Do you have any feedback on the Reward Checking account offered by New Frontier Bank? They are offering 6.26% APY for balances less than $50,000 if you do 12 debit transactions per month + 1 direct deposit/automatic payment + log in at least once a month and get an electronic statement.

What I am looking for is any experience with ease of opening the account, operating it, etc. Also, based on your experience, whether the interest rate is a teaser that comes down after a month or two. I did not find any discussion about this bank in the reward checking accounts thread and I was wondering if there is some catch with this bank.

It appears to be limited to walk-in customers only. I have been unable to call them yet because I just stumbled across this web page about half an hour back.

6.26% is REALLY good right now.. And its interesting to note it says 1 direct deposit OR 1 automatic bill pay PER month only...

Too bad its only for "In-State" accounts.. I am in NJ!!

And sadly, I also qualify for the Frontier 50 Club!

Looks like a ridiculously good deal, espeically since that rate is on balances up to $50k. However, this likely means the bank needs cash and fast, and once they get it, they'll drop thier rate to be competitive with others to about 4.5% or so. Regardless, I'm not in CO, otherwise I'd roll the dice on it.

I opened an account today. The 12 debit transactions are per calendar month, with no proration on the first month. It's going to take about 10 days to get the card, so I'll have about 5 days to get the 12 transaction done.

The account rep also told be the rate would be adjusting next week. I'll bet it's going down! They have had this rate since January. Too bad I didn't know about this earlier.

I drove an hour to their nearest and opened an account with them in early March. I got a $100 Visa Gift Card, and I've been collecting 6.26% ever since. It's been fantastic! That was my second trip to a bank in nine years, and I almost want to make the drive again just to say Hi.

The people are incredibly friendly. I got a hand addressed/signed letter from a VP after opening the account, and they are great to deal with over the phone. I do all of my banking through the mail, and they make all of my deposits available the next day, even very large checks.

I don't know how long the 6.26% will last, but they said they intend to keep it comparable to CD rates. We'll see what happens, but I'm loving it so far.

Getting started took a while. My login, online banking PIN, Debit Card, and ATM PIN took a week or two to arrive and be activated. It was frustrating to not have online access to my account, as I was linking it to all of my other accounts with ACH deposit verifications so I could do some ACH transfers. BTW, they don't offer any ACH originations, but work fine with transfers to/from other banks. Online banking uses netteller.com and is a little sparse, but very usable, and ACH updates are visible before they post. ATM transactions update in real time.

You don't get a free first month on meeting the requirements, and it looks like billing cycles always end on the last day of the month. I was lucky to have opened my account at the beginning of the month, so I was able to perform 12 debit card transactions before the next to the last day of the month, but you should allow at least two weeks before you can make your first debit card transaction.

I highly recommend New Frontier Bank.