Best CD, MM Rates & Bank Special Deals Thread 2020 - Please post updates here

[Dash man]

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Originally Posted by BeachOrCity Checking this for my father (84 years old). He has a Knights of Columbus annuity that he can add to and it pays 3.5% interest. He doesn't take any payments from it, its more like a nice savings account for him. Given KoC is rated pretty well, I told him he should feel comfortable putting 250K into it (somewhat insured by the state agency), but over that as it becomes a larger portion of his nest egg, there is some risk there. Given all cash / mm / CD options are around 1% of sometimes lower, what % of nest egg do folks think is ok to put w/ KoC; given its nice interest rate? Their pensions and Soc Sec basically pay all their expenses, and this nest egg really will probably end up w/ me, siblings, and grand children. They don't have much in equities anymore so its all low risk. And they have LTC insurance so even that would be largely covered. Thoughts on how deep to go in w/ KoC?

I would look at the financial health of the insurance company the annuity is with. I’m a member of KoC, but don’t know anything about their insurance or annuities. Also check to see if new money still pays that 3.5%. We each have fixed rate annuities with USAA that are paying about 2.55% on the money in there, but would only pay 1% on any new money added.

[Sue J]

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Originally Posted by jazz4cash I received the $200 bonus from PenFed for just opening a checking account and making one deposit of $1200 plus 5 debit card purchases. It was a total of 14 weeks. Easy money since I had other accounts there already. I can’t imagine how it pays for a credit union or bank to make these offers so easy. I don’t think I would do it if I didn’t already have an account there. Most of the others also require direct deposit.

I did that one too. I completed the requirements on 6/12/20 and have not received the $200 bonus yet.

If you keep that checking account open you get an extra .5% cash back on one of the credit cards. It’s the Power Cash Reward card that’s pays 2% instead of 1.5%.

And opening that card has a $100 bonus after spending $1500 in 90 days.

[jazz4cash]

Thanks Sue. I didn’t know about another bonus but I don’t need another credit card. I looked back and see it only took 10 weeks to get paid after completing all requirements. The 14 weeks I cited was from account opening.

[njhowie]

Just completed Citizens Bank new account bonus offer for $300 with a new checking account and one direct deposit of $500 (did an ACH in from Chase which was accepted as direct deposit) within 60 days of opening the account. The bonus gets credited within 90 days after the first 60 days - and they waited until the very end of the 90 day period (over 80 days from the end of the 60 day period). I don't believe there's anything which prevents withdrawing the $500 after the $500 direct deposit settles.

Can do it for $600 by additionally opening a savings account (with $15,000 minimum deposit).

Depending on the checking account you choose, they do have monthly fees unless you meet minimum balance requirements or deposit requirements. We opened the Student Checking account in DD's name which has no fees and no minimum balance. Their OneDeposit Checking account allows you to avoid the monthly fee with a single deposit of any amount each statement period - could just set up a monthly or bi-weekly auto transfer in from your external bank for some minimal amount like $1 or $5.

Offer is good until 10/1/2020.

https://www.citizensbank.com/promoti...ffer-600g.aspx

[stepford]

Got me all excited about the Citizen's Bank deal, but availability is apparently limited to: CT DE MA MI NH NJ NY OH PA RI VT.

So, no soup for me!

[njhowie]

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Originally Posted by stepford Got me all excited about the Citizen's Bank deal, but availability is apparently limited to: CT DE MA MI NH NJ NY OH PA RI VT.

Sorry, my bad for not mentioning.

[Sue J]

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Originally Posted by jazz4cash I received the $200 bonus from PenFed for just opening a checking account and making one deposit of $1200 plus 5 debit card purchases. It was a total of 14 weeks. Easy money since I had other accounts there already. I can’t imagine how it pays for a credit union or bank to make these offers so easy. I don’t think I would do it if I didn’t already have an account there. Most of the others also require direct deposit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue J I did that one too. I completed the requirements on 6/12/20 and have not received the $200 bonus yet. If you keep that checking account open you get an extra .5% cash back on one of the credit cards. It’s the Power Cash Reward card that’s pays 2% instead of 1.5%. And opening that card has a $100 bonus after spending $1500 in 90 days.

My $200 bonus for the checking account showed up today (10 weeks). We will keep this one open to get the extra .5% cash back on the credit card.

[Freedom2021]

As of this writing...
T-Mobile Money - online checking account still pays 5% interest up to $3K and 1% interest above.
Eligibility: T-Mobile customer and a min monthly deposit of $200.
I just use it as if it were a savings account although it does come with a debit card.
No account fees either.

Should have signed up DH at the same time - $240 pa for only $6K is not bad.

When my CDs expire there is no place for them to go unless I can find a bonus offer for a cash deposit.

I'm hoping Navy Fed CU will keep their $3K annual CD at 3.5%. It has been a great little perk. A free hundred bucks times two is not a bad thing especially in the absence of any other good opportunities.
The last time I looked their CD high was 1% and 1.25%.
If you or a member of your family is or was military you will qualify for membership.

[RetireAge50]

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Originally Posted by Freedom2021 As of this writing... T-Mobile Money - online checking account still pays 5% interest up to $3K and 1% interest above. Eligibility: T-Mobile customer and a min monthly deposit of $200. .

Thanks for the reminder, I forgot about the 1% for balances above $3,000. It has been cool collecting the $10/mo. I set up an auto deposit of $200 and a auto withdrawal of $210 (to/from my everyday credit union account).

