Wyoming Deposit Account Rates and Deals

With the news that Alliant Credit Union will be lowering its savings account yield from 1.50% to 1.35% in September, more people may be interested in BankOn. I first reported on BankOn in October 2009. Since then it has maintained a very competitive rate on its Money Market Savings Account. It's currently 1.60% APY as of 8/25/2010, and this rate has been maintained since April.

Unfortunately, BankOn isn't available nationwide. It's one of the rare internet accounts that is limited to only certain states: Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming.

Another downside is the requirement of opening its internet checking account. The checking requires a $100 minimum opening deposit, and it pays no interest. However, there is no minimum balance requirement after opening.

One nice perk with BankOn is a sign-up bonus of $25 when you open the savings account. There doesn't seem to be any additional requirements to receive this bonus. The rules say there's a limit of one per household, and the bonus will be paid within 10 business days of account opening.

There's also a nice refer-a-friend bonus. This is a limited time promotion that rewards both the referrer and the new customer with $25. You can make up to $250 for referring friends.

For more details about BankOn, please refer to my 2009 BankOn review. BankOn is part of Pinnacle Bank which has been a FDIC member since 1934 (FDIC Certificate # 10634). Pinnacle Bank has a link to BankOn at its website so you can confirm the relationship.

Update: This Bank of the West 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.

Bank of the West just came out with another checking account promotion. I just posted on their $100 checking account bonus on Sunday. They're now offering a free Apple iPod touch when you open one of their checking accounts, and complete a few requirements. Here's the promotions page (now inactive). It's also listed on the bank's front page. The offer is scheduled to last until 9/3/2010. They give you three different ways to qualify after you open the checking account:

• Minimum monthly recurring direct deposit of $500. OR
• Make 10 bill payments with Bank of the West Online Banking, OR
• Make 20 debit card transactions

This was similar to the $100 bonus, except they added the 20 debit card purchases. The main issue with a gift reward is that they may report a value of the gift that's too high to the IRS. The bank doesn't seem to specify the iPod model, and they do say in the small print that the "iPod touch shipped may differ from the iPod touch shown." Based on a quick search on Google, it appears the value of the cheapest iPod touch is at lesat $150.

Update 8/16/2010: The small print has changed. In addition to the new end date of 8/20/2010, more people can qualify. The new small print includes the following:

Offer valid for qualifying accounts opened in person at participating branches in CA, CO, UT, WY, and NV or for accounts opened online by residents of AZ, CA, CO, ID, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, NV, NM, ND, OK, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI and WY.

Below is the offer's small print with my highlights of some of the important details:

Open any new personal checking account and either establish minimum monthly recurring direct deposit of $500, or make 10 bill payments with Bank of the West Online Banking or make 20 debit card transactions. Direct deposit must be payroll, Social Security, pension or other government benefits. Qualifying debit card transactions include signature, or PIN-based purchases only. Qualifying transactions must be completed by 10/31/10. Offer valid for new personal checking accounts opened from 07/19/10 – 09/3/10 with $100 or more from a financial institution other than Bank of the West. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer and is subject to change without prior notice and may be terminated at any time. Offer valid for qualifying accounts opened at participating branches in CA, CO, UT, WY, and NV or opened online. Offer does not apply to second or multiple checking accounts. Limit of one new checking account bonus per household per calendar year. iPod touch will be shipped to your account address of record by December 15, 2010. You must have a U.S. mailing address on 10/31/10 to be eligible. Accounts overdrawn or closed as of 10/31/10 are not eligible for this offer. The iPod touch shipped may differ from the iPod touch shown. To the extent required by law, Bank of the West will report the value of the iPod touch 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.

Please note the small print: "Offer valid for qualifying accounts opened at participating branches in CA, CO, UT, WY, and NV or opened online." This explains why these states were excluded in the $100 promotion. So if you don't live in these states, you may want to check with Bank of the West. 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. See my $100 promotion review for a list of these states.

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.

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).

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

Other Bank Bonuses

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

UniWyo Federal Credit Union is offering two competitive CD specials: 2.01% APY 13-month CD and 2.62% APY 37-month CD. Minimum deposit is only $250. These rates are listed at the credit union's rates page as of 5/16/2010.

Above the rate table it states the following:

Rate changes are published every Tuesday, unless the Federal Reserve is closed on Monday. In that case, the rates are published on Wednesday. The rates may change after an account is opened. A penalty may be imposed for early withdrawal.

I'm not sure what they mean by "rates may change after the account is opened". They don't appear to be variable-rate CDs.

The credit union also offers a high-yield reward checking account that pays 4.21% APY on balances up to $25K as of 5/16/2010 (see account review).

Membership is open to students of the University of Wyoming and employees of a long list of select employers groups. Please refer to the credit union's membership page for the full details. One organization listed is the American Consumer Council which is open to all. If you're interested in joining, please check with the credit union to confirm membership in ACC will qualify you for credit union membership.

The credit union's ratings for safety and soundness are above average: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial, 3 stars (performing) at Bankrate.com and an overall health score of 4 out of 5 at DepositAccounts.com (see our UniWyo FCU rates and reviews page). The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 9089).

Thanks to the reader me1004 who mentioned these CDs in the Open Discussion Thread.

