Customers Bank Ups Ascent Money Market Savings Rate
About a month ago, Pennsylvania-based Customers Bank unveiled a new product: the Ascent Money Market Savings Account (Ascent MMSA). At that time, the Ascent MMSA earned 2.03% APY on balances of $25k and above, with balances below $25k not earning any interest.
Customers Bank ended the week by substantially improving the Ascent MMSA, when it raised the rate to 2.25% APY and guaranteeing the APY through June 30, 2019. The minimum opening deposit is still $25k of new money, with no stated balance cap. Unlike some other banks that limit new rates to new accounts, existing Ascent MMSAs will automatically earn 2.25% APY; the rate guarantee also applies to existing Ascent MMSAs.
There is no monthly service fee and the Bank’s $10 incoming wire transfer fee is waived for the Ascent MMSA. The Ascent MMSA must be funded within 30 days of application approval. If the Ascent MMSA is closed before interest is credited, the accrued interest will be paid.
The promotion page contains a FAQ section, which answers most of the commonly asked questions. For example,
The Ascent Money Market Savings Account is not meant for everyday spending. Therefore, ATM cards, debit cards or checks are not issued for this type of account.
To access your funds, visit www.customersbank.com, click on personal banking login and login using the username and password you created.
There are several ways to fund a newAscent Money Market Savings account. You may:
1. Transfer money from your account at another bank. If you are already a Customers Bank customer, you can transfer money from your existing account.
2. Wire money from your account at another bank.
3. Write a check. Checks should be made payable to and mailed to: Customers Bank, Attn: Deposit Operations, 99 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460.
A very knowledgeable CSR explained that withdrawals made through ACH transfer are limited to $5k per day and $50k per statement cycle. Surprisingly, there is no excess transaction fee assessed if more than six transactions occur in a statement cycle, but you will receive a warning letter. CSR stated that the Ascent MMSA will be closed following the receipt of a third warning letter.
Availability
Headquartered in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Customers Bank is offering the Ascent Money Market Savings Account on a nationwide basis to U.S. citizens and resident aliens who possess a valid Social Security number.
The Ascent MMSA can be opened as an individual account or as a joint account (with or without survivorship). Trust, fiduciary, or custodial accounts are also available.
While Customers Bank has branch locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, the Ascent MMSA can only be opened online. A U.S. driver’s license, U.S. passport, or state-issued ID is required to open an account.
Bank Overview
Customers Bank has an overall health rating of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 2.77% (excellent) based on March 31, 2018 data. Customers Bank has an above average capitalization level (9.93%), the result of holding $10.76 billion in assets with $1.07 billion in equity. Please refer to our financial overview of Customers Bank (FDIC Certificate #34444) for more details.
Customers Bank is currently the fourth largest bank headquartered in Pennsylvania, with assets in excess of $10.7 billion and more than 1,939,000 customer accounts. Founded in 1997 as New Century Bank, the Bank rebranded in 2011, following the acquisition of USA Bank (NY), ISN Bank (NJ), and Berkshire Bank (PA). According to a June 2018 press release,
Customers Bank, the region’s leading super-community bank with operations in Pennsylvania, D.C., Illinois, New York, New Jersey and New England, has been granted Preferred Lender status under the United States Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Preferred Lenders Program (PLP).
Preferred Lender is the highest level of approval and status that a lender can hold in the SBA loan program. As a Preferred Lender, Customers Bank can now process, close, service and liquidate most SBA-guaranteed loans without SBA review, providing a faster and more streamlined process for financing small businesses.
How the Ascent Money Market Savings Account Compares
When compared to the nationally available savings accounts tracked by DepositAccounts.com, Customers Bank’s Ascent Money Market Savings Account APY currently ranks first, regardless of minimum deposit. (Northfield Bank’s Online Platinum Savings also offers 2.25% APY, but is capped at $100k.)
The above rates are accurate as of 8/4/2018.
To compare the top Savings Account rates, both nationwide and in your local area, please refer to DA’s Savings Accounts rate table.
But it does sure seem like Northern Bank MM is about to lose it's crown...
