Washington Deposit Account Rates and Deals

Bank of the West has extended its $100 checking account bonus. According to the bank's promotions page, the new checking account must be opened by 4/16/2010. You can receive a $100 when you open a checking account with funds new to Bank of the West and set up direct deposit of at least $250 OR pay 10 bills online. I reviewed the small print in this January post.

Update: It appears Bank of the West has changed the availability of the promotion since January. According to the CSR, online account opening is limited to states which have Bank of the West branches. These states include AZ, CA, CO, ID, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, NV, NM, ND, OK, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI and WY.

When I contacted the bank in January, I was told this bonus was available to people in any state, and you didn't need to come into a branch. Readers seemed to confirm this in the comments in January. Here's one of the comments:

We did this offer in late 2009 as well. We did NOT visit a local branch. We filled out the application online. We used direct deposit to fulfill the requirement. $100 bonus was paid eventually.

If you have participated in similar promotions in the past, please leave a comment about your experience.

Also from my January call, I was told 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. It should be noted that I've often received wrong info on this issue from CSRs so please leave a comment if you have personal experience on this issue.

Checking Account with no ATM Fees for One Year

Bank of the West's free checking account qualifies for the bonus. In addition, they have a new checking account called Choice ATM checking which offers one year of free ATM use within the USA. This allows you to withdraw cash from any financial institution's ATM free of charge for one year. Surcharges assessed by other banks will be automatically refunded. One thing to note about this Choice ATM Checking is that you have to worry about a $10 monthly fee unless you meet certain balance or activity requirements. Also, Choice ATM checking is only offered in the following states: CA, CO, MN, NV, OK and OR.

Online Savings Account

Bank of the West continues to offer an online savings account with a competitive yield. It has gone down from 1.50% APY in January to 1.25% APY as of today (3/10/10). Unfortunately, 1.25% APY is a decent savings account rate these days. This rate requires a $10,000 minimum balance. The low tier rate has also gone down by 0.25%. It's now 0.25% APY for balances under $10,000. 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.

Bank Overview

Branches are located throughout the Western and Midwestern states including Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and California.

Bank of the West is one of the large regional banks with $60 billion in assets and $40.2 billion in deposits. Its ratings for safety and soundness are a little weak: 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial (based on 12/31/09 data) and 1 star (lowest) at Bankrate.com (based on 9/30/09 data). 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.

Firsts Citizens Bank has a check card reward program called FreeMoney in which you can earn close to 4% cash back on your debit card purchases with a maximum of $500 per year. Unlike other debit card and credit card cash back reward programs, this requires some work if you want to maximize the cash back reward.

First, you're required to open the First Citizens personal checking account and FreeMoney Bonus Savings Account. To earn cash back, the following debit card usage is required:

• Make 10 non-PIN check card purchases per month
• AFTER these 10 check card purchases are made, you'll earn $1 for every non-PIN check card purchase of $25 or more.
• The FreeMoney bonus is deposited into the FreeMoney Bonus Savings Account each month

According to the terms and conditions, the maximum bonus per checking account is $500 per calendar year.

As you can see, it won't be easy to get close to 4% cash back from this program. Your first 10 check card purchases would have to be small since there's no cash back associated with them. The additional check card purchases during the month would have to be $25 or just a little bit higher. Then you could get close to earning 4% cash back. Of course if it were too easy, everybody would earn the 4%, and the bank wouldn't be able to afford it.

A branch visit is required to open an account. Branches are located throughout North Carolina. It also has branches in Arizona, Maryland, Tennessee, Washington, California, Virginia and West Virginia.

You might be wondering why the branches are so scattered across the country. First Citizens Bank has been expanding in the last several months with much of the expansion coming from the acquisition of failed banks. The latest acquisition was on Friday when it acquired Sun American Bank in South Florida.

First Citizens Bank's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial (based on 12/31/09 data) and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com (based on 9/30/09 data). The bank has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 11063)

Other debit card and credit card reward programs

As I've mentioned in previous posts, banks make sizable profits from non-PIN debit card usage. This is one new type of program that encourages debit card use. PerkStreet Financial is one that's available nationwide which offers 1% cash back without any hoops to jump through. It also has a special 2% cash back promo (see review). For those with large savings, you'll probably do better with high-yield reward checking accounts (refer to the reward checking section of DepositAccounts.com).

If you prefer using credit cards, some of the best cash back programs are from PenFed, Charles Schwab and Fidelity.

KeyBank is offering a decent checking account promotion. Here's the link to the promotion. The $150 bonus is for opening its free checking account. The $200 bonus requires one of their checking accounts that has monthly fees. Both bonuses require the same activities:

• Open the checking account by April 30, 2010
• Make one KeyBank Rewards debit card transaction (ATMs excluded)
• Make a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by July 2, 2010

Some important small print:

• 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.
• Offer not available to individuals who have opened a KeyBank checking account in the last 12 months.
• If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.

