15 early closure fee

One nice change for 2010 is that they doubled their refer-a-friend promotion. When you refer a friend who opens a checking account, both you and your friend will earn $50. There's no limit on the number of referrals you can make.

When I posted on this promotion last year, a reader mentioned being told by the CSR that there is no hard credit inquiry.

It appears a branch visit is required for this promotion. Branches are located in Washington State, Oregon and Hawaii. The bank is a member FDIC (FDIC Certificate # 32489).

Bank of the West has brought back its $100 checking account bonus. This new bonus is available until 2/19/2010, and like the last one it allows either direct deposit of at least $250 or 10 online bill payments. The promotion details are listed in the bank's promotion page. Some important details mentioned in the small print include:

• Open any new personal checking account
• First recurring direct deposit must be posted to your account within 60 calendar days of your account opening date
• The 10 bill payments must occur within 60 calendar days of your account opening date
• Bonus will be credited to your account within 60 days after satisfaction of conditions
• Offer valid for a new personal checking account opened from with $100 or more from a financial institution other than Bank of the West
• Offer does not apply to second or multiple checking accounts and/or existing checking customers
• Limit of one $100 bonus per household per calendar year
• Value of the offer reported to the IRS on Form 1099

I just called the bank's customer service number (800 488-2265 / option 8), and according to the CSR, you don't need to come into a branch. People in any state can apply online and qualify for the bonus. Note, in a call last year I was told a branch visit would be required for the bonus. If you hear something different, please leave a comment. Also note, I was told they don't do a hard credit inquiry in the application (only a soft pull). So it shouldn't have to worry about a ding to your credit score. It should be noted that I've often received wrong info on this issue from CSRs.

A few readers shared their experience with this bonus last year. If you participated in this promotion last year, please leave a comment about how it went. Hopefully, the bonuses were paid without problems.

Branches are located throughout the Western and Midwestern states including Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and California. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 3514).

Thanks to the reader who emailed me news of this new promotion.

Online Savings Account

Bank of the West continues to offer an online savings account with the competitive yield of 1.50% APY for balances of $10K and above as of 1/14/2010. This is the same rate when I posted on this account last August. Unfortunately, 1.50% is now competitive for online savings accounts. However, the rate is low for balances under $10K (0.50%). In August I was told by the CSR that there's a $2/month fee if the balance falls below $300. Another downside is that their ACH bank-to-bank transfer service has a transfer limit of $2,000 per day.

Other Bank Bonuses and Online Savings Accounts

To find other bonus deals, please refer to my bank bonus page which has all of my recent bank bonus posts. Refer to my weekly rate summary and the savings account section of DepositAccounts.com for the best nationwide savings account rates.

Union Bank is offering up to $200 for opening its Signature Banking Checking account and for establishing qualifying services. The Signature Banking Checking has a high minimum balance requirement so this isn't a great deal, but it may be worthwhile to a few. The promo is listed on the bank's front page, and the details are described in bank's promo page. Here are the requirements:

• Open a Signature Banking Checking account by 1/31/10
• Establish two qualifying services for $200
• Establish one qualifying services for $100
• Qualifying services include 1) monthly direct deposit, 2) three online bill payments to three different payees, beginning the month after account opening 3) five debit card purchases or payments per month

Some important small print includes:

• Valid for new customers with funds not presently on deposit with Union Bank
• Bonus will be deposited by 4/30/10 into the Signature Checking account which must be active and in good standing
• Limit one offer per household
• Bonus reported as interest paid for tax purposes

The requirement that the checking account must be a Signature Banking Account is the big downside to this offer since it requires a $10,000 minimum combined average monthly balance to avoid a monthly service charge. Account must remain open for 90 days to avoid an early closure fee. Refer to the right column of the bank's checking comparison table for Signature Banking Checking details.

I noticed the bank's Preferred Savings account has a competitive rate of 1.50% APY for balances of at least $10,000. This is listed in the bank's savings account rates page as of 12/28/09. This could help ease the checking's $10,000 combined minimum balance requirement.

There's a toll-free number listed on the promo page. I haven't called this number to see if it's available nationwide. I would guess a branch visit is required. According to the bank's company profile page, the bank has 337 banking offices in California, Oregon, Washington and Texas. However, the vast majority of the branches are located in California.

Union Bank has been a FDIC member since 1979 (FDIC Certificate # 22826).

Thanks to the reader Marc who mentioned this promotion in the comments of the bank deals hub.