Except for the rare banks/CUs that block ALL ACH transfers on certain account types, and the mandatory limit of 6 outgoing transactions from savings/MM accounts regardless of where it's initiated, limits only apply to ACH transactions initiated interally.
Liquid savings accounts with a high rate and a 1 year floor are great. If someone else comes along with a great rate it's easy to move the funds No guarantee that Redneck will always be a rate leader but at least you have a 1 year floor with Northern.
Prefer no limitations like the 50K max and $5,000 ACH limit. I prefer not calling a bank and dealing with a CSR to get an increase for an ACH transaction. Northern Direct has 2 day ACH when I pull from Chase with no limitations on outside pulls. For you it works, for me and maybe others not.
My broker can do everything redneck can do and the rate is just .16% less and no $50k limit. On a $1000 average balance, the interest difference is $1.60 a year. Broker does not have the 6 transaction per month limit either.
All these banks with small balances just mean extra forms at tax time on small amounts of interest.
There really is no reason for me to keep bank accounts at Discover or Redneck.
Especially given I will likely be opening more accounts in the coming months. Maybe even the Home Loan 3.15% 18 month next week.
(Unless something better comes along quickly)
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/31617H201
Its not like I am day trading and pressed for buying power.
I don't do a lot of buying stocks but when I sell them, like last week one went crazy up, I then bought SPRXX as soon as the trades settled.
But the main money I was talking about came in from Penfed. As soon as it got There, I bought the SPRXX.
My understanding is if I buy a stock today, they will first use any money in SPAXX first and the rest from SPRXX.
Vanguard pays .20% less than my Northern MMA.
Many here like Ally and the service they provide. Some people are just looking for the highest rate.
I had a chexsystems problem when I was much younger but a visit with the branch manager had him override it. I explained what happened, showed him my brokerage account and flapped down a few thousand in cash to open the account. Back then, local banks paid no interest and I had to keep a $1000 average balance or fees would kick in. (That was a business account)
I also got rejected for a checking account for too many new accounts about 12-15 years ago and the bank would not override it.
My new accounts in the last 6-7 months:
Redneck
Local CU RCA
Heritage Bank RCA
NASA
Andrews
Northern (2 accounts)
Popular
That's more than I thought. I'm probably at risk for rejection too.
Some people whined about hard pulls but not one of the above did a hard pull for me. But with an 828 score, it would not be the end of the world.
If you have an 868, it must be on the one with a top score of 950. Mine is 846 on that one.
Your FICO® Score 9, based on Equifax data and pulled on 07/03/2018, is 846 and is the same score that PenFed uses to manage your account.
Industry-specific FICO scores range from 250-900.
Looking deeper, I see NextGen Fico score has a range of 150-950.
It says in another place industry specific range from 250-925.
https://www.creditsesame.com/blog/credit/credit-score-range-for-experian-transunion-equifax/
Sounds good, though $20 is a bit hihg, $10 better!
$50,000/month limit for withdrawals apply EVEN for externally initiated ACH's. So, if you opened
a joint account for $500,000, it would take you 10 months to get your money out. There is no other way to withdraw money (they won't even mail a check).
So, unless you can live with $50,000 max withdrawal per month, this is a non-starter.
Makes it hard to jump to another bank if a better rate appears
interest. There's also this disclaimer:
"To receive ATM surcharge refunds and avoid a monthly service fee there is no minimum balance requirement in the convenience checking account; however, you must maintain, in any combination among all your deposit accounts and/or your outstanding balances on your mortgage and consumer loans, an average total balance of $5,000 for each statement period"
Since the $50,000/month limit is really $30,000 (max six transactions at $5,000 day),
and the money market pays no interest below $25,000, I think a balance of $30,000- $60,000 would be the best use of this account. Writing a check for anything over would
involve several days of lost interest that may negate much of their 0.25% advantage over
other 2.00% accounts. The other way is to treat it as a one-off account where you close
the entire account for a different bank, but again you have the problems of lost interest waiting for a check or paying for a wire transfer.
The rep did say their ACH limit policy is under active review, so we'll see!
I tried to fund my account today with an internal transfer at their $25K interest threshold and was denied. If they are this restrictive in moving funds in and out I am not going to bother funding it. I will speak to a bank officer tomorrow about their policies, at this time it doesn't appear to be a bank that I can do business with.
