New Salem Five Checking accounts, Rates as high as 3.50%

ThursdaysChild said: One thing to note, however, is that the toll-free number listed at Salem Five Direct is the same one listed at Salem Five.

Also I clicked the login on Salem Five Direct page and it did bring me to my Salem Five accounts

I called them up spoke to someone named Ricky was very nice. He explained to me this accounts pays a high interest except it has no fee waivers what so every. You pay for everything. You get $6 of ATM rebates per month. You pay for checks, Quicken Access, Wires, etc and you statement must be E-Statement too.

Personally If your going to pluck over $100K you can get 5% at most of the big mega banks in a checking account plus they will waive most fee's for you and have nationwide atm networks.

So personally not sure how great this account is for people unless they live in North Shore in Mass and dont never need or want any fee waivers or write paper checks. Once you figure $300 in extra interest after taxes you have like $220-250(Depending on tax bracket) then add up fee you will be hit with like Quicken($5 per month), ATM fees above $6 rebated, Checks, Wire fees, Forex Fee's ,Etc this account might net you nothing or very little compared to premium account at Citi, BOA, Wachovia, or any brokerage house like Fidelity and Schwab.

ScootyPuffSr said: Well many of us don't ever use our checking accounts to make ATM withdrawals. $6/month in reimbursement would have completely covered every month of fees I have ever had.

Secondly, paper checks are roughly 2 cents a piece through WalMart/Sam's. If 5.3% is higher than your current checking account, the increased interest would more than make up for 2 cents a check given that many people write 1-2 checks a month.

Dont get me wrong. For some people this account might be great. Not trying to knock the account. Just explaining what the guy told me. He did say the reason this accounts pays this rate is because it has almost no fee waivers compared to others accounts they offer.

Maybe I am spoiled as I use Laser Voucher Checks only which cost $143 for 250 form deluxe that Citi and BOA give me for free. Maybe because Citi and BOA rebate all atm fees for me irregareless of the amounts. The fact I get free wires ,no forex fees at many ATM worldwide, Free Quicken Access so I never login into BOA or Citi web page just fire up Quicken for everything. My personal view might be scewed. Also because I get the above for the free and used to using them and find a real value for them. I might be assigning a value to thoses benfits that most people say are worthless.

Personally I have an AMA account at USAA and I keep in it $5K never use it because of the same reason. They dont care if you deposit $100K or $1 million you get nothing for free.

Considering Citibank as of June 1st is intruducing "Resevered" level at the bank if you have $500K between deposit/brokerage balace. You will earn 5% on your checking account, get unlimited ATM rebates, free computer checks, Quicken waivers for both brokerage and bank accounts. No Forex fee's at Citibank ATM worldwide and 1% at non Citibank ATM, free incoming and outgoing wires, free next day incoming and outgoing ACH transfers, Free safety depsit box valued at $175 or less, free currency convertion at branch to and from dollars, credit card fee waivers etc. This new level is offered at retail bank which basically gives all the benfits of the Citigroup PB to people with $500K+.

And to boot you can park your cash in ARS at the retail bank which earn a rate of about 5.30% which is a APY of 5.45%. Which basically beat this account while still getting tons of fee waivers.

dolmar said: then add up fee you will be hit with like Quicken($5 per month), ATM fees above $6 rebated, Checks, Wire fees, Forex Fee's ,Etc this account might net you nothing or very little compared to premium account at Citi, BOA, Wachovia, or any brokerage house like Fidelity and Schwab.
I have never paid fees on any account, I guess my banking is pretty limited to just parking money. I don't use Quicken and looks like only thing I would have on this account is buying some checks, Big whoop. I think the float I make on paying bills with checks will more than make up for it. Basically to me this would just be a nice place to park a large chunk of money since it's fully insured.

scott1961 said: I have never paid fees on any account, I guess my banking is pretty limited to just parking money. I don't use Quicken and looks like only thing I would have on this account is buying some checks, Big whoop. I think the float I make on paying bills with checks will more than make up for it. Basically to me this would just be a nice place to park a large chunk of money since it's fully insured.

Like I said depending on what you use this account for and what fee's you would be subject too depending on the services you use this account may or may not work out for you. Unless you live in North Shore Mass this account can be a pain in the ass to make deposit and withdrawls from.

Personally I am lazy, use any ATM I want because both of my banks rebate atms, like Quicken Bill Pay, have not written a handwritten check in over 10 years now as I only use Laser voucher checks even for my AAA account at BOA. I am earning overall a better rate than this account offers just by giving up FDIC coverage but buying AAA rated bonds which in my option are just as safe as FDIC accounts.

