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