topic Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts? in Personal Finance

Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Green456 — Fri, 17 May 2019 12:11:13 GMT

So I did some research online, I was looking for high interest SAVINGS 4% or more. The credit unions below are open to anybody. Any more banks or CU? Im looking for accounts that DO NOT require debit transations.

DCU

- 6% interest on savings up to $1,000

- $5 per month in interest

- soft pull

BECU:

- 6% interest on savings up to $500 then blended rate

- 4% interest on checking up to $500 then blended rate

- $4 per month in interest

- Out of state eligibility via North West CU Foundation

(https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Personal-Finance/BECU-Eligibility-Question/td-p/5465798)

*some members had issues with eligibility

- soft pull

St Marrys Bank

- 5% interest on first $499 then blended rate

- $2 per month in interest

- no fees but must deposit $25 per month and limitted to one withdraw

Premier Members CU

- 4% interest up to $2,000* then blended rate

- $6 per month in interest

- soft or hard pull

Credit Union of New Jersey

- 3.6% interest on savings up to $1,000*

- $3 per month in interest

- Eligibility via Credit Union of New Jersey Foundation

*Advertised as 7.5% interest on savings up to $500 but you have to keep $1,000 to avoid $10/fee so essencially 3.6%

Blue FCU

- 5% interest on savings up to $1,000*

- $4 per month in interest

*0% interest if balance is over $1,000 so if you keep $1,001, you earn $0.00 per month

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

KLEXH25 — Wed, 08 May 2019 00:08:58 GMT

Oooh! Didn’t know about that last one! Following...

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

KLEXH25 — Wed, 08 May 2019 00:24:22 GMT

Just checked Premier and they have the following criteria:

“Each month, you’ll qualify to Earn Big when you meet the following criteria:
- Have direct deposit of at least $500#
- Be enrolled in eStatements
- Use your debit card at least 25 times (ATM transactions don’t count)”

https://www.pmcu.org/personal/checking-and-savings/checking/

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Wed, 08 May 2019 00:27:08 GMT

PMCU is for their money market account. Thanks for the heads up, I was aware of the 4% APY checking but that has caveats. Maybe I’ll think about opening an account with them since they’re local-ish.

https://www.pmcu.org/personal/checking-and-savings/money-market/

I would put an asterisk next to BECU since they really don’t like out of state members and will tell you as much when you call them.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Green456 — Wed, 08 May 2019 00:31:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
PMCU is for their money market account. Thanks for the heads up, I was aware of the 4% APY checking but that has caveats. Maybe I’ll think about opening an account with them since they’re local-ish.

https://www.pmcu.org/personal/checking-and-savings/money-market/

I would put an asterisk next to BECU since they really don’t like out of state members and will tell you as much when you call them.

Yup . I updated BECU with a link to the thread in here.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

KLEXH25 — Wed, 08 May 2019 00:44:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
PMCU is for their money market account. Thanks for the heads up, I was aware of the 4% APY checking but that has caveats. Maybe I’ll think about opening an account with them since they’re local-ish.

https://www.pmcu.org/personal/checking-and-savings/money-market/

I would put an asterisk next to BECU since they really don’t like out of state members and will tell you as much when you call them.

Oh, I missed that one....sweet!! Doesn't look like there's any catch then, right? Ugh, I have so many bank accounts lol.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Wed, 08 May 2019 00:50:13 GMT

@KLEXH25 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
PMCU is for their money market account. Thanks for the heads up, I was aware of the 4% APY checking but that has caveats. Maybe I’ll think about opening an account with them since they’re local-ish.

https://www.pmcu.org/personal/checking-and-savings/money-market/

I would put an asterisk next to BECU since they really don’t like out of state members and will tell you as much when you call them.
Oh, I missed that one....sweet!! Doesn't look like there's any catch then, right? Ugh, I have so many bank accounts lol.

On the surface it looks okay but they bury their disclosures in a link at the very bottom of the page and I don’t really like that...

https://www.pmcu.org/disclosures/

It’s a bit too much for me to be bothered with reading right now as the member service agreement is a whopping 38 pages of legalese...

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Wed, 08 May 2019 14:24:21 GMT

I have the PMCU money market account and love it. Also FYI, there is a referral bonus that if used both parties receive $50. We are not allowed to share referrals here, but DoC has a referrals page.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

DaveInAZ — Wed, 08 May 2019 17:03:03 GMT

Thanks @Green456 for info. My impressions:

BECU:

- 6% interest on savings up to $500

- 4% interest on checking* up to $500

- $4 per month in interest

- Eligibility via North West CU Foundation (few members had issues)

- As noted they really don't like out of state members, and doesn't seem to me worth the bother for 4 bucks a month

Blue FCU

- 5% interest on savings up to $1,000

- $4 per month in interest

- Very, very sensitive to Chex inquiries, reportedly more than 3 inquiries in the last 6 months gets you denied. And again, worth the bother for 4 bucks a month?

Credit Union of New Jersey

- 7.5% interest on savings up to $500

- $3 per month in interest

- Looks like you have to keep $1,000 to avoid $10/fee??? Two games I won't play is the debit card usage requirement or minimum balance.

DCU

- 6% interest on savings up to $1,000

- $5 per month in interest

- I've been with DCU since Fall 2017, very easy to join ($5 donation required if out of their geo location) and a nice rainy day fund

Premier Members CU

- 4% interest up to $2,000

- $8 per month in interest

- I've also been with them since 2017, very easy to join ($5 donation required if out of their geo location) and a nice rainy day fund. Their checking account has too many requirements to be worth it for me. As noted check Doctor of Credit for a referral code, they & you get $50 each .

