HFCU is offering Kasasa accounts now

[joltdude]

Seems HFCU Hanscom Federal Credit Union is offering Kasasa accounts now...

Interesting product for them

https://www.hfcu.org/checking-and-savings/checking.html

https://www.hfcu.org/checking-and-savings/checking/kasasa-checking-accounts.html

https://kasasa.com/

-J

[kshurika]

Okay, I'll bite. What's a Kasasa account? I went to their website and browsed it. I'll get back to it, later. Since you know what this is, what can you tell me a little about it, particularly about Kasasa loans? 

[DaveInAZ]

Hmmm, interesting, I've never heard of Kasasa before. They seem to be some umbrella financial organization that provides checking, savings & debit cards for smaller banks and credit unions. They offer checking accounts as high as 3.5% interest, but require a large number of debit card transaction within a statement cycle to earn that interest. They have reviews for banks / CUs that offer their accounts, they couple I read that offered the highest interest were mixed.

I'll pass, I have enough on my plate with banking accounts, and I don't like using debit & exposing a bank account to card data breaches.

[Anonymous]

If you're interested in reward checking accounts, one of the best (the best in my opinion) is the WyHy FCU SmartReturn Checking.

No minimums

4% APY up to 15k

No DD required

12 debit transactions

1 bill pay

e-statement

Relatively easy requirements when compared to 4%+ checking offerings like Consumer's FCU (up to 4.59) and Blue FCU (up to 4%) who make you jump through firing hoops. This account has been limited to residents of Wyoming and had to be opened in branch but has changed very recently, you can now join over the phone by making a $5 donation to some organization. However, there will be a TU HP but I think it's well worth it if you have the funds.

[DaveInAZ]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you're interested in reward checking accounts, one of the best (the best in my opinion) is the WyHy FCU SmartReturn Checking.

No minimums

4% APY up to 15k

No DD required

12 debit transactions

1 bill pay

e-statement

Relatively easy requirements when compared to 4%+ checking offerings like Consumer's FCU (up to 4.59) and Blue FCU (up to 4%) who make you jump through firing hoops. This account has been limited to residents of Wyoming and had to be opened in branch but has changed very recently, you can now join over the phone by making a $5 donation to some organization. However, there will be a TU HP but I think it's well worth it if you have the funds.

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You can also join Blue FCU online now with that $5 donation, and they also have a 5% savings account up to $1k similar to DCU. But they are very sensitive to new account inquires on Chex. Someone here posted that over 3 inquires in the past year they'll turn you down; I applied a month or so ago and was turned down, I probably had 4 or 5 inquires on Chex.

[Anonymous]

haha That someone was me, I applied at the beginning of my Nespend/Insight venture right after DCU and Ally applications, denial for more than 3 (had 4 according their CSR) and would have gone for Blue first had I known of their sensitivity to Chex, I have since opened a few more (not counting prepaid debit cards) so I won't be eligible for Blue for quite some time. I might however go for this WyHy thing, have always wanted a high yield checking to relieve 0%TD checking of her payment duties so I don't have to move money from high yield savings to TD every month, but can never fulfill the DD requirement due to being self employed. The only thing holding me back right now is the HP and losing my golden spade, I'm only 2 months away from having 0 inquiries in the past year.

[DaveInAZ]

Ah yes, of course.

DCU was nice enough to give me a copy of my Chex report when I joined in October. I just checked it, I do have only 3 inquiries in the past 16 months - I've been doing savings accounts for new account bonuses, and savings only rarely results in a Chex inquiry. It might have been that I have all 3 CRAs locked, and I didn't know Blue required a TU HP. I was doing the account opening online fine, and then a message popped up "we've hit a snag". I might try it again just for the 5% 1k savings like DCU, their checking is too complicated to get high interest. Same with WyHy for me, I won't do a dozen debit transactions, you can only buy so many packs of gum  . . . 

[Anonymous]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

Ah yes, of course.

DCU was nice enough to give me a copy of my Chex report when I joined in October. I just checked it, I do have only 3 inquiries in the past 16 months - I've been doing savings accounts for new account bonuses, and savings only rarely results in a Chex inquiry. It might have been that I have all 3 CRAs locked, and I didn't know Blue required a TU HP. I was doing the account opening online fine, and then a message popped up "we've hit a snag". I might try it again just for the 5% 1k savings like DCU, their checking is too complicated to get high interest. Same with WyHy for me, I won't do a dozen debit transactions, you can only buy so many packs of gum  . . . 

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I'm pretty sure Blue only HP Chex, no TU.

As for debit transactions, here are ways to circumvent without even leaving your house.  I plan to visit my grocery store self check out lane during odd hours (I'm a night owl) once a month and take care of 12 transactions in one shot, that is if I decide to go for it.

[DaveInAZ]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I'm pretty sure Blue only HP Chex, no TU.

As for debit transactions, here are ways to circumvent without even leaving your house.  I plan to visit my grocery store self check out lane during odd hours (I'm a night owl) once a month and take care of 12 transactions in one shot, that is if I decide to go for it.

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Hmmm, well I only had 3 Chex HPs within a year as of the October inquiry from DCU, and I know there haven't been any more as I have Chex frozen, unfroze it for Blue. One inquiry is 1 year + in July and another in August, maybe I'll try Blue again then.

Oh yeah, I forgot about those 50 cent transactions you can add to your Amazon giftcard, I did that a couple years ago when a new bank account bonus required some debit card transactions, easy to way  to meet debit transaction reqirements.

[Anonymous]

I would definitely wait until July to be safe. I have never seen a Chexsystem report, does it show all the open and closed accounts like the credit report? I have not been denied by anyone other than Blue during my deposit account spree, can I safely assume I have no derogs and the only problem are inquiries?