Update: A reader noted that there are also two $50 bonuses available for opening a free checking account. Both require either direct deposit or three online bill payments:

• $50 cash bonus, Expires 12/31/09
• $50 Nijiya Market Gift Certificate. Expires 2/28/10

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

KeyBank has a new checking account promotion in which you can receive up to $225 when you:

• Open a qualifying checking account and enroll in KeyBank Rewards by November 20, 2009
• Make one debit card transaction and a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by January 22, 2010

The $225 bonus requires that you open either the Key Privilege Checking or Key Privilege Select Checking. Both of these have high minimum balance requirements to avoid a monthly service charge. A smaller bonus of $125 is available for opening the free checking account which has no minimum balance requirement or monthly service charge.

Here's an important detail listed in the promotion's FAQs:

• This offer is not available in all states. Individuals and businesses will only be eligible in areas where KeyBank has branches. Key has branches in the following states: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.

And here's some of the important small print:

• Direct deposit transactions are limited to: payroll, social security, pension and government benefits.
• Automated payments exclude Key Bill Pay, debit card automated payments, PayPal transactions and account to account balance transfers.
• Offer not available to individuals who have opened a KeyBank checking account in the last 12 months.
• The value of the gift card will be reported on Form 1099-INT.
• If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.

It appears you can apply online, by phone (1-877-539-6659) or at a branch. Note, if you want the 60,000 KeyBank Rewards instead of the $125 cash bonus, you'll need to call or visit a branch.

According to the customer service rep, they don't do a hard credit inquiry. They only use ChexSystem in the application approval process. This is based on my conversation with the CSR last year.

KeyBank has been a FDIC member since 1956.

Credit to iBankDesign for this find.

Other Bank Bonuses

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

Bank of Oswego is offering a few competitive CD rates. These include a 2.25% APY 12-month CD, a 2.75% APY 24-month CD and a 3.50% APY 60-month CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000. These rates are listed in the bank's rates sheet as of the morning of 9/14/09.

It appears that a branch visit is required to open an account. The bank is located in Lake Oswego, Oregon which is just south of Portland.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial (based on 6/30/09 data) and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com (based on 3/31/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 2004 (FDIC Certificate # 57877).

Other High Certificate of Deposit Rates

• My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals
• My weekly list of all nationwide CD deals
• Index of state CD and bank deals

Banner Bank is offering a 21-month CD special with a rate of 2.50% APY. Minimum deposit is $2,500. The rate is listed on the bank's promotions page as of 8/27/09.

There's an online application, however, the accounts only show up for selection if you enter a zip code that's in their market area. So it doesn't appear to be a nationwide deal. Branches are located throughout Washington State, Oregon and Idaho.

My last post on Banner Bank was in April when they had a 2.75% 15-month CD special.

Banner Bank's ratings for safety and soundness are weak: 2 stars (problematic) at BauerFinancial and 1 star (lowest) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 3/31/09 financial data. The bank has been FDIC insured since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 28489).

Other Competitive Certificate of Deposit Rates

• My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals
• My weekly list of all nationwide CD deals
• Index of state CD and bank deals

KeyBank has a new checking account promotion that's similar to what they were offering in March except with new versions of the Garmin GPS. In this new promo you can receive a free Garmin nuvi 1200 GPS or a Garmin nuvi 1350 GPS.

The 1200 GPS requires that you open a qualifying checking account by 9/11/09 and make one debit card transaction and make two direct deposits or automated payments each of $100 or more by 11/13/09. The Express Free Checking qualifies. One thing new in this promo is that you must have or request a KeyBank Rewards debit card and enroll in the KeyBank Rewards points program. There is a $20 annual fee for the KeyBank Rewards Program that will be waived for the first year. The current price of this 1200 GPS is $179.99 at newegg.com.

The more expensive 1350 GPS requires opening either the Key Privilege or Key Privilege Select checking account. The other requirements seem to be the same. These two personal accounts require large minimum balances to avoid monthly fees. The current price of this 1350 GPS is $279.99 at newegg.com.

You will receive your Garmin GPS within 90 days of meeting requirements. Here's some of the important small print. Please refer to the promotion page and the FAQ page for the official details.

• Direct deposit transactions are limited to: payroll, social security, pension and government benefits.
• Automated payments exclude Key Bill Pay, debit card automated payments, PayPal transactions and account to account balance transfers.
• Offer not available to individuals who have opened a KeyBank checking account in the last 12 months.
• The value of the Garmin GPS will be reported on Form 1099-INT ($145 for the 1200 and $212 for the 1350)
• If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.
• You can apply at a KeyBank branch, Key.com or through 1-877-539-4477
• Only available in areas where KeyBank has branches. Key has branches in the following states: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.

