Features and Excerpts from FAQ:

* Earn 4.44% APY, with 50K cap, balances over 50K earn 1.76% APY. Existing FirstNet checking account prior to 2/5 will not be subject to the cap, at least until June, 2008. No documentation yet of the June, 2008 date being a guarantee.
* No maintenance fees.
* Free ATMs worldwide - "we refund ATM fees incurred by other banks worldwide".
* If below requirements (see Requirements section) are not met, rate is 0.05% APY and no ATM fee refunds.
* Available to all; apply on-line.
* Minimum $100 to open, no minimum balance.
* Free on-line banking and bill pay. Bill pay system is checkfree.
* Mastercard debit card.
* Per CSR, they use ChexSystems; there is no hard credit pull. Edit: now I'm told their signature card says they "reserve the right to pull a hard credit check." Waiting to hear about people's experience with this.
* One negative: no free checks. Correction: they will give you 8 starter checks upon request.
* Per CSR, from comment in Bank Deals post, "...revocable trusts are also eligible. After you apply on-line, someone contacts you and lets you know what documentation will be needed."
* Debit card limit - ATM withdrawals: $500/day.
* Debit card limit - POS transactions: $1500/day.
* Statement cycle begins with the first working day of a given month. For example, the January 2008 statement cycle is January 2nd through January 31st.
* Qualification period is through the last working day of a given month; debit card transactions must post to the account no later than this date in order to count for the corresponding statement cycle. For example, the qualification period for the December 2007 statement cycle is December 1st through December 31st; thus the qualification period for the January 2008 statement cycle is January 1st through January 31st.
* All account holders will receive rewards during their very first statement cycle.
* Interest is calculated on the daily collected balance and credited at the end of each cycle.
* You will receive a qualify/non-qualify (for rewards) e-mail at the end of each statement cycle.
* A debit card reversal will not count against the requirements.
* Check images not available with e-statements, however...
* If a printed check copy is needed, a 24-month history of check images is kept, and you can print them from Online Banking.
* There are no limits to the number of FirstNet Checking accounts that any one address can have.
* The following business entities may have a FirstNet Checking account:
Sole Proprietorship (DBA)
Non-profit organizations
Governmental units
Funds held by a fiduciary
* Routing Number: 082007649

Requirements:

* Make at least 10 point of sale debit card transactions per statement cycle. Note: It's been confirmed several times that FABaT doesn't really mean "Point of Sale", which requires your physical presence where you're making the purchase; FABaT means all purchases -- on-line or in person. ATM transactions (as with most other Reward Checking accounts) don't count.
* Set up one monthly direct deposit or ACH auto debit or make one online bill payment per statement cycle
* Receive e-statements
* Sign in to your online banking account once per statement cycle

Account opening process

Note: a FWF poster pointed out that the following comment was made on the Bank Deals post:

"If you are having a delay I was told it takes them 24 hours to get the applications from the http://www.firstnetchecking.com website, but they get them right away from the https://www.firstarkansasbank.com website."

The firstnetcheck.com website is the interactive tutorial about FirstNet Checking. The other url is a page from the FABaT website.

1. Apply on-line.
2. The bank checks all the on-line applications in the morning.
3. You will be contacted within one business day (it might be more due to the volume of applications) so they can review the application with you.
4. They will mail a welcome packet to you, which should include:
* Cover letter, indicating what's in the welcome packet, and instructions for sending them the required information.
* Signature card.
* Check card application.
* Authorization Agreement for ACH Transfer.
* Starter checks.
* Check order form.
5. Mail the required information to FABaT:
* Completed signature card, with the appropriate blanks filled in, and with signature(s). Note that you can change the initial deposit amount that was on the on-line application to whatever you want.
* Completed check card application, with signatures.
* Copy of your driver's license, notarized. If you're opening a joint accout, you can copy both driver's licenses on a single sheet of paper, and have that notarized.
* Copy of utility bill showing name and address of at least one of the account holders. If that's not available, you can use a credit card statement or cell phone bill. Previously, FABaT said this must be notarized, but they dropped that requirement, because it's ridiculous and many Notaries won't notarize a copy of that kind of document.
* If you want to fund the account, completed Authorization Agreement for ACH Transfer; otherwise, enclose one or more checks for that purpose.
* If you want to order checks, the completed check order form.
5. Upon FABaT receiving your information and processing it, you should receive an e-mail from them, stating that on-line access is approved.
6. Go to the FABaT web site and, under Online Banking, click on Sign Up. Enter the requested information, including the Access ID and Passcode you want to use.
7. Once you've signed in to Online Banking, click on the User Services tab, then E-Statements Only. It should show that you've opted in for them.
8. From Online Banking, click on the Payments tab, and use edit to request bill pay for your checking account. This will go into a pending status, and presumably will get approved.

About the bank, excerpted from Bank Deals post:

"FABaT is larger than SBoT so this may help it keep the high rate and cap longer. However, it's still not a large bank. It has 208 employees, $480 million in assets and $356 million in deposits based on 9/30/07 data. It has 25 branches in Arkansas.

The bank is FDIC insured (Certificate # 16849). It was established in 1949. The bank has a 4 out of 5 star rating (sound) at Bankrate and a 5 out of 5 star rating (superior) at BauerFinancial. Both are based on 9/30/07 data."

Useful Links:

Bank Deals post

First Arkansas Bank & Trust home page

FirstNet Checking link on FAB&T site

FirstNet Checking Interactive Tutorial with FAQ Section

FABaT Fee Schedule

FW Discussion: Automatic $1.00 Monthly Donations To Qualify For Reward Offers

Reward Checking Accounts - Issues and Discussion Thread