Update: As of May 20, 2008, a branch visit is required to open this account.
I recently opened several Cash Rewards Checking accounts at Arizona Bank & Trust and have been blown away by the bank’s outstanding customer service. Of course, the biggest draw of this account is the fact that they are guaranteeing the 6.01% APY, on balances up to 20K, until April 2009. The 20K cap is relatively low, but they do allow customers to open multiple Cash Rewards Checking accounts. The Reward requirements will have to be met for each account to earn the high yield.
Reward requirements for each monthly cycle: - 12 signature-based debit card transactions - 1 Direct Deposit or ACH debit - Receive eStatements
Noteworthy: - $25 opening balance required, no minimum balance thereafter. - Notarization needed on one document only, even if multiple accounts are opened. - Will waive $10 incoming wire fee for initial funding (YMMV?). - ACH push/pull using external sources allowed. - Can request a free set of 25 starter checks. - Any amount charged to the debit card qualifies for the 12 transactions. - Up to $20 in ATM fees automatically refunded monthly if Reward requirements are met. - Written documentation of the rate guarantee comes in the form of a flyer included with the account opening packet. - No requirements waiver given on the first Rewards cycle. Rewards begin to calculate on the first of the month following account opening.
My account opening timetable: 05.06 – Applied for Cash Rewards Checking accounts by phone (888.906.4500). 05.12 – Received account opening packet. 05.13 – Mailed to ABT signed and notarized documents along with check. 05.16 – Late evening ABT received documents and deposited check. 05.19 – Registered for online banking and eStatements. 05.20 – Received approval for online banking and successfully logged in. 05.30 – Received starter checks and debit cards.
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eStatement enrollment: If you receive error messages despite entering correct information during the enrollment process, try eliminating the first zero on your checking account number.
Incoming Wire Transfer Instructions: The following are the necessary instructions for incoming wires to be credited to your account at Arizona Bank and Trust.
Receiving Bank = Dubuque Bank and Trust Company-Dubuque IA Receiving Bank ABA # = 073900535 Beneficiary Bank = Arizona Bank and Trust Beneficiary Bank ABA # = 122106015 Beneficiary Name = Arizona B&T Customer’s name Beneficiary Address = Arizona B&T Customer's address Beneficiary Account # = Arizona B&T Customer’s Account #
Message edited by: mh83 on 2008-05-30 18:13:59 CDT
Thanks, mh83. I agree that the guaranteed 6.01% APY until 4/2009 makes this worthy of a separate thread. If people want to take advantage of this, it's best to do so now, so that the account will be opened before June 1st; you start earning 6.01% APY on the month following the month in which the account was opened. This is different from other Reward Checking accounts I'm familiar with, where you start earning the high rate immediately upon opening the account and funding it, and where the requirements for the first qualification period are waived.
You might want to move some of the info in your initial post to the Quick Summary, unless you want control over its maintenance. Also noteworthy to me was the form AB&T can send you that will automate ACH pulls to your AB&T account. That's a nice substitute for a payroll-type direct deposit, or having to remember to manually make ACH transfers from other instiutions or pulls from payees. Finally, they says they don't do a hard credit inquiry, just ChexSystems.
Also, their toll-free number is 1-888-906-4500. I liked the fact that the application was done by phone for multiple accounts, saving me much typing.
Data points on Arizona Bank & Trust account opening:
05.08 Applied for two accounts by phone #888.906.4500 05.08 ABT mailed packet 05.12 Received account opening docs in Northern Virginia 05.13 Returned notarized (one) and signed docs, and deposits 05.15 ABT CSR phoned to let us know docs and deposits received 05.15 Applied for online banking access 05.15 Set up external access from Wachovia, waiting for trial deposits to hit ABT 05.16 Received email approval for online banking, successfully logged on to accounts. 05.16 Tried to set up estatements, phoned 866.269.5900 bc I was getting error messages, was told to wait for the system to update on 5/17. 05.17 Successfully signed up for estatements for both accounts. 05.19 Verified trial deposits @ ABT with Wachovia. 05.19 Received 5/15 deposit confirmation and notification of 9 business day hold for new account. 05.19 Successfully signed up for online billpay, awaiting email nofication (1-3 days) for activation of billpay. 05.19 Phoned personal banker regarding receipt of CDARS info, and also requested 25 starter checks for each account. 05.21 Bill pay activation email received. 05.23 Received Visa Debit Cards, activated cards as directed. 05.30 Received packet of 25 starter checks for each account.
NOTE: estatement signup is separate and apart from online access signup. In addition, it appears ABT outsources (no, not to India ) this support function bc the csr asked which bank I was with.
dvdjunkee said:When they say they require 12 signature based transactions, does that not include online purchases? Signature-based really means "use your debit card as a credit card", i.e. no PIN-based transactions, and don't specify that you want to use a debit card network, should you see such an option. (I've only noticed that option when paying my AT&T phone bill.) On-line purchases using the debit card as a credit card are fine.
glxpass said:dvdjunkee said:When they say they require 12 signature based transactions, does that not include online purchases? Signature-based really means "use your debit card as a credit card", i.e. no PIN-based transactions, and don't specify that you want to use a debit card network, should you see such an option. (I've only noticed that option when paying my AT&T phone bill.) On-line purchases using the debit card as a credit card are fine.