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Green456 — Wed, 08 May 2019 17:10:24 GMT

Premier Members CU
- 4% interest up to $2,000
- $8 per month in interest
- I've also been with them since 2017, very easy to join ($5 donation required if out of their geo location) and a nice rainy day fund. Their checking account has too many requirements to be worth it for me. As noted check Doctor of Credit for a referral code, they & you get $50 each .

Was that hard or soft pull for you. And thank you on the input on the other CUs.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

DaveInAZ — Wed, 08 May 2019 17:42:07 GMT

@Green456 wrote:
Premier Members CU
- 4% interest up to $2,000
- $8 per month in interest
- I've also been with them since 2017, very easy to join ($5 donation required if out of their geo location) and a nice rainy day fund. Their checking account has too many requirements to be worth it for me. As noted check Doctor of Credit for a referral code, they & you get $50 each .
Was that hard or soft pull for you. And thank you on the input on the other CUs.

Soft pull, but like many banking account your credit report needs to be unlocked/unfrozen for the SP, primarily to verify identity. As recall it was EX they soft pulled.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Wed, 08 May 2019 19:04:35 GMT

Green456 great current list! Thanks for the good info

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Wed, 08 May 2019 20:58:03 GMT

Another person asked the same question on another thread. Here was my response, in case it helps you out:....

===================

You might want to look at this link

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/

with particular attention to the section lower down entitled:

Mega High-Interest (Nationwide)

Mega High-Interest (Nationwide) -- More Restrictive Options

Mega High-Interest (Regional)

You will find several places offering 5% and more.

Better still (in my opinion) would be to explore the possibility of chasing SUBs (sign up bonuses) for opening new bank accounts. Between you and your wife you could easily make $3000 a year doing that. $3000 of profit using 10k of funds is a 30% return. If you are curious at learning more I can point you toward some resources.

You can combine bonus chasing with the high-interest deposit options as well.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Green456 — Wed, 08 May 2019 21:42:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Another person asked the same question on another thread. Here was my response, in case it helps you out:....

===================

You might want to look at this link
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/

with particular attention to the section lower down entitled:

Mega High-Interest (Nationwide)
Mega High-Interest (Nationwide) -- More Restrictive Options
Mega High-Interest (Regional)

You will find several places offering 5% and more.

Better still (in my opinion) would be to explore the possibility of chasing SUBs (sign up bonuses) for opening new bank accounts. Between you and your wife you could easily make $3000 a year doing that. $3000 of profit using 10k of funds is a 30% return. If you are curious at learning more I can point you toward some resources.

You can combine bonus chasing with the high-interest deposit options as well.

I saw that website recently. Bonus chasing can be lucrative but we are both more into completely set it and forget it income. Hence I was particularly interested in savings only options and not checking accounts, as those often require debit transactions to get high interest rate.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

dragontears — Thu, 09 May 2019 03:00:59 GMT

Your math is off, 4% on $2000 is $80/year so unless the number of months in a year has changed no way you can get $8/month at pmcu with $2000

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 May 2019 19:22:18 GMT

Southwest Airlines Federal Credit Union does 4% on Checking...

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Green456 — Thu, 16 May 2019 19:12:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Southwest Airlines Federal Credit Union does 4% on Checking...

This is rewards checking. Meaning you have to meet monthly spending goals, etc to get 4% back, otherwise you rate goes down to 0.25%. In here I am only interested in completely passive income.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 16 May 2019 19:18:40 GMT

True, plus membership is limited...or you can get a ton of Netspend cards...@5% per $1000...that’s a savings acct..

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 16 May 2019 21:40:00 GMT

I'm in BECU, DCU and some other local ones. There's also St Mary's Bank. I'm still researching that one, but here's what I've found so far.

Their Rainy Day Savings account gives 5% on balances between $25-$499, and 3% on the portion of the balance between $500 and $999. You need to make a minimum transfer of $25 per month from a St Mary's checking account (they have a bog standard fee free account) or from Direct Deposit. You are allowed one free withdrawal from the savings account per month, with all subsequent costing $2. I'm thinking that it may be possible to keep some value in the checking ($10 minimum opening), then transfer $25 + monthly interest to the checking (or elsewhere), and $25 back from the checking to the savings. I do this with some of my other accounts to keep the balance under the maximum. I need to check up on this though. It's a bit of leg work, but not like a rewards checking.

Also, not strictly a bank, but I've heard people on other forums talking about Worthy Bonds. It's a short term (3 year) bond that pays out 5% interest. You purchase in multiples of $10, and there is no penalty for withdrawing early. In essence, it acts like a HYSA. They aren't FDIC or NCUA insured, so it may be wise only keeping a little bit in there for a small amount of extra interest. Supposedly transfers can take up to a week though.

Re: Any 4% or more savings accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 16 May 2019 22:55:07 GMT

I'll try this again, seeing as my previous post was marked as spam, for some reason. I have BECU and DCU (plus a couple of local ones) right now, but one that I'm still doing some more research on is St Mary's Bank out of New Hampshire. They have a Rainy Day Savings that has 5% on balances up to $499, then a blended rate of 3% on balances between $500 and $999. You need to make a $25 transfer from a St Mary's checking account per month, or receive one DD of $25 or more, and you are only allowed one free withdrawal per month. Subsequent ones are $2 each. There's a few things I still need to check out before determining whether it is worth it, but just wanted to mention it.