Poppy Bank Adds Nationally Available Premier Online Savings Account
California-based Poppy Bank is ending the year with a new and rate-leading savings account. The recently unveiled Premier Online Savings earns 5.50% APY that is “guaranteed for ninety (90) days from the date the account is opened.” A Premier Online Savings can be opened with a $1k minimum deposit and a minimum $1k balance must be maintained to earn the 5.50% APY.
Premier Online Savings Ins and Outs
While the Poppy Bank website has an FAQs section, it’s not comprehensive. There is a Terms and Conditions disclosure for the Premier Online Savings that is only available when you open an account, which is not very helpful for doing due diligence. The following information was obtained from an email and a conversation with a couple of bank branch officials. (FYI – the Call Center personnel only had access to information available on the website.)
- Premier Online Savings can be opened as an individual or joint account, but not as a business or trust account.
- $1k minimum daily balance required to earned stated APY.
- Initial funding can only be done through Plaid and is limited to $10 million.
- No debit or ATM card is available. Up to six fee-free monthly withdrawals can be made using the Poppy Bank online banking platform. There is a $5 fee per withdrawal in excess of the six monthly withdrawals.
- There is no monthly maintenance fee, but there is a $5 monthly paper statement fee if you choose not to receive electronic statements.
- ACH deposits and withdrawals can be initiated from an external bank account.
- ACH transfers initiated from Poppy Bank are limited to $10k per day and $30k per rolling 30 days (no limit as to the number of external accounts that can be linked.)
- Hold times for ACH transfers are 1-2 business days.
Availability and Account Opening
Headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, Poppy Bank has a brick-and-mortar presence in Northern and Southern California, but currently offers the Premier Online Savings on a nationwide basis to U.S. citizens and residents aliens (18 years or older) who have a valid Social Security number.
Opening a Premier Online Savings can only be opened online. Although Poppy Bank has 16 Northern California and four Southern California branches, the 5.50% APY is only available when opening a Premier Online Savings online.
Bank Overview
Poppy Bank has an overall health rating of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 5.21% (excellent), based on September 30, 2023 data. In the past year, the Bank has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $242.31 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 7.19%. Please refer to our financial overview of Poppy Bank (FDIC Certificate # 57903) for more details.
Originally known as First Community Bank, Poppy Bank was founded in 2005 by nine prominent San Francisco area business leaders. The Bank re-branded as Poppy Bank in November 2017 to avoid marketplace confusion, although the parent company name (First Bank Community Holdings) has not changed. According to Poppy Bank CEO, Khalid Acheckzai,
There are thirteen banks named “First Community Bank” in the United States with 157 branch locations. As we expanded, we wanted to distinguish our excellent products and services from our competitors. Changing our name to “Poppy Bank” is unique and an exciting step forward on our road to continued success.
The Bank’s brick-and mortar presence expanded into Southern California with the 2018 acquisition of Blue Gate Bank (Costa Mesa). Currently the 20th largest bank headquartered in California, Poppy Bank has assets in excess of $5.7 billion and nearly 30,000 customer accounts.
How the Premier Online Savings Compare
When compared to nationally available Money Market Accounts and Savings Accounts tracked by DepositAccounts.com, that do not require large balances or direct deposit and do not have small balance caps, no bank or credit union have a higher rate than currently offered on the Poppy Bank Premier Online Savings.
The above information and rates are accurate as of 12/28/2023.
To look for the best rates on liquid bank accounts, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our Money Market Accounts Table and Savings Accounts Table.