Sounds good to me. I've got a branch a block away, so I'll go open a couple accounts =)
FYI, I called to ask about wiring $19,000 to the account and if there was an incoming wire fee, they said there's a $10 fee. I asked if they can waive it since I'm funding the account but the rep said that there is "nothing in our system to waive the fee". $10 isn't too bad considering the rate, but that's what i was told.
glxpass said:...Also noteworthy to me was the form AB&T can send you that will automate ACH pulls to your AB&T account. That's a nice substitute for a payroll-type direct deposit, or having to remember to manually make ACH transfers from other instiutions or pulls from payees... Apparently that’s the only kind of ACH that ABT originates. It sounded quirky to me. When I asked about the speed of the ACH transfer, the CSR wasn’t sure. She said it was mostly used by out-of-towners.
I prefer to use an external source to pull out the interest earned each month, thus keeping the balance within the cap while satisfying the ACH debit requirement. I can always schedule recurring pulls using my external banks.
alphaivt said:FYI, I called to ask about wiring $19,000 to the account and if there was an incoming wire fee, they said there's a $10 fee. I asked if they can waive it since I'm funding the account but the rep said that there is "nothing in our system to waive the fee". $10 isn't too bad considering the rate, but that's what i was told. That’s interesting. Perhaps the waiver depends on the amount being deposited?
I think it’s more of a courtesy than an automatic system waiver. I didn’t ask for a waiver. I told the CSR the amount I was interested in depositing and she advised me to open multiple accounts. She then told me to wire in the initial deposit and she will waive the incoming wire fee and will distribute the funds evenly among my accounts.
Feel free to PM me if you’d like to know the name of the CSR I spoke with.
So I calculate just under 100 dollars per month per account. If you make the 12 debit transactions as 1 dollar donations, it comes out to $86 per month actually making the rate 5.25%, not worth the effort even if I could automate 6 of these accounts. However, being guaranteed until April 09 is a huge plus. I am making 4.5 right now which if I put the time in to set all of this up and watch each account to make sure everything went smoothly every month, I would be making $516/month as opposed to $443/month with no effort.
Usually I would jump on the extra $73, but since i must make 6 accounts to get that money, and I do not have my 0% offers for too much longer, I have drawn the conclusion to leave as is.
This is all subjective info, and other people will have different cost/benefit analysis, but the $86/month per $20,000 might make your calculations a little quicker.
mh83 said:glxpass said:...Also noteworthy to me was the form AB&T can send you that will automate ACH pulls to your AB&T account. That's a nice substitute for a payroll-type direct deposit, or having to remember to manually make ACH transfers from other instiutions or pulls from payees... Apparently that’s the only kind of ACH that ABT originates. It sounded quirky to me. When I asked about the speed of the ACH transfer, the CSR wasn’t sure. She said it was mostly used by out-of-towners.
I prefer to use an external source to pull out the interest earned each month, thus keeping the balance within the cap while satisfying the ACH debit requirement. I can always schedule recurring pulls using my external banks. Since there's no minimum required amount to designate on the AB&T form, I plan to fund each of my accounts for about 19K, and pull the same amount of money into the account at the beginning of each month as I plan to take out of the account in order to satisfy the 12 signature-based transactions requirement.
Warning about setting up automatic ACH transactions with AB&T: The form, which you can use to set up a pull to AB&T or a push from AB&T, says: Please remember we will need a 15 day lead time on all transfers. This is just the maximum time to initially set up the automatic transfer, not the time that it will take to do the transfers themselves. I still see this as an easy way to meet the ACH requirement with no worries about ACH capabilities at an external financial institution, nor any concerns about possible ACH transfer-out fees at that external financial institution, assuming I wanted to credit my AB&T accounts each month.
Edit: On each of the six Automaric Transfer Authorization Forms (one per AB&T account) that I'm mailing today (5/27), I specified a pull of $10 from my BoA checking account. Given the 15-day lead time to set up the automatic transfers, I scheduled each transfer to occur on the 16th of each month, which means that the transfer should post to the account by the 20th or so, assuming approximately a 3-business day transfer time. The end result is that I don't have to worry about the monthly ACH transfer requirement, and it becomes AB&T's responsibility to make sure it happens.
This is true, and if I had my money for the full term I would probably go for this offer. I don't even have it for half, plus the wait time seems like a few weeks to get this one going. It is probably worth it, but I am on summer vacation for a week and a half and am too damn lazy
I receieved my package this morning. There are three places for me to sign, the account agreement, backup withholding certifications, and to open the ATM/debit card. Do I need all three signatures notarized? The going rate in my area for notarizations is $10/signature. I figure I'll save $10 since I don't need the ATM/debit card as I'll be doing my withdrawals through ACH pulls.
alphaivt said:I receieved my package this morning. There are three places for me to sign, the account agreement, backup withholding certifications, and to open the ATM/debit card. Do I need all three signatures notarized? The going rate in my area for notarizations is $10/signature. I figure I'll save $10 since I don't need the ATM/debit card as I'll be doing my withdrawals through ACH pulls. Just notarize the account agreement. The point is to attest to your identity. Doing that on one document should be sufficient. At least, that's what the personal banker told me.
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) this support function bc the csr asked which bank I was with.