[mn54]

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Originally Posted by Freedom2021 As of this writing... T-Mobile Money - online checking account still pays 5% interest up to $3K and 1% interest above. Eligibility: T-Mobile customer and a min monthly deposit of $200. I just use it as if it were a savings account although it does come with a debit card. No account fees either. Should have signed up DH at the same time - $240 pa for only $6K is not bad. When my CDs expire there is no place for them to go unless I can find a bonus offer for a cash deposit. I'm hoping Navy Fed CU will keep their $3K annual CD at 3.5%. It has been a great little perk. A free hundred bucks times two is not a bad thing especially in the absence of any other good opportunities. The last time I looked their CD high was 1% and 1.25%. If you or a member of your family is or was military you will qualify for membership.

I just looked online at tmobile banking and it shows 4% interest on the first 3K. did you have a link that shows 5%?

[pb4uski]

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Originally Posted by Freedom2021 ... I'm hoping Navy Fed CU will keep their $3K annual CD at 3.5%. ...

I hadn't bothered with this since it is limited to $3k but may reconsider it.

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

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Originally Posted by pb4uski I hadn't bothered with this since it is limited to $3k but may reconsider it.

Me to however not sure if an ACH transfer from Discover bank will qualify as a direct deposit. I called Navy today and the rep says it needs to be coming from an employer or retirement plan or social security as examples. He also said I need to set it up from my end. I have a similar account at another institution and they are accepting my Discover ACH monthly transfer so I'm thinking of just trying to see if it's accepted. I suppose it's all ion the way it's coded.

[pb4uski]

^^^^ I was talking about the 3.5% Easy Start CD.... not a checking account.

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Certificate Special Offers Rates effective as of: 23 August, 2020 12:01 AM ET Product Minimum Deposit Term Dividend Rate APY† Special EasyStart℠ Certificate1 $50 12 months 3.44% 3.50% †APY=Annual Percentage Yield Read Important Disclosures 1Limit one Special EasyStart Certificate per member. This offer, including the stated APY, is effective Dec. 10, 2018. Navy Federal reserves the right to end or modify this offer at any time. Penalty for early withdrawal. The Special EasyStart Certificate has a $50 minimum balance and a $3,000 maximum balance. Additional deposits are allowed at any time, subject to the maximum balance. Certificate owner(s) age 18 and older must have Direct Deposit of Net Pay or payroll allotment and a Navy Federal checking account within 90 days of the certificate issue date. If these requirements have not been satisfied by the 90th day, your Special EasyStart Certificate dividend rate will be reduced to the prevailing dividend rate of the standard EasyStart Certificate for the remainder of the certificate's term.

[audreyh1]

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Originally Posted by RetiredAndLovingIt Me to however not sure if an ACH transfer from Discover bank will qualify as a direct deposit. I called Navy today and the rep says it needs to be coming from an employer or retirement plan or social security as examples. He also said I need to set it up from my end. I have a similar account at another institution and they are accepting my Discover ACH monthly transfer so I'm thinking of just trying to see if it's accepted. I suppose it's all ion the way it's coded.

I think they often give you this baloney, but transfers from a brokerage account are treated as qualifying for me in the past. Honestly, they don’t know if the money is coming from an IRA or not - all they know is that it came from a brokerage account. Could have been from an IRA - they don’t know.

[jazz4cash]

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Originally Posted by pb4uski ^^^^ I was talking about the 3.5% Easy Start CD.... not a checking account.

What is the source of funds to meet the direct deposit requirement? I’m not really sure they enforce this requirement but I think you could set up transfers from Fido or similar and they are treated as a direct deposit.

[pb4uski]

If I do it I'll probably set us a small autotransfer from some other account. I wonder if an autotransfer from DiscoverBank would work. Not even sure it is worth the effort though.

[Freedom2021]

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Originally Posted by RetiredAndLovingIt Me to however not sure if an ACH transfer from Discover bank will qualify as a direct deposit. I called Navy today and the rep says it needs to be coming from an employer or retirement plan or social security as examples. He also said I need to set it up from my end. I have a similar account at another institution and they are accepting my Discover ACH monthly transfer so I'm thinking of just trying to see if it's accepted. I suppose it's all ion the way it's coded.

What they mean is that you have to have a direct deposit going to your checking account in order to qualify for the 3.5% CD.

Idk if they will accept an ACH transfer - worth a try. It is easy enough to set up and if there are two of you each person could open their own account making it a more attractive offer.

[Freedom2021]

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Originally Posted by mn54 I just looked online at tmobile banking and it shows 4% interest on the first 3K. did you have a link that shows 5%?

I just looked - you are correct. My account shows 4% for the first $3K and 1% for anything above. Sorry for the confusion - I don't think it dropped overnight it apparently was 4% all along since my July stmt says 4%.

[pb4uski]

That's actually pretty good... not good enough for me to become a T-Mobile customer but if I was I'd look into it.

[Freedom2021]

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Originally Posted by RetireAge50 Thanks for the reminder, I forgot about the 1% for balances above $3,000. It has been cool collecting the $10/mo. I set up an auto deposit of $200 and a auto withdrawal of $210 (to/from my everyday credit union account).

Yes, the 1% is the reason why I am now still using it as a savings account even though it is a checking account.
My other CU acct had a 1% checking and dropped to almost nothing without me even realizing it immediately - took me two months.
In the long run it pays off to review your accounts and to make adjustments as things change.