High Yield Savings Account Promotion at Allstate Bank

POSTED ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2008 BY Ken Tumin

Allstate Bank has a promotion for its High Yield Savings Account. New customers earn an additional 1.25% for 90 days in the high yield savings accounts. The current yield on the savings account is 2.75% APY so the combined yield is 4.00% APY. It's important to note that the standard 2.75% APY is subject to change weekly. This promotion is only for new customers who have never owned an Allstate Bank account.

I haven't closely followed rates at Allstate Bank since their rates haven't been too competitive. The 2.75% APY is a little low compared to other online savings accounts, so this may not be an account you'll want for the long term.

Some of the basic features of the High Yield Savings Account include:

$100 minimum deposit to open the account
$500 minimum balance to avoid a $4/month fee
ATM Card with up to $6 per month automatic reimbursements for ATM fees from other banks
Interest compounded daily, credited monthly
No check writing

I just called their Allstate Bank for additional details. According to the CSR, all balances qualify for the extra 1.25%. Regarding a hard credit inquiry, she only could say that there is a credit check. She could not say if it's a soft or a hard pull (hard pull can temporarily ding your credit score). She did provide some details on the ACH transfer service:

$10,000/day limit on ACH transfers, but you can request exceptions for a particular day
Maximum of 6 links to other bank accounts
No fees to initiate transfers
Transfers take 48 hours to complete (users' experience is often a better judge of the true delay)

Opening an account can be done via a local Allstate agent or by mailing in a deposit account application with a check. The disclosure is at the end of the application.

The bank's financial ratings for soundness are a little weak: 3 stars (adequate) at BauerFinancial and 2 stars (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. Both ratings are based on 6/30/08 data. It's a small bank with $923 million in assets and $857 million in deposits. Allstate Bank has been FDIC insured since 1998 (FDIC Certificate # 34782).

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