MyCardBlog

Most of banks are reducing the interest rate recently. It’s really difficult to find high interest rate at big banks like Citi, Chase, HSBC and Bank of America. But there are many small banks offering rewards checking accounts with great interest rates.

AmericaNet Bank which is an online bank operated by All America Bank since 1969 (FDIC insured) is offering such a chance. AmericaNet Bank is offering 5.25% APY on its rewards checking account with account balance up to $25,000. For the balance beyond $25,000, you can still get 2.25% which is still a great rate for a checking account. Futhermore, AmericaNet Bank will refund all ATM fees worldwide as long as the following activities are met:

• 10 check card purchases per month
• receive electronic statements (online statement)

There are no minimum balance requirements and no monthly maintenance fees. Minimum initial deposit is $1. The above two banking activities must be met each month. Otherwise you can only get 0.25% APY on your account.

Features of the rewards checking account:

FREE Online Banking
FREE Checking
FREE AmericaNet Bank® VISA® CheckCard
FREE Customer Service
FREE Daily Email Notification if Overdrawn
FREE ATM Transactions Worldwide
Overdraft Privilege Available
NO MINIMUM BALANCE

AmericaNet Bank also ffers online savings account called Mega Money Market account. The APY is 3.10%. This is a great online savings account with no minimum balance requirements or monthly fees.

If you are looking for some high interest rate online banks, the AmeircaNet Bank is a great choice.

Flagstar Bank is offer sign up bonus for opening a new checking account with direct deposit. The lates mention of the Flagstar Bank is in September 2008. During last promotion, FlagStar Bank is offering up to $500 gas card for opening a new checking account with required banking activities. Flagstar is the largest publicly traded savings bank headquartered in the Midwest United States (Troy, MI). The bank currently operates 171 banking centers (as of September 2008) in Michigan, Indiana and Georgia.

This promotion is advertised on its website www.flagstar.com. This offer requires new customers to make a monthly direct deposit of a least $250. You have to open a checking account at Flagstar banking centers to get the bonus. You have to make sure that the customer service enter the promotion code HD.

Some key points to get the $100 bonus:

• New checking account customers only
• Minimum opening deposit is $50
• Recurring direct deposit of $250 each month
• $100 will be deposited into your account within 30 days after first direct deposit
• Account must remain open and active for a minimum of 6 months

Fine print:

$100 deposit available for new checking account customers only (no existing Flagstar checking account). For a limited time, open a new personal checking account with an automatic, recurring direct deposit of income of at least $250 per month, excluding interest deposits, and we’ll deposit $100 into your account within 30 days after the first recurring direct deposit takes place. Minimum opening deposit is $50. Direct deposit must be established within first 60 days of account opening. All accounts must remain open and active for a minimum of six months. If checking account is closed within the first six months, Flagstar reserves the right to reclaim the $100 deposit. See your Flagstar representative for more details. Flagstar will issue a 1099 for the $100. Offer not good in conjunction with any other coupons or checking account offers.

No expiration date is indicated on the website. Printable flyer of this promotion is available here.

Flagstar Bank’s checking accounts are really great which offer no monthly service fees and free checks. Branches are only in Michigan, Indiana and Georgia.

Under current financial situation, it is really difficult to see great banking promotions from our banks. I haven’t discovered any banking promotions in the past several weeks. The most recent banking promotion is the $100 bonus from WaMu. This is targeted offer only those received the mail or email from WaMu containing the promotion codes are eligible to receive the $100 bonus.

Today I noticed that the HomeStreet Bank, one of the largest private banks in the Northwest and Hawaii, is offering a huge banking promotion to its new customers. You can earn up to $215 from HomeStreet Bank for opening an eligible checking account and finish required banking activities.

This offer is only available in HomeStreet Bank branches. Open a new personal checking account at a HomeStreet Bank branch and complete the following activities for the full $215:

Sign up for Direct Deposit—earn $75-Make direct deposit with a minimum of $500 a month for 2 consecutive months and you will get $75.

Use your Visa Check Card—earn $75-Use your Visa check card to make 10 purchases or payments each month for 2 consecutive months and you will get $75.

Pay your bills online—earn $30-Enroll in FREE Online Banking and Bill Payer, pay a minimum of 3 bills each month for 2 consecutive months and you’ll get $30.

Sign up for e-statements—earn $10-Enroll in FREE Online Banking and sign up to receive FREE e-statements—get an easy $10.

$25 for Check and Check Card-Give HomeStreet Bank your checks and/or check card from your current account at another financial institution and you can get $25!

