Best Current High APY Checking Accounts. updated 06/27

i started this thread because:

1. this thread - Strategy for maximizing my income?, first got me thinking about checking accounts that would meet the needs of what the OP suggested.

2. there are threads on such checking accounts but they are hard to find unless you know the names of the banks mentioned, and some of the threads are archived, have inadequate information, and don't have much activity.

3. there was no main thread dedicated to just the theme of this thread. I felt this thread -Best current APY/APRs: The Daughter of The Mother - Checking, Saving, and Money Market: All Liquid Accnt Interest Rates! would have been the best choice and what people would first naturally look in, but unfortunately it doesn't include checking accounts not meeting its rules.

so please add or mention worthy checking accounts. thanks. i'll update as necessary.

i'm going to use some of the rules and format Cheap had in his thread:

Rules:
1) This thread is NOT for debating the pros and cons of the banks listed.
2) It is for accounts insured by an agency of the Federal government (FDIC/NCUA) only.
3) It is for US$ denominated accounts only.
4) It is for checking accounts only.
5) It is only for accounts that are open to any adult of the general public of the US without having to go to a branch.

EverBank FreeNet Checking
5.51% APY for first 3 months of new accounts, then
4.01% APY for $100,000+
3.75% APY for $50,000 - $99,999
3.50% APY for $25,000 - $49,999
3.20% APY for $10,000 - $24,999
3.01% APY for $0 - $10,000
Minimum to open $1500, no minimum balance.
Free 50 checks.
Free unlimited check writing.
Free online bill pay with minimum average monthly balance $1500.
Free ATM usage by EverBank, reimbursement up to $6 a month in surcharges by others (mail EverBank ATM receipts within 90 days of transaction).
Free 4 business day online incoming and outgoing transfers.
Free incoming domestic and international wire transfers.
Fatwallet discussion

Presidential Checking PLUS
4.50% APY for $0 - $25,000, then
2.75% APY for $25,000+
Minimum to open $1500, minimum daily balance $1000, minimum electronic monthly deposit $200 from payroll, annuity, pension, or business account.
Free 25 checks.
Free unlimited check writing.
Free online bill pay.
Free ATM usage by Presidential, no reimbursement in surcharges by others.
Free incoming domestic and international wire transfers.
End of August, online transfers.
Fatwallet discussion

City National Bank of Taylor Reward Checking
4.03% APY for $0 - $25,000, then
1.10% APY for 25,000+
Minimum to open $100, no minimum balance.
Free unlimited check writing.
Free online bill pay.
Free ATM usage by CNBT, unlimited ATM reimbursement in surcharges by others within the US only.
Free online incoming and outgoing transfers.
Activities required monthly for all features and to earn interest:
Electronic monthly statement, 10 check card POS transactions (excluding ATM transactions), direct deposit from payroll or government benefit.
Fatwallet discussion

Meadows Credit Union Savvy Checking
4% APY with direct deposit, 2.50% APY without direct deposit, join by 07/31/06, APYs only till 12/31/06.
To join MCU, have a valid email address at home, work, or school.
Minimum to open $5000, minimum daily balance $5000 required for all features and to earn interest.
Free checks for life, 450 checks per year (3 boxes, 150 checks/box, website incorrect).
Free unlimited check writing.
Free online bill pay.
Free ATM usage by MCU, automatic reimbursement in surcharges by others:
$5,000 - $9,999 up to $6
$10,000 - $24,999 up to $15
$25,000+ up to $50
Free 3 business day online incoming and outgoing transfers (up to $15K/day, $25K/month).
Free next day online incoming and outgoing transfers (up to $2K/day, $5K/month).
Next day transfers not allowed until 60 days after first regular transfer (per account).
Free cashiers checks, money orders, travelers checks, gift checks, domestic and international wire transfers, foreign check deposit, bank check stop payment, ...
Fatwallet discussion

Bank of Internet USA Freedom Checking
3.20% APY for $1 - $24,999, then
1.50% APY for $25,000+
Minimum to open $100, minimum average daily balance $1000.
Free 50 checks.
Free unlimited check writing.
Free online bill pay.
Free ATM usage by BofI, reimbursement up to $7 a month in surcharges by others.
No online transfers.


all accounts details above currently verified online and by phone.

Bank of Internet has great checking options:

Freedom Checking
Deposit Rate APY
$1 - $24,999 = 3.15% 3.20%
$25,000 and above = 1.49% 1.50%

The Freedom Account is an interest-earning checking account designed specifically for online banking. It is an especially good value for customers who maintain an average daily balance of $1,000 or more. A $4.00 monthly maintenance fee is charged if the average daily balance falls below $1,000.

