High-Interest Reward Checking Account at South Central Credit Union in Michigan - Local Only
South Central Credit Union has a reward checking account called BONUS Checking. It's not the best reward checking account, but the rate and balance cap are a little above average. If requirements are met, the account has a 2.50% APY for balances up $25,000 as of 5/16/2011. The monthly requirements are:
- 15 signature-based check card purchases
- direct deposit
- receive e-statements
The credit union doesn't offer many details of its BONUS Checking in its checking account page, but it looks pretty typical. There is no minimum balance requirement.
According to the credit union's membership page,
Anyone who wishes to make a minimum donation of $5.00 to the American Cancer Society is eligible to become a member.
However, it appears they do require a branch visit. At the top of the membership page, it states:
To become a member at South Central Credit Union, visit one of our three branches with valid state photo ID (or student ID if under 16) and your social security number (card not required as long is it matches credit check).
South Central Credit Union branches are located in Jackson and Adrian, Michigan.
It is a small credit union with only $53.9 million in assets. The credit union has an overall health score at DepositAccounts.com of 5 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 3.40% (excellent) based on December 2010 data. Please refer to our financial overview of South Central Credit Union for more details. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 62143).
How It Compares to the Best Reward Checking Accounts
For reward checking accounts with $25K tiers, it's getting hard to find those with yields above 2.50%. For nationally available accounts, there are currently only two with yields over 2.51% APY (the two have a 3.01% APY). To compare reward checking accounts based on interest rates and balance caps, you can use our reward checking rate table. Refer to this post for details on how to use the rate tables. If you're new to reward checking, my post on the common reward checking traits should be useful.