HomeStreet Bank has branches in WA, OR, and HI. You can find a branch here. Promotion ends on March 31, 2009.

Fine print:

Offer available November 12, 2008 through March 31, 2009, and applies to new personal checking accounts opened at a HomeStreet Bank branch only. Business accounts and accounts opened online do not qualify for this offer.

This is a great opportunity for residents at OR, HI and WA.

Washington Mutual has already been sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co in this September. The previous WaMu free checking account and high yield savings account is a great combination to enjoy high interest rate from a good savings account and an easy to use checking account. This combination is reviewed here.

Today I received an email and a mail from WaMu which is offering $100 bonus for opening a free checking account at WaMu.

The email stated that:”As a valued WaMu Credit Card customer, you may have heard that we’ve joined forces with Chase, one of America’s largest banks. To celebrate our bright future, we’re offering you $100 simply for opening a WaMu Free Checking account.”

It seems that this offer is targeted to WaMu Credit Card customers. There is a promotion code came with the email. Mine is 0070-ADCR-8845. This offer ends on 01/24/2009. The online application page can be found through this link.

WaMu Free Checking Account features:

• FREE Access to over 14,000 WaMu & Chase ATMs nationwide
• FREE Checks
• FREE WaMu® Debit MasterCard® with $0 Liability Fraud Coverage
• FREE Online Banking with Bill Pay
• One overdraft or bounced check fee waived per year

The $100 bonus is a sweet deal, especially when this account only requires you to make $100 initial deposit to receive $100 bonus (no direct deposit is required!).

Plus if you use the WaMu Debit MasterCard comes with your free checking account, you have the chance to win $1,000 per day!

WaMu is running a sweepstake for the WaMu debit MasterCard users. Each time you sign for purchases between November 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, you will be entered for a chance to win the daily prize of a $1,000 gift card. You’ll also be automatically entered to win the grand prize of $50,000 on New Year’s Eve. Please note that only the signature based transactions are counted. The details can be found here.

MB Financial Bank is offering up to $200 checking account bonus for new customers. This is a new promotion for opening a free checking account with direct deposit. MB Financial Bank offered a similar promotion back to this March. $200 is a pretty good deal considering current financial environ. If you are a resident of IL and IN, you are eligible to receive up to $200 bonus from MB Financial Bank.

Details of this promotion can be found here. It’s a pdf version of the promotional flyer. The promotion was also indicated on the front page of the MB Financial Bank at the News and Updates section. (shown below)

To get the $200 bonus, here’s all you do:

Open an MB Free Checking account with monthly direct payroll deposit, sign up for a MB Debit MasterCard and make at least 12 signature-based debit card transactions each month – it’s that simple!

Each month that you have your payroll check direct deposited and you make at least 12 signature-based debit card transactions, MB Financial Bank will credit your account with $50 – up to a total of $200!

Fine print:

Minimum balance to open a checking account is $50. Promotional payments will be made in monthly installments of $50 each, providing the following transactions take place in a given month: 1) payroll check direct deposit of at least $250, and 2) at least 12 signature-based debit card transactions. After both types of transaction are made, $50 promotional credits will be made in the first week of the month following the month. You have 6 months to complete the monthly transaction requirements and earn all four $50 credits. The promotional payment will only be made to accounts that are open at the time of the crediting. If the account is closed within six months of opening the bank reserves the right to debit back the promotional payment.

The free checking account offered by MB Finacial features free of monthly service fees and free online bill pay. The accounts opened at MB Fianancial Bank are all FDIC insured.

Note: there will be a hard pull during the account opening process.

I subscribe to many personal finance magazines like Money, Smartmoney, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and Forbes. Reading articles from above magazines usually give ideas on what to write about at mycardblog.com. Usually the articles are written by experts on personal finance and are highly recommended to everyone. They cover all the aspects in your daily life in terms of personal finance: credit cards, banking accounts, mortgages, auto loans, investments, stocks, and even retirements.

In the November’s Kipling’s Personal Finance, they voted the best Savings, Checking and Money Market Account in 2008. I think it is important to let everyone know what the experts’ best banking accounts. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance usually publishes its annual list of what it considers the best items related to personal finance, such as best credit card, best savings account, and best retirement tool.

Following are Kiplinger’s 2008 picks for excellence in savings and checking accounts:

Online Savings Account: FNBO Direct. Earn 3.5% APY on the FDIC-insured savings account at www.fnbodirect.com. The savings account at FNBO features with no maintenance fees and no minimum-balance requirement plus minimum $1 to open. You can also link your FNBO account to other banking accounts.