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. The tables now have a new & improved format!

Update 4/26/10: The rate has fallen to 1.60% APY. The bonus is now $25.

Pinnacle Bank of Nebraska has launched an internet bank called BankOn. The internet bank has a no-minimum online savings account with a 2.05% APY as of 10/12/09. Unfortunately, it's not a nationwide deal. When you select the Apply Now button, the first page of the application states that they are only accepting online applications from Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming residents. It looks like a good deal for residents of those states.

You are required to open BOTH the checking account and money market account. The only small print related to the bonus that I can see is that the bonus will be paid within 10 business days of account opening. Also, there's a limit of one per household. So it looks like an easy $50.

There's no mention about a hard credit inquiry in the application process (which can temporarily ding your credit score). I'll check with the bank tomorrow. Update 10/13/09: According to the CSR, they do check your credit report. She wasn't sure if this would be a hard pull.

There's also no mention about an ACH transfer service which allows you to transfer funds to and from your bank accounts at other institutions. I'll also check on this tomorrow. Internet banks often neglect this critical internet banking feature. Some may have a basic service, but it often lacks important features such as the capability to link to multiple external accounts, fast transfers in which little or no interest is lost and the allowance of large transfers. Update 10/13/09: The CSR wasn't too familiar with the ACH features. She suggested that transfer features were part of the bill pay service. I'll have to email for clarifications.

Below is a list of the important features described on the bank's website. I was able to get a few additional details from the disclosure documents which are available in the middle of the online application.

BankOn Checking and Money Market Savings Shared Features:

• No required minimum balance after opening
• No monthly fees
• No checks
• E-statements only
• Online only accounts
• Online application via andera.com
• Options to fund account: Credit or debit card or U.S. checking account
• Online application allows for joint accounts, but doesn't allow for beneficiaries
• Dormant Account Fee: $50.00 annually (per fee schedule)
• Incoming Wires: $12.00 per wire (per fee schedule)
• Must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. resident alien
• Only available to residents of NE, CO, KS, MO & WY

BankOn Money Market Savings Features:

• 2.05% APY as of 10/12/2009
• No minimum initial deposit

BankOn Checking Features:

• No interest
• $100 minimum initial deposit
• Free Bill Pay
• Visa Check Card with Cash Back Rewards (0.50% on signature-based purchases paid monthly to account)
• Free foreign ATM transactions (but no mention of reimbursements of other banks' fees)

The state restriction may be good if you live in one of the eligible states. It should reduce the chance that they'll be overwhelmed with deposits. As we've seen many times this year, new online banks offering good deals are often overwhelmed with new customers, and they end up suspending new applications or restricting availability.

There's always the question about if it's worthwhile to chase rates at a new bank. I discussed this issue at length in this post.

FDIC/Financial Info:

BankOn is provided by Pinnacle Bank. One thing Pinnacle Bank did right is to include a link to the BankOn website at their main website at www.pinnbank.com. Pinnacle Bank is a FDIC member, and you can verify this and their website address at this FDIC page. According to the 6/30/09 FDIC data, the bank has $2.4 billion in assets, $2.1 billion in deposits and 57 branches.

Pinnacle 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 6/30/09 financial data.

Rate History:
04/26/10: 1.60% APY
02/21/10: 1.85% APY
01/20/10: $25 new account bonus
10/12/09: 2.05% APY; $50 new account bonus

Update 7/29/10: The rate has fallen to 3.65% APY. Refer to the bottom of the post for the rate history.

UniWyo FCU is offering a reward checking account called Xtraordinary Checking. The account has the following rates if certain monthly requirements are met:

• 3.65% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 0.15% on portion of balances above $25,000
• 0.15% base rate if qualifications are not met

The monthly requirements include:

• 10 debit card purchases
• One direct deposit
• Aggregate deposit/loan balance of $5,000 or more
• Receive electronic statements

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

• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly service charge
• $5 minimum balance in a savings account

Membership is open to anyone affiliated (on a local level) with the University of Wyoming. Others include employees of Albany County, the City of Laramie and Wyoming Technical Institute (WyoTech). Refer to the credit union's Field of Membership Page for more details.

The credit union's ratings for safety and soundness are strong: 5 stars (superior) at BauerFinancial and 4 stars (sound) at Bankrate.com. The above rates are based on 3/31/09 financial data. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 9089).

Other Reward Checking Accounts

To find reward checking accounts in other areas of the nation or to learn more about these accounts, please refer to my High Yield Checking website.

Edit 9/15/09: Corrected balance requirement.

Rate History:

• 07/28/10: 3.65% APY up to $25K
• 02/10/10: 4.21% APY up to $25K
• 12/31/09: 4.19% APY up to $25K
• 09/06/09: 5.25% APY up to $25K; 0.15% over; 0.15% base

• 3.01% APY on balances up to $25,000
• 1.01% APY on portion of balance over $25,000
• 0.20% base rate if monthly requirements are not met
• Refunds ATM fees up to $25 per cycle

• 10 debit card purchases
• 1 direct deposit or ACH auto debit
• Receive e-statements

• No minimum initial deposit
• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly service charge

• 10 VISA check card purchases
• one direct deposit or ACH (auto debit)
• access monthly statements online