{"id":706,"date":"2010-06-10T08:20:35","date_gmt":"2010-06-10T13:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mdmproofing.com\/iym\/weblog\/?p=706"},"modified":"2010-08-10T09:47:42","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T14:47:42","slug":"giving-rewards-checking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mdmproofing.com\/iym\/weblog\/2010\/06\/giving-rewards-checking\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewards Checking Gets a Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

As much as I love ING Direct, where my household’s money is concerned, I’m going to veer away from the orange guys for a while.<\/p>\n

I have to test out some new “banking waters,” you see.<\/p>\n

Like a great many financial bloggers, I’m a huge fan of ING Direct’s Orange Savings account<\/a>. And I’ve had a tremendous experience with their Electric Orange checking<\/a> account. I had doubts about the online-only checking concept initially, but the EO account has performed better than I could’ve imagined. <\/p>\n

On top of that, I and all savers are highly indebted to ING for ushering in the whole era of online-only savings accounts in general. Emigrant Direct … HSBC Advance … FNBO Direct … all those guys followed ING’s lead into the online savings space. While many (most!) of them have offered rates better than ING’s, none<\/b> have executed the online savings account (OSA) concept better. (My personal opinion, of course.)<\/p>\n

But at Four Times the Return…<\/h3>\n

So here we are: Savings-account rates are flat on the floor. As such, I can no longer pass up the offers I’m seeing out there for users of “rewards” checking accounts.<\/p>\n

In particular, an Oklahoma credit union at which my wife and I have held various accounts over the years has its own Rewards Checking account that stands apart from most. They’re offering rates currently four<\/b> times higher than the rates I’m getting with ING’s Orange Savings … and seventeen<\/b> times better than the payout on Electric Orange.<\/p>\n

Fort Sill Federal CU: FSFCU Rewards Checking<\/a> (4+% APY)<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, since this is an Oklahoma financial institution, the first $200 of interest we earn will be state-tax-deductible for us. That doesn’t add up to much, but it’s better than the deductibility we get from our ING Direct earnings — which is nil.<\/p>\n

The high APY applies to the first $25k of money in the account. After that, if the various requirements (see below) are met, the APY on any additional funds over the $25k level will be .50% APY. If the requirements are not met, the APY on all funds drops to .35%. (Note that this yield is still higher than what’s offered currently on ING’s Electric Orange, which is .25% APY.)<\/p>\n

Rewards Checking: Always Requirements<\/h3>\n

As with all rewards checking programs, there are some hefty requirements associated with this account. To get the advertised yield each month, users must:<\/p>\n