The promotion FAQs has some important points including who's eligible:

The offer is not available in all areas. Individuals and businesses will only be eligible in the following districts: Cleveland, Eastern OH, Idaho, Western NY, Oregon, Seattle Cascades, South Puget Sound, Central NY, Rochester, Maine, Northwest OH, Michigan, and Capital Region NY.

There's also a business checking account promotion that offers up to $275.

When I had contacted KeyBank in previous years, I've been told by their customer service reps that they don't do a hard credit inquiry. They only use ChexSystem in the application approval process.

KeyBank has been a FDIC member since 1956.

Credit for this find goes to FW member DreamKrusher who posted on it in 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.

Alaska USA Credit Union is offering some competitive rates. The most competitive include a 2.01% APY 18-month CD, a 2.25% APY 24-month CD and a 3.35% APY 60-month CD. Minimum deposit is $500. These are also available in an IRA. These rates are listed in the credit union's certificates rates page as of 3/02/2010.

The 2.01% APY may seem low for an 18-month term, but I'm afraid it's competitive these days. As a comparison, the top 18-month CD rate at Bankrate is currently 1.84% APY at Aurora Bank.

In addition to Alaska, the credit union has branches in several parts of Washington State and in the Victor Valley region of California. Last year they took over Members’ Own Federal Credit Union of Victorville, California through a NCUA purchase agreement. Refer to the credit union's branch location page for the full details.

Alaska USA doesn't provide many details on membership eligibility. The credit union's membership page recommends that you contact the credit union to find out if you are eligible. It appears there's a good chance you can be eligible if you live near one of their branches. If you have experience with this credit union, please leave a comment.

The credit union's ratings for safety and soundness 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. Alaska USA is a large credit union with $4.0 billion in assets and 357,369 members. It's federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 5913).

Fibre Credit Union is offering a high-yield reward checking account called Choice Checking. The account offers the following rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met:

• 3.25% APY on balances up to $20,000
• 0.90% APY on the portion of your balance above $20,000
• 0.10% base rate if requirements are not met
• Refunds your ATM fees nationwide

Monthly requirements include:

• 12 debit card purchases
• 1 Direct Deposit or automatic payment or make one credit card purchase
• Receive electronic statements

Additional features of this account include:

• $5 minimum initial deposit
• No monthly service fee
• No minimum balance

Membership is open to those who live, work, worship, or go to school in Cowlitz County, Washington. Refer to the credit union's about us page for more details.

Branches are located in the Washington cities of Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock, Woodland and Kalama.

The credit union's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 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 # 2191).

Other High-Yield Reward Checking Accounts

Fibre Credit Union is the first reward checking account that I've seen to include a credit card purchase as part of the monthly requirements. The debit card usage is still required, but the credit card purchase can be used to replace the direct deposit requirement.

Refer to the reward checking section of DepositAccounts.com to find reward checking accounts in your area or that are available around the nation.

Update 2/19/2010: The 12-month CD rate has increased to 2.10% APY for $10K minimum. However, the 24-month CD rate has fallen to 2.00% APY

Cascade Bank is offering some good deals on CDs and checking accounts. Its two most competitive CDs are the 2.00% APY 12-month CD and a the 2.50% APY 24-month CD. Minimum deposit is $10,000. The bank's Main Street Checking is also a good deal with a 1.60% APY for balances of $100K to $250K. It's 1.90% APY for over $250K. For more typical balances of $2.5K to $100K, the rate is 1.25% APY. Minimum balance of $1K is required to avoid a monthly service charge. These rates are listed in the bank's deposit rates page as of 2/2/2010.

Two small perks if you open one of the bank's checking account include a free sandwich maker and up to $25 in cash ($2 for each old check card or pad of checks). This is one reason to keep those old checks.

It appears that a branch visit is required to open an account. Branches are located in several cities in Washington State including Bellevue, Issaquah, Shoreline, Burlington, Everett and Marysville.

The bank's ratings for safety and soundness are a little weak: 2 stars (problematic) at BauerFinancial and 1 star (lowest) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 9/30/09 financial data. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1957 (FDIC Certificate # 28823).

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 (Update: Looks like only the person who refers the new customer makes the $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). Update: HomeStreet Bank has been operating under a FDIC Cease & Desist order since May 2009.

• 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

• 4.01% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 1.01% on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.02% base rate if requirements are not met

• 12 debit card purchases
• 1 electronic deposit or withdrawal
• Receive electronic statements

• $100 minimum initial deposit
• No Minimum Balance Requirement
• No Monthly Maintenance Fee

• 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

• 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

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