Money Market Account Special at Dime Savings Bank in New York

Dime Savings Bank has long been offering a 10-month CD special. The rate has fallen since my last review, but it's still competitive.

A reader just informed me of a new promotion that's not listed on the bank's website. It's a money market account special with a 1.75% APY for up to $250K that's guaranteed to last for 6 months. I just called the bank for additional details. It's available as of 7/16/2011, but the CSR didn't know how long it would last. Update 7/25/11: A reader provided more details of the money market account in this comment.

This money market promotion is similar to the CD special in that it's only available to new checking account customers who open either the Prime Dime Rewards Checking or Dime Rewards Checking account and have either one direct deposit or one online bill payment each month.

Since you have to open a checking account and conduct specific types of transactions, this special is similar to a checking account bonus. If you can invest $100K, you'll make about $875 in 6 months with the guaranteed 1.75% APY. That's $325 more than keeping the $100K in an account paying 1.10% APY.

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

Checking Account Details

These checking accounts are not high yield reward checking accounts. There is no high yield, but on the plus side, there are no debit card usage requirements. However, both accounts require that direct deposit or use of Dime's online bill payment services be maintained each month. There are also monthly fees if minimum balance requirements are not met.

The Prime Dime Rewards Checking disclosure and the Dime Rewards Checking disclosure have the details of these accounts. Two features shared by both accounts include:

• Direct deposit of payroll, pension, or government benefits or use of Dime's online bill payment services must be maintained each month to remain eligible for this account type. If this requirement is not maintained, you may be required to close the account upon 30 days written notice.
• Up to $10 in refunds for transaction charges at non-Dime ATMs each month (if balance requirements are met)

Specific features of the Prime Dime Rewards Checking include:

• Top interest rate of only 0.30% (as of 7/16/11)
• $15 monthly maintenance fee if average daily balance is under $5,000

Specific details of the Dime Rewards Checking include:

• Non-interest bearing checking account
• $12 monthly maintenance fee if average daily balance is under $2,500

Availability

Update 7/20/2011: Dime Savings Bank has started to limit this promotion to only residents of New York State.

Update 7/25/11: A reader provided more details on applying for this promotion in this comment.

According to the CSR, these accounts and this promotion are available nationwide. Accounts can be opened by phone (800-321-3463). This promotion is also available at all of the branches. In the past I've been told that if you can't make it into a branch, they do require you to mail or fax copies of your driver's license and utility bill.

Competitive CD Rates

The bank also some fairly competitive long-term CD and IRA CD rates. I last reviewed these in this February post. One downside to Dime is that they don't always make it easy to close CDs as I recently described.

Dime Bank Overview

Dime Savings Bank branches are located throughout the Greater New York metro area.

Dime Savings Bank has an overall health score at DepositAccounts.com of 5 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 5.85% (excellent) based on March 2011 data. Please refer to our financial overview of Dime Savings Bank for more details. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1943 (FDIC Certificate # 16012).

Searching for the Best Money Market Rates

To find the best nationwide money market rates and the best money market rates in your state, please refer to our money market account rates table.

For similar accounts that can have higher rates, please refer to our savings account rates and checking account rates tables.

Edit: Clarified availability