Checking Bonus & Other Deals at First Trade Union Savings

Update 4/10/13: The promotion has changed. Please refer to this post for a new review of this promotion.

First Trade Union Savings has several good deposit deals. First is a checking account promotion. They're offering a $100 cash bonus when you open their Virtual Checking Account and complete a few tasks. The promotion is scheduled to last until 12/31/2011. The full details are listed in the bank's promotions page. Here are the requirements to receive the full $100:

• Open a new First Trade Virtual Checking account before 12/31/2011
• $50 if you enroll in FTUB Bill Pay service and pay at least 1 bill through FTUB Bill Pay by 1/31/2012
• $50 if you enroll in direct deposit and have at least 1 direct deposit credited to your Virtual Checking account by 1/31/2012

The nice thing about this promotion is that the checking account is something that you may want to keep for the long-term. The Virtual Checking account has no minimum balance requirement and no maintenance fees. Also, it offers ATM surcharge rebates (up to $20 per statement cycle). The first order of basic checks is free.

The account pays interest, but it's not the best for internet checking accounts. The current rate is 0.50% for balances over $1,000 (as of 10/17/2011).

If you want a higher interest rate, the bank's online savings account is a good one. It has been a while since I last covered this savings account. It's called the High and Mighty Savings. Its top rate is 1.05% APY for balances of $2,500 and over (as of 10/17/2011). That's fairly competitive in today's low-rate environment. Like the checking, it has no monthly service fees.

If you want even a higher interest rate, you might be interested in the bank's internet CDs. The best one is currently the 18-month CD which has a yield of 1.30% APY (as of 10/17/2011). That's the best nationally available 18-month CD rate for banks. You can get higher rates at some all-access credit unions as I described in my last weekly summary.

Online Application

All of these accounts can be opened online with the bank's online application, and they're available to people in any state. The application is provided by andera.com which is common for online banks. Account funding can be done with an ACH transfer from your existing checking or savings account.

The bank also offers IRAs, but these require a branch visit. The main office of First Trade Union Savings is located in Boston, MA.

The bank has an overall health score at DepositAccounts.com of 4 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 23.39% (average) based on June 2011 data. Please refer to our financial overview of First Trade Union Savings for more details. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1987 (FDIC Certificate # 32551).

Other Bank Bonuses

We have a new bank promotions page with a table of all of the active bank and credit union promotions. You can filter the table based on the type of promotion and based on your state. I have more details about how to use this page in this blog post.