I asked about incoming wires fees was told this account does not qualify for 1 free incoming wire fee waiver like Gold checking account. I was told $6 per month in ATM rebates but like someone else pointed out there web page does state $15 so maybe because this account is a new account the phone CSR just dont know all the benfits of this accounts.

Direct deposit isn't required, but you get a $25 bonus if you enroll the account with direct deposit.

minggang said: Does anyone know how Salem Five reimburses the ATM fee?
I know some banks require customers to mail back the ATM receipts for reimbursement.

I just notice this on another site:

"ATM rebates (up to $15) are credited automatically at each statement cycle."

http://bankdeals.blogspot.com/

So let's say I have to write an emergency check for $3000. I'll have to wire the funds since they don't accept ACH transfers? Depending on how many times you have to write funds in (since the originating bank will charge you), this may/may not be worth it.

I still like my FNBO and BofI combination; 6% savings and 3.4% checking

EDIT : Hard Equifax pull. Bleh. '-(

They do accept ACH. They don't have a system to send out via ACH but you can get around that via Bill Pay.

I'm going to sign up for the account. With no minimum balance and no hard credit check and $25 for setting up a Direct Deposit, you can't lose. If you like the account, use it, and if you don't, take the $25 and leave.

anaray said: So let's say I have to write an emergency check for $3000. I'll have to wire the funds since they don't accept ACH transfers? Depending on how many times you have to write funds in (since the originating bank will charge you), this may/may not be worth it.

I still like my FNBO and BofI combination; 6% savings and 3.4% checking

I think account that had a visa/mc debit card will do a credit pull.

No pull for me but I did not ask for card plus have other checking accounts with them.

Interesting, thanks OP. $25 bonus is an interest credit to be posted to your account within 60 days of initiating a recurring direct deposit such as payroll or social security payments. Can anyone confirm if Salem will accept an ACH push from another bank to fulfill this requirement, or does it have to be payroll/pension?

SMALL PRINT

Earn up to 6.10% APY (Annual Percentage Yield) for the first 60 days and 5.30% APY thereafter

>Does salem5 mail pre-paid envelopes?
Yes they do.

Does anybody know if the account immediately deposits funds?

What I mean by that: Some financial institutions credit payroll (and maybe other deposits) immediately when they get them. Most put the money in your account according to instructions that are sent by your employer.

So my payroll deposit and allotments has instructions to be made available on the 15th. But the bank actually receives the money on the 13th.

Many companies and the military and federal government send the money a few days early with instructions to the back to make the funds available on a certain day.

The two days of interest and funds availability make a difference to me.

Bank of Internet used to credit immediately. I guess they saw the float potential they were missing and now the credit at the same time most others do. RateEdge.com credits immediately. Presidential does not credit immediately. USAA credits one day rather than two days early.

I’m looking at the new Salem Five and FNBO accounts, and what would tip me for both or either is immediate funds.

Any help?

What is Salem Five Direct's currency conversion fees (%) if you use a debit card or ATM in another country?

They must have pulled in a bunch, I just noticed they added this:
$1,000,000 or more 0.50% So if you put in over a million get it out quick

So far my experience with this bank has been great. My BoA check was credited and earned interest one day before it was debited at BoA so overlapping interests there.
I now have used the on-line billpay a few times and was surprised that the amounts were not debited from the balance apparently until the payees received the payment. This was different from BoA, Meadows etc. or atleast the banks that I've had online bill pay with before which deducted the payment on the day that the payment was scheduled to be sent.
Also, the 120 free checks was nice as well which one of them will be used to send most of the money back to BoA once the promotional period is over with no interest lost since I've confirmed for myself that the bank did credited me with interest on the same day of the transaction. I'll keep this as my primary checking account as long as the rate is competitive as it is now.

sjb said:

Cons:

- Bank seems to be adept in bait-and-switch...is this just a promo?
I opened my first account with them over 7 years ago when they were offering a Money Market that was over 6.00%. You are correct that they either drop rates or get rid of a product, But since day one I have been able to maintain a significant amount with them. They have no "New Money" rules and has always been very easy to move money to the latest new product they are offering
Also you left out a big Pro, DIF allows you to have unlimited insurance coverage

One other nice feature is they have free Coinstar machine at my local branch. I have a brother who owns a bunch of properties and he has coin washing machines in many of them, So every few weeks he comes over with buckets of coins and we bring them over and I get $20 for doing it for him