I asked about closing the account and getting the funds. He said that can be done without penalty, however, could take substantial amount of time to receive a final check. Sounds like it is best for me to deposit a maximum at 50k in this bank as I may need access to the money.
I asked:
Janae Munz
Customer Service Manager
Digital Banking
99 Bridge Street
Phoenixville, PA 19460
(833) 534-1028
today specifically about ACH withdrawals initiated through another linked institution and she said the limits would not apply - only the limits imposed by the external institution as RecklessMax stated.
1. Cit Bank Money Market Savings, Pays 1.85 and compounds DAILY
2. Customers Bank Ascent Money Market 2.25% and compounds MONTHLY.
Assume you open an account with $25,000 in each bank for one year:
Not much difference in savings:
Future Value of $25k @1.85% compounded daily = approx. $25,466
Future Value of $25k @ 2.25% compounded monthly = approx. $25,568
They are being sneaky. 2.25% compounding monthly is basically the same as 1.85% compounding daily. Moral of the story, make sure the rate you are getting is compounding daily.
nothing to do with the frequency of compounding.
With any financial institutions I have ever dealt with, I have always written a personal check payable to myself and endorsed it on the back side with:
For Deposit Only, then the financial institutions name and my account number.
That avoids any confusion as to what the check was for and I never had a check refused.
A bank will normally not like to receive a check payable to it b/c of endorser liability
Unless you missed the deadline or something.
I'd be interested if anyone can confirm, or has had experience with ACH transfers with them
To open an account, fill out the form online, and once you have an acct number, transfer your funds by ACH. They do not have any wire capabilities at this time.
in #77 you said
I got her associate Steve, who gave me a definitive story: Yes, you can pull in (or push in, your choice) as much as you want - the $5k/$50k limits are waived, as is the $10 incoming wire fee. HOWEVER, he was clear and authoritative that pulling money out is limited to the $5k/day, $50k per cycle, REGARDLESS of where such a transfer was initiated.
please explain
You can transfer money in and out, if initiated from the outside institution, and the outside institution's limits on transactions per day, if any, will apply, not the deal-breaking internal amount of $5k/day, $50k/month that has been in force up to now.
Your first quote, in your comment #78 is quoting my post of #57, i.e.,
" I got her associate Steve, who gave me a definitive story: Yes, you can pull in (or push in, your choice) as much as you want - the $5k/$50k limits are waived, as is the $10 incoming wire fee. HOWEVER, he was clear and authoritative that pulling money OUT is limited to the $5k/day, $50k per cycle, REGARDLESS of where such a transfer was initiated."
Thus, at the time of that post, #57, by me, you could only move $5k/day or $50/mo. regardless of where that transaction originated. Hence, a deal breaker, as I mentioned.
In your above quote, Comment #79, you're mixed up. My comment you reference as also coming from my post #57, i.e.,
"You can transfer money in and out, if initiated from the outside institution, and the outside institution's limits on transactions per day, if any, will apply, not the deal-breaking internal amount of $5k/day, $50k/month that has been in force up to now."
That's not a quote from my Comment #57. It's a quote from my comment #77, as of yesterday 9/7/18.
Hence, the meaning of the #77 comment by me: The 'deal-breaker' is gone. You can pull money out via ACH (no wire capability) from an *external* institution, with the only limits on the amount being subject that that external institution's rules.
Simply put:
They've *changed* that provision of the limits of $5k/day $50k/month for withdrawing funds from the account, so if you initiate a withdrawal from the money market to an external institution, the amount of the withdrawal is no longer limited to $5k/day, $50k/month, as long as the transaction originates at an outside institution. You *could* do what Existing Customer suggests, and have a plethora of accounts, and do multiple transfers of $5k per day. But it's much simpler, in my view, to simply initiate one transfer via ACH from an external institution, since those limits disappear if you do that.
Clear, yes?
comment #82
Thanks for making the time to reply,and your other posts. The posting lineage sometimes leads me astray.
I have to look at the whole thread over each time to make sure I haven't missed something important.
1) MySavingsDirect, no min
2) iGObanking/BankPurely, $25,000 or above.