Pennsylvania Deposit Account Rates and Deals

Prudential Savings Bank is offering a 2.01% APY 13-month CD special. Minimum deposit is $5,000. There's also a regular 5-year CD that's fairly competitive with a 3.26% APY. This is also available in an IRA. These rates are listed at the bank's rate table as of 3/05/2010. There's a 3/3/2010 date at the bottom of the rate table.

This bank has a history of offering some of the best CD rates in Philadelphia. My last post on this bank was on January 2009 when it was offering a 3.50% 9-month CD. It's hard to believe how much rates have gone down in the last year.

Note, at the bottom of the rate table it states that deposits are accepted at their discretion. So they may only accept local deposits. Branches are located in Philadelphia and Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.

Prudential Savings Bank's ratings for safety and soundness are a little above average: 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com and 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial. Both ratings are based on 9/30/08 financial data. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1938 (FDIC Certificate # 30011).

Visions Federal Credit Union is offering some competitive CD and IRA CD rates. The noteworthy rates for a minimum of $500 include:

• 2.02% APY 1-year CD
• 2.53% APY 30-month CD
• 3.50% APY 60-month CD
• 2.53% APY 15-month IRA-only CD
• 3.05% APY 32-month IRA-only CD

These rates are listed at the credit union's rate table as of 3/03/10. Above the table there's a date range of 3/03/10 to 3/09/10.

For the non-IRA CD rates above, you can get an extra 25 basis points with an account relationship. Refer to the bottom of the rate table for details about eligible relationships. A VisionsPlus Checking with Visa Check Card and a Gold credit card can qualify you.

Membership is open to those who live, work or worship in Broome, Chenango, Tioga, Schuyler or East/Central Chemung Counties in New York and Bradford County in Pennsylvania. There's a $1 membership fee and a $25 minimum deposit into the Share Money Manager Account. Please refer to the credit union's membership page for more details.

Branches are located in the New York cities of Binghamton, Elmira, Endicott, Endwell, Horseheads, Johnson City, Newark Valley, Owego, Spencer, Syracuse, Vestal and Watkins Glen. In Pennsylvania, the branches are in Sayre and Wysox.

Visions FCU has strong ratings for safety and soundness: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 17429). It's a large credit union with $2.2 billion in assets and 120,997 members.

Citizens Bank has a checking account promotion in which you can earn $100. The details of the checking account bonus are listed at www.citizensbank.com/220. Offer ends 3/26/2010. The requirements to earn the $100 include:

• $50 for setting up direct deposit of $250 or more
• $25 for making 5 online bill payments
• $25 for making 5 signature-based debit card or credit card purchases

Some important details mentioned in the small print includes:

Requirements must be met by 4/30/2010. Bonus will be deposited into the checking account by 6/30/2010 and reported to the IRS. Checking account must remain open for at least 6 months or the amount of the banking bonus will be debited from the account at closing.

The Green Checking qualifies for this bonus, and it's a free checking account with no monthly fees. Minimum opening balance is $50.

The Green Checking also qualifies for the Green$sense program. Citizens Bank says you can get paid up to $120 per year in Green$ense. However, this would require 100 debit card purchases, online bill payments or automatic payments per month for 12 months. For each of these non-paper transactions, Citizens Bank pays you 10 cents. Since this is considerable work, I'm not including this $120 in the bonus amount.

This is very similar to the promotion the bank was running late last year. One small change is that they now require a minimum direct deposit of $250 instead of $50. In that post, a reader mentioned that there's a hard pull in the application.

There's an online application at the promotions page. However, it only accepts zip codes in their market area. Their market area includes Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Citizens Bank operates under two FDIC charters: Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania (FDIC Certificate # 57282) and RBS Citizens, N.A. which has branches in several states outside of PA and NJ (FDIC Certificate # 57957).

Other Bank Bonuses

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

Sharonview Federal Credit Union is offering some very competitive CDs and IRA CDs especially for large deposits. The most competitive CDs for a $100K minimum include:

• 2.25% APY 6 months
• 2.50% APY 12 months
• 2.75% APY 24 months
• 3.00% APY 36 months

Rates are 25 basis points less for a $50K minimum deposit and 50 basis points less for a $10K deposit. Even for a $10K deposit, the 6- and 12-month CD rates are still competitive.

