New 3% rewards checking accounts available, open to all US citizens

Don't worry guys, I'll delete this spam thre...

wait what?

I remember ING Orange and Emigrant both offering in the 4-5% range back then. Both are sub-1% right now. Pretty crazy someone's offering 3%.

That 3% promotion to me seems like it'd be indicative that the bank's health is less than stellar and they're desperate for new customers. Not that that is a problem unless you're planning to deposit over the FDIC limit.

Cutlery_sl said:

Saying there's no risk is a bit disingenuous. You have to use your debit card for transactions, which is significantly more risky than using a credit card because they don't share the same protections under the law.

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I've had fraudulent activity on a debit card and got that amount refunded within 48 hrs. Also, one merchant charged me $30 more than the bill I had signed. When I contacted the merchant, he told me that was a fee that was commonly applied to event tickets. Yeah, right... called my bank and the difference was refunded within 48hrs as well.

Of course the money is out of your account for some time, which doesn't happen with credit cards. Plus, there aren't rewards for debit card purchases anymore. I used to get 1% cash back with Chase. So I'd still recommend credit over debit cards - but in terms of security, I don't think the latter is any worse.

Safer to keep the cash in a money market savings at 1% and use a rewards credit card, for me at least.

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Well, there's a 2% difference on the return to your savings for what is, for most purchases, 1% on your spending.

But I do think that it would be annoying to keep track of how many times you use a debit card... and to make sure you log on to the account every month. I very rarely go on my bank's website, just because bills are set to be paid automatically and I check my balance via Mint.

Note that if you fail to meet any of the qualifications, they also won't refund your ATM fees.


The rate does seem suspiciously high to me, though. I suppose there's no guarantee that the rate will stay around for long. I recall that, prior to the crisis, people kept chasing introductory offers from online banks for an extra percentage point or two. Looks like we may be back to that. (Which isn't to say that 3% on $15k isn't a decent amount of money that would make a switch worthwhile...)

What gets me is that their savings account pays only 1%...


edit: for their CDs, they explicitly mention that they are FDIC insured. They don't say that for the checking account... ?

There's also a Kasasa Cash Back offered by some banks. The most generous offer is this one here:http://www.theohiostatebank.com/pers...cash-back.html
3.5% cash back with no limit - at least not according to the page advertising it. Other banks offering Kasasa do have limits, e.g. 2% up to a max of $10 per month:http://www.fnbbankingcenters.com/per...cash-back.html

Need to be a US citizen to open the account online; others would have to live in (or travel to) Ohio.

3.5% cash back with no limit would be a pretty amazing deal. I'm sure there's some limit, however, that they just failed to mention on that page.

I'd be very concerned about the quality of the credit portfolio at those banks. They make money on net interest margin and if you are offering ~3% you have to be putting out some substandard loans. While you are FDIC insured that doesn't mean that you get your money immediately.

If you have direct deposit it may be worthwhile to check out some of the programs that Citibank offers. If you have direct deposit and use their online bill-pay they will give you something like 650 reward points a month. If you add a savings account, automatic savings, and other things such as that those monthly points can increase to something around 1000 points a month. The great part is there is no minimum so you can still use you 3% reward checking account but split the direct deposit so something like $50 is going to citibank and get all these rewards.

Soriak_sl said:

There's also a Kasasa Cash Back offered by some banks. The most generous offer is this one here:http://www.theohiostatebank.com/pers...cash-back.html
3.5% cash back with no limit - at least not according to the page advertising it. Other banks offering Kasasa do have limits, e.g. 2% up to a max of $10 per month:http://www.fnbbankingcenters.com/per...cash-back.html

Need to be a US citizen to open the account online; others would have to live in (or travel to) Ohio.

3.5% cash back with no limit would be a pretty amazing deal. I'm sure there's some limit, however, that they just failed to mention on that page.

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This is a cash back reward, not interest on money in checking account. That is a spending reward, not a saving reward. There probably is not a limit because they want you
to spend.

Washingtonian_sl said:

This is a cash back reward, not interest on money in checking account. That is a spending reward, not a saving reward. There probably is not a limit because they want you
to spend.

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Well, yeah... but 3.5% cash back is pretty much unheard of. Credit cards offer at best 1% with 5% on some categories (usually gas).

Which banks have good no fee savings accounts? Something like ING. I'm also canadian.