Some features of the Key Express Free Checking include:

• $50 Minimum opening deposit
• No monthly fees
• No minimum balance requirements
• ACH transfer capability
• free pill pay

According to the customer service rep, they don't do a hard credit inquiry. They only use ChexSystem in the application approval process. This is based on my conversation with the CSR in 2007.

KeyBank has been FDIC member since 1956.

Other Bank Bonus Deals:

• my last 40 posts on checking and savings account bonuses

Update 8/18/09: Crossed out Florida from list of eligible states per info from reader. FDIC database does show KeyBank branches in Florida, but these zip codes are not accepted in the online application.

Update 11/02/09: The promotion has been extended to last until 12/11/2009.

Bank of the West has brought back its $100 checking account bonus. In addition, they have made the promotion more flexible. You can earn $100 by either direct deposit of at least $250 or 10 online bill payments. The promotion details are listed in the bank's promo page at www.bankofthewest.com/neighbor. Checking account must be opened by 10/02/09. Some important details mentioned in the small print include:

• First recurring direct deposit must be posted to your account within 60 calendar days of your account opening date
• The 10 bill payments must occur within 60 calendar days of your account opening date
• Bonus will be credited to your account within 60 days after satisfaction of conditions
• Offer valid for a new personal checking account opened from with $100 or more from a financial institution other than Bank of the West
• Offer does not apply to second or multiple checking accounts and/or existing checking customers
• Limit of one $100 bonus per household per calendar year
• Value of the offer reported to the IRS on Form 1099

Bank of the West had been offering this same promotion in May and June. At the start of the promo, only direct deposit was an option. Later they added the bill pay option.

I just called the bank's customer service number (800 488-2265 / option 8), and according to the CSR, a branch visit is required to qualify for this promo. I told her that was confusing since the promo page had "apply now" buttons. If you receive different info from a CSR, please leave a comment.

Branches are located throughout the Western and Midwestern states including Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and California. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 3514).

Thanks to the reader who emailed me news of this new promotion.

Online Savings Account

Bank of the West also offers an online savings account, and according to the CSR, it's available nationwide. The rate as of 8/14/09 is a little low: 0.50% APY for under $10K and 1.50% APY for over $10K. According to the CSR, there's a $2/month fee if the balance falls below $300. Another downside is that their ACH bank-to-bank transfer service has a transfer limit of $2,000 per day. It's good to see a major bank offering an online savings account, but they're going to need to make it more competitive.

Other Bank Bonuses and Online Savings Accounts

To find other bonus deals, please refer to my bank bonus page which has all of my recent bank bonus posts. Refer to my weekly rate summary for the best nationwide savings accounts.

Frontier Bank is offering several competitive rates on its CDs that can be opened online. These include a 2.00% APY 6-month CD, a 2.35% APY 12-month CD and a 2.60% APY 24-month CD. Minimum deposit is $500. For a $50,000 minimum, the 12-month CD APY is 2.40% and the 24-month CD APY is 2.80%. These rates are listed in the bank's rates sheet as of 7/29/09.

I contacted the bank representative this afternoon using their toll-free number (1-888-779-4801), and according to the CSR, they accept applications from out-of-state customers. The CDs can be funded by an ACH transfer. I was told the rate will lock at the time of the application as long as they receive the deposit within 5 days. I was told the rates typically change at the start of each month so lower rates may take effect after Friday. If you don't want to renew at maturity, you can request that they mail you a check or you can request a wire transfer (with a fee). I was told they can accept instructions by phone for the CD closure. According to the first page of the application, all applicants must be a US resident.

Branches are located throughout Washington State including the cities of Port Angeles, Vancouver, Seattle, Redmond, Bremerton, Tacoma, Mount Vernon and Everett. There are also branches in the Oregon cities of Salem and Portland.

Financial/FDIC Info

The bank is not in the best financial health. Many of their issues are described in their Second Quarter 2009 Results (pdf). It appears they've been hit hard by the local housing market. They also mentioned the issurance of a FDIC Cease and Desist Order. According to the bank:

we believe we have already addressed all of the regulators' requirements, with the exception of increasing Tier 1 capital, in which efforts are currently underway.

Their liquidity section explains for the high deposit rates:

We continue to closely monitor and manage our liquidity position, understanding that this is critical importance in the current economic environment. Attracting and retaining customer deposits remains our primary source of liquidity.

As you might expect, their ratings for safety and soundness are low: 1 star (lowest) at Bankrate.com and 0 star (lowest) at BauerFinancial. Both ratings are based on 3/31/09 financial data. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1978 (FDIC Certificate # 22710).

Other High Certificate of Deposit Rates

• My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals
• My weekly list of all nationwide CD deals
• Index of state CD and bank deals