Unfortunately, membership appears primarily limited to select employer groups. There's not many details on the credit union's Join page. It gives the following instructions to determine eligibility:

If you would like to find out if you qualify through your current employer, please call our Financial Solutions Center at (704) 969-6700 in the Charlotte, NC area, or (800) 462-4421, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM EST.

Branches are located in North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The credit union's ratings for safety and soundness are a little mixed: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial and 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 22458).

Update 2/19/2010: Top rate is scheduled to fall to 0.85% effective March 1, 2010. Readers have just reported being told this by the bank. One other change is the elimination of the deposit card usage requirement.

Allegiance Bank is now allowing residents of PA, NJ and DE to open its STAR reward checking account online. The rate is low for reward checking (2.75% APY as of 2/16/2010). However, this rate is for balances up to $250K. That's 10x the typical reward checking balance cap. The rates and the link to the online application are in the deposit rates page. I have more details on this reward checking account in my account review. The 2.75% APY has held since last May.

At the top of the online application it states:

We welcome all residents of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware to apply.

In addition to the reward checking account, online applications are available for the Star Money Market Account and a for a few CDs. However, rates on these are not that competitive.

In addition to the online application, you can also open the account at one of its PA branches which are located in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Considering the recent snowfall around this area, I would think most would prefer the online application.

One issue to note, Allegiance Bank's ratings are weak: 0 star (lowest) at BauerFinancial and 1 star (lowest) at Bankrate.com. These ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. Also note, the bank has been operating under a FDIC Cease and Desist Order since 11/4/2009. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1999 (FDIC Certificate # 35078).

Thanks to the reader who emailed me news of this reward checking account.

Stonebridge Bank has a new 21-month CD special with a 2.30% APY. There's also a special 14-month CD with a 1.80% APY. Minimum deposit is $500. These are also available in an IRA. These rates are listed in the bank's Certificate of Deposit Page as of 2/08/2010.

There's an online application, and according to this FAQ page, people from any state can apply. Some of the important CD details listed in the FAQ pages and in the disclosure include:

• Interest will be compounded every day. Interest will be credited to your account every month
• Early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest for terms under 12 months, 180 days for terms from 12 to 36 months.
• 10 calendar grace period at maturity
• CD can be funded by check or wire transfer (can't be done by ACH)
• Incoming wire transfers are free. Outbound domestic wire transfers cost $20

I also received a few additional details from the CSR when I called their toll free number (800-807-1666) in 2008:

• The CD rate locks only when they receive the funds
• They require written instructions if you want to close the CD at maturity
• At maturity, they can mail you a check or they can wire transfer the funds ($20 fee)

Stonebridge Bank also has some decent money market and checking accounts. The Premier Money Market Account has a 1.25% APY on all balances as of 2/08/2010. Minimum balance of $1,000 is required to avoid a $10 monthly fee.

Stonebridge Bank's financial ratings for safety and soundness have gone down a bit since my last post in September. Their current ratings are a little weak: 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial and 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data.

Stonebridge Bank is based in Pennsylvania with branches in Blue Bell, Warminster, Exton and West Chester. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1999 (FDIC Certificate # 35077).

Sovereign Bank is offering a checking and money market promotion in which you can earn a bonus of $150 and receive a 1.50% APY guarantee for 3 months in the money market account. The promo is scheduled to expire 3/13/2010. Here's the promo page link.

First, here are the requirements for the $150 checking account bonus:

• Open a new Sovereign Premier Checking, Business Owner Premier Checking, Interest Checking, or Partnership Checking account by March 13, 2010, with a minimum opening deposit of $100
• Open any Sovereign savings or money market savings account with a minimum opening deposit of $100 or already have a savings or money market savings account
• Enroll in Online Banking at account opening
• Set up and receive one direct deposit within 60 days of opening your account
• Request a Sovereign Debit Card and make 5 Debit Card purchases within 60 days after you open your account

When you qualify, you will receive a credit of $150 to your new checking account within 75 days after you open your checking account.

