Rick

What were they thinking??

This account is out of the door since there remains many RCAs above the nominal 4% APY.

For Peggy: Yes, for most banks. Some actually need payroll DD. So it is YMMV; find out for your own case. Some will accept their own Billpay as DD requirement. To help you out: 1. Use utility bills: pay $1.00, $1.01, etc. to all your RCAs. 2. Use banks such as Ally to do ACHs, they usually count. 3. Use RCA banks to transfer amongst themselves; e.g., Bank A –> Bank 2; this will usually meet requirements for both. Make sure you do more than one in case some transfers do not count. Good luck.

Any ideas on how to generate various ACH’s? I already have my phone bill, my electric bill and my water bill as ACH’s at different institutions to satisfy the ACH requirement on their rewards checking accounts. I am running out of ideas on how to meet the ACH or direct deposit requirement. I don’t know if my regular longtime bank (Chase) evens allows transfers to other banks without charging. Any ideas?

Is this online bank for real or is it some April Fool’s prank? Instead of an image of a banking customer or something, the bank features a laughing horse with its gums exposed on the website. The website is funny but the very competitive and attractive 4.00% APY interest rate is no laughing matter. It seems legit – FDIC insurance coverage etc. Does anyone have a checking or savings account account there? Thinking of setting up any account just for the weirdness factor..heh

I’m not entirely clear on what exactly you are asking…but the 10 transaction requirement that many of these reward checking accounts impose is related to the debit card use as it relates to actual purchase transactions. I assume when you refer to the “10 ATM transactions” you are referring to that and not merely ATM transactions as it relates to ordinary ATM deposits and withdrawals.

In terms of keeping your bank account balance below the maximum allotted limit for the maximum checking interest rate offered, my advice is to simply monitor your accounts extra closely or set up some type of automatic email or phone text system that alerts you when your balance falls or exceeds a certain threshold. There are banks that offer this type of alerting service for their account customers.

Another idea is to go with a high yield reward checking account that offers a very high maximum balance. Take a look at the chart above…there is at least one online bank that offers a maximum limit at the highest APY interest rate up to $250,000. It’s interest rate yield isn’t the highest compared to its competitors, but it has the highest max balance limit of any.

Lots of these nationally available reward checking account banks offer features that include the ability to make check deposits from home. Check out First City Bank. They offer a very intriguing Express Deposit gadget that customers can utilize from the comforts of home to make checking account deposits without having to physically visit a bank branch office or ATM.