-BofI.com will reimburse ATM fees you pay, up to $7 per month
-Tiered Interest. Pays the stated interest rate on the portion of the balance within the specified tier.
-Statements are always available on line with an up to the minute true balance.
-ATM and Debit Cards provided free and the transactions are reflected in the account balance on the Internet as soon as the transaction is completed. (Debit Cards are issued based on the customer qualifying).
-Account information is available by telephone toll-free using the BofI.com automated telephone voice response system.
-Electronic deposit of payroll or government issued checks directly into your account
-First 50 checks printed free
-Write an unlimited number of checks each month free of service charges
-Re-order checks on the Internet
-Pay all of your bills with the BofI.com Internet bill payment feature free of service charges.
-View images of paid checks on your Internet screen on the day they are paid, and for the next 90 days
-Use an overdraft line of credit up to an amount based on your credit history
-Have overdraft protection by linking your checking account to a savings account
-Free banking by mail using envelopes which are postage paid by BofI.com

Continued in other posts.

Seniot Checking
Deposit Rate/APY
$1 - $24,999 = 3.44%/3.50%
$25,000 and above = 1.49%/1.50%

Are you 50 or older? Then you can open a Senior B of I checking account with just $50.

Earn interest - no service charges

A Senior Checking account earns interest on all funds from the day of deposit, compounded daily and paid monthly. No monthly service fees to pay and no minimum balance required. Senior Checking offers many features for free.

-Free Bill Payment
-Free ATM and debit (check) cards, for qualifying account holders
-Free Internet or telephone banking anytime
-Free postage-paid envelopes for mailing check deposits
-With a Senior B of I checking account, we'll reimburse you for costs up to a maximum of $8 per month for fees incurred when using other banks' ATMs.

-Add funds to your account by direct deposit, wire transfer, or postage paid bank by mail.

-Overdraft protection upon request, provided by a line of credit to those with a qualifying credit history or for free by linking to a B of I savings account.

-Internet banking - free and easy

-Banking is easy with Senior B of I, over our secure site. You can re-order checks, view statements and cancelled checks, print transaction information, even pay bills - all from the comfort and safety of your home.

http://www.bankofinternet.com/

In the "Quick Summary", "Meadows Credit Union Savvy Checking" is mentioned to have "Free incoming and outgoing next-day ACH money transfers (2 extra days during first 60 days)".

I have this account for about one year, but never be able to do incoming next-day ACH transfer, outgoing next-day does work though.

Anyone actually found how to do the incoming next-day ACH transfer?
Thanks.

cameron2003 said: Thanks, I was wondering why checking accounts weren't represented well in that other thread, and I still don't know what "requirements" they dont meet.
From that thread's OP:
7) To be included, the rate (APY) must be higher than the fifth account with minimal requirements (with at least one of those five providing ACH). These are numbered in the list.

cameron2003 said: Cheap said: cameron2003 said: Thanks, I was wondering why checking accounts weren't represented well in that other thread, and I still don't know what "requirements" they dont meet.
From that thread's OP:
7) To be included, the rate (APY) must be higher than the fifth account with minimal requirements (with at least one of those five providing ACH). These are numbered in the list.

I know, and this is probably dense, but what does that mean, "the fifth account"? I know what a fifth of alcohol is, but what fifth account where?
Not sure what you mean; they are numbered. The fifth account has a 5 next to it...

cameron2003 said: OK I get it. I wasn't sure because there is a #6, and there are also listings above #1. Thanks. That explains why checking accounts never make it to the top 5 and are under-represented.

Also I was thrown off by, "with at least one of those five providing ACH"
It is kind of complicated. This was to solve the "ING problem" and seemed to make most people somewhat happy. If you want to have a stab on a rewrite, you are welcome.

The 6 is there because I haven't gone through the whole list since another minimal account was added to the list. When I do, the list should be a little shorter.

These checking accounts are fantastic and I would recommend anyone getting one before getting an online savings account. It makes much more sense to keep your money here where it can be used to pay bills any time then in a much more limited savings account. And the people out there that make a transfer for every bill to squeeze out extra interest are foolish.


That BofI account looks very good and I wasn't aware of it. I currently have Presidential and a BOA account for ATM's.

Just today I discovered that I had run my BOA account negative by accidentally making a credit card payment from it. Aggravating. Simplicity shouldn’t be underestimated especially if you're as prone to mistakes as me.