Money-Market Account: Express Money Market, Flagstar Bank. You can earn 3.65% APY from the FDIC-insured money market account. Flagstar Bank also provides free checks and a free visa debit card which allows you to easily access your fund at money market account. You can also get free, unlimited ATM withdrawals through the Allpoint and Presto networks

Checking Account: Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking. This is a highly recommended checking account. You don’t have to be a Schwab customer to apply for this account. You can apply online at www.schwab.com. Earn 1.50% variable APY in an FDIC-insured checking account—plus no ATM fees, no minimums, and no monthly service charges. The Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking is highly recommended!

Money Market Mutual Fund: Fidelity Cash Reserves. The Fidelity Reserves is the safest mutual fund in the market. However, we should admit that the yields are low in the current market. If you want to put your cash is a safe place during the financial crisis, Fidelity is a top choice. Fidelity has signed up for the new government insurance program. Minimum investment is $2,500, and check-writing is available.

I really should have included the FNBO direct online savings account into my Top 7 Online Banks for High Interest Savings. The full report of the 2008 best list can be found at Kiplinger.com.

About Kiplinger’s Personal Finance: It is a magazine that has been continuously published, on a monthly basis, from 1947 to the present day. It was the nation’s first personal finance magazine, and prides itself on delivering “sound, unbiased advice in clear, concise language”. It offers tips and tricks on managing money and achieving financial security, as well as information and practical guidance on saving, investing, planning for retirement, paying for college, and buying automobiles, homes and other major purchases.

TCF Bank is offering a new promotion for checking account. This promotion seems to be the easiest one from TCF Bank as far as I know. All you have to do is to open a new TCF checking account online or in branch. There is no direct deposit requirement this time to qualify for the $50 bonus. This is a great time to jump for a free $50 gift card from TCF Bank.

The promotion page can be found at here.

There are two ways to open a TCF checking account. You can apply for a new account online through the above mentioned promotion page. A $50 gift card will be mailed to you after you open the account and fund it with new money.

The other way is to open a new account at local branch. After you make a initial deposit, you can get the $50 gift card on the spot! The only drawback for the banking account is you have to pay for checks. Usually banks will give you a free check for the first time. But it is not for TCF Bank. So the total profit you can get might be less than $50.

Fine print:

Offer is available to individuals and small businesses without a TCF Checking account in the past 90 days. $25 minimum to open a TCF Totally Free Checking account. This is a limited time offer.Limit one card per customer. The value will be reported to the recipient as interest income on Form 1099-INT. Customer is responsible for all applicable taxes. Gift Card will be awarded at the time of eligible account opening. Please allow up to 4 weeks for grocery card delivery if opening an account online.

The Free Checking account has no minimum balance requirement, no monthly fees and free online bill pay.

TCF Bank has branches located in Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Arizona. And you must have to be in one of the above states to qualify for this promotion.

Past TCF promotions are:

$50 Gas Card for Opening a Checking Account

$50 Gas Card for Opening a New Checking Account

Citibank is running a new checking account bonus now. We haven’t seen banking bonus from Citibank for a while. The latest mention of banking promotion from Citi Checking Account is back to this May. That promotion was offering $200 checking account bonus.

The promotion code for this bonus is CY72. You can either go to the promotion page or call Citi at 800-374-9500 to open a checking account.

How to get the $100 bonus?

1. Just open a qualifying Citibank regular checking account and fund it with a minimum of $1,000 by 12/31/2008.

2. Within the first month after your account is opened, make at least one direct deposit into your account or make at least two electronic bill payments from your account each month for three consecutive months and get $100 deposited into your new account.

But you ought to look the fine print:

This offer is only available to Citi cardmembers who are the primary credit card account holders. Offer is not valid for existing Citibank checking customers. All accounts are subject to approval. Checking account must be funded with $1,000 or more by 12/31/2008 and must be in a Citibank Account, Citibank Everything Counts or Citigold account relationship package. Fees may apply to the checking account. Within the first month after account opening, customer must complete at least one direct deposit to, or at least two electronic bill payments from, the checking account each month for three consecutive months to get $100. Electronic bill payments are those you make using Citibank^® Online, Citi MobileSM or CitiPhone Banking^®, excluding bill payments made to Citibank credit cards and transfer payments made to accounts with Citibank or its affiliates. $100 will be deposited to your Citibank checking account within 120 days from the end of the statement period in which you met the qualifying requirements.

As a feature of the Citi Checking Account, you can get fee-free use at over 21,000 ATMs nationwide, including over 5,700 at 7-ELEVEN stores.

Citibank right now is the fourth largest bank in the United States and takes about 3.5% of market sahre in the United States.