Some important small print:

• Offer available only to residents in the following states: ME, VT, NH, CT, RI, MA, NY, NJ, PA, MV, MD, DE, and District of Columbia.
• Direct deposits you initiate from an account at another bank do not qualify
• The amount of the bonus credited to your account will be reported to the IRS as interest
• Current personal checking customers or anyone who has had a personal checking account with Sovereign Bank in the last 6 months are not eligible for this offer.
• Current savings customers are eligible

An important note regarding the Interest Checking is that direct deposit is required to avoid a $10 monthly fee. On the plus side is that they provide free checks. The Premier Checking is even worse in terms of potential fees. A $15,000 combined balance is required to avoid a $30/month fee. For the savings accounts, the Money Market Savings appears to be a good choice since it has no monthly maintenance fee and no minimum balance requirement. Note, the monthly fees and minimum balance vary considerably based on your state.

Here are the requirements to qualify for 1.50% APY for 3 months:

• Open a new Premier Checking account and open a new Premier Money Market Savings account by March 13, 2010
• Bonus rate will apply for each day your balance is $10,000 to $499,999 and is guaranteed for 3 months from the date you open your account

Some important small print:

• Same geographic restriction as mentioned above
• Anyone who has had a Sovereign savings, money market savings, or personal checking account with Sovereign in the last 6 months are not eligible for the bonus rate

Unlike the checking account promotion, this requires a Premier Money Market Savings account. Details of this account are in the promo page (click more for this account in the promo page). The Premier Money Savings is free of minimum balance requirements and has no monthly fees as long as you have a Premier Checking account (which, as I mentioned, has its own fees)

When I called Sovereign Bank in April 2008 regarding a similar promotion, I was told that there's no account closure fee if an account is closed after 90 days. Otherwise, it's $25. The CSR also said they don't perform a hard credit inquiry. They just use ChexSystem in the application.

There's an online application link in the promo page. However, the small print states that residential addresses must be located in the northeast states (see above).

Branches are located in the Northeast in the states of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The bank is a FDIC member (FDIC Certificate # 29950).

Other Bank Bonuses

Refer to the Bank Bonus page for the other bonuses at banks and credit unions around the nation.

Union National Community Bank is offering a special 24-month CD with a 2.00% APY. Minimum deposit is $2,500. What makes this CD a great deal is its no-penalty feature. You can make a penalty-free early withdrawal any time after 6 days of opening. However, they don't allow partial withdrawals. If you need to make a withdrawal, you'll have to close the CD.

This special CD doesn't seem to be listed at the bank's website. A reader mentioned this in the comments, and I called the bank today for additional details. The CSR said it should last at least until next Wednesday (2/10/2010). It's available at all of their branches, and they do require you to visit a branch to open an account.

The bank also offers a high-yield reward checking account (see my review).

Branches are located in the Pennsylvania cities of Mount Joy, Lancaster, Columbia, Elizabethtown, Ephrata, Landisville, Manheim and Maytown.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are a little mixed: 4 stars (excellent) at BauerFinancial and 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 7635).

Thanks to the reader who mentioned this CD special in the Open Discussion Thread.

East River Bank continues to offer a very competitive rate on its Ultimate Checking Account. The rate is down since my June post, but it remains competitive with a 2.10% APY for balances of at least $100. This is listed in the bank's rate table as of 1/27/10. When I last called the bank about this account, I was told that it's not a reward checking account. There are no other requirements to receive this top rate, and there is no balance cap. Like any checking account, the rate can change at any time.

The bank also has some competitive CD specials. The most competitive is a 2.00% APY 14-month CD. Minimum deposit is $2,000. This rate is listed in the bank's rates table as of 1/27/2010.

A reader reported in my March post that the bank now requires a branch visit to open an account. The bank has two offices located in Philadelphia, PA.

East River Bank's ratings for safety and soundness are mixed: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial and 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. It's interesting to see how big the difference is between these two ratings. Typically, they are close. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. East River has been a FDIC member since 2006 (FDIC Certificate # 58171).

• CD rates at DepositAccounts.com
• My weekly list of hot nationwide and local CD deals