However presidential rate difference is pretty significant and one big small thing for me is that presidential maintains statements online forever.

Don't have an account there myself but there's been a thread and quite a bit of buzz around it a few months ago:

City National Bank of Taylor
4.03% APY (25,000 max)
No minimum
No monthly service charge
Unlimited check writing
Free bill pay
Automatic ATM fee refunds
Free bank to bank transfers

Requires direct deposit and (here's the annoying part) 10 POS charges on debit card per month

Use your Fidelity account like a checking account.
$100 bonus if account opened with 10K.
Interest rate varies depending upon your core account (and possiblty your tax bracket). Approximately 4.5%+.
Fast free "Money line" (ACH) transfers to other bank accounts.


details here.

FW discussion

Bonus: Use the account with an MBNA Fidelty card for the 1.5% Cash Back

Pretty much everything is free, notable exception is Billpay. You need 100K+ for free billpay otherwise its $6.95. I just didn't sign up for billpay. I use MBNA billpay for most everything and free local credit union for the rest.

craig10x said: mariojm said: Don't have an account there myself but there's been a thread and quite a bit of buzz around it a few months ago:

City National Bank of Taylor
4.03% APY (25,000 max)
No minimum
No monthly service charge
Unlimited check writing
Free bill pay
Automatic ATM fee refunds
Free bank to bank transfers

Requires direct deposit and (here's the annoying part) 10 POS charges on debit card per month

You do need to have direct deposit to the Reward Checking with CNBT to get the free bill pay, but Unlimited ATM Rebates and no min balance requirement is standard with Reward Checking....However, if you don't do the 10 debit card transactions every month, you get 0% interest. If you link Reward Savings to it, on that account you do get 4.39% (with no min balance needed) which is great, and for that account the debit card transactions does not apply, so you do get the interest for that one...

I banked with them for a while...they are pretty good...but you have to accept electronic statements, they won't send paper statements for these 2 particular accounts... Best Feature with that set up is the Unlimited Rebates on Checking and the great interest rate on the Savings.....

IMO best feature is that Taylor has very good BBQ!

asdf83 said: Regering to presidential:

"End of August, they will have ability to add external accounts."

what does this mean and how do you know its happening?

I called presidential and confirmed all the details of the account, and found this out from them.

Corrected Meadows CU quick summary:

The interest rate goes up to 4.25% on July 1.

There is no limit on number of ACH transfers per month, just a dollar limit.

Also the line about $5000 minimum balance to get free services is redundant, since you would not want this account without
a $5000 minimum balance since it pays NO INTEREST for the whole month in which your balance drops below $5000 even for 1 day
and moreover many services (eg ACH transfers) are not available at all while your balance is below $5000.

This thread is great : how do we request that it be made sticky ?

I suggest that instead of alerting moderators, we first assemble more evidence of the importance of this thread, i.e. give it some time to develop. OP, may I suggest you give the opening statement of your post a slightly different twist - it sounds like we're doing this thread in protest of the already existing thread, but really I think we should use the opportunity to give it a reason to stand alone. Think of some good reasons why checking accounts may be worth discussing separately from savings accounts other than someone's "rules."

opmnxtc, very minor complaint on this great thread. It looks like Everbank is ranked first, but this only due to 3 month intro rate. I think Presidential's non-promo rate should get top billing. I list the temporary rate, but not rank by it.

Well, makeinu, i'm not sure if paypal or other ACH deposits would "simulate" direct deposit, at CNBT...i actually did have my pension check deposited into the account every month (otherwise you get socked with a $5.95 per month charge for bill pay)...you could experiment...but at the risk of getting hit with the fee (unless you could get them to "reverse" it). They give you a 1 month "grace" period to get it set up....

They do have external bank ach service (much like USAA) but i hadn't used it when i had the accounts, so not sure how fast it would be....

Perhaps someone who has the Reward Checking with CNBT, and "simulates" direct deposit, could confirm that it works?

I didn't want to do the 10 Debit card transactions each month, so i had gotten 0% interest in that account (but unlimited surcharge rebates) and got the great interest rate from the Reward Savings which was linked to it....

Went with CNBT because I don't like having to maintain a minimum balance on a checking account, and the ~0.5% APY difference from Presidential is okay since I don't usually put much in my checking accounts anyway. The "10 POS charges on debit card per month" requirement doesn't bother me much since I can simply charge $0.01 ten times via comcast.com, with a software robot automating the clicks. I got a hard pull on Equifax BTW.

i like this thread though it seems underused. corus' rates needs to be bumped up to 5.10% for accts over 100k.