3.51% APY Reward Checking Account -MidWest America Federal Credit Union -Nation's highest yield reward checking account

Do they use cibng.ibanking-services.com like First Banking Center (one of the 6.01% places for rural Wisconsin)? I wish MoneyCenter.Yodlee.com would get on the ball with adding these smaller institutions!

teammjs said: OK. So I signed up about 3 weeks ago (via claiming membership rights through the ASPCA), and everything went smooth, and already received my debit card. So, I then have my wife sign up since 1) it's one account per person, and she can get in for free through me now that I'm a member.

Strangely, she gets the application sent back with a form letter stating that a few things need to be done before she can be a member. They have highlighted a couple: namely that the Membership Application and Truth-in-Savings statements need to be signed and notarized-- despite nothing indicating they needed to be (I didn't notarize mine, and apprently went through). What might be of interest to some though is that they also have a membership section stating requirements INCLUDING one specifically that states at the end "Make a one-time donation of $20 to the Allen County ASPCA"! This section was not highlighted, presumably because my wife already met the requirement since they could easily look up me.

It does appear that they are perfectly fine with the ASPCA route, although you will likely need to prove this. Also, if you've already received your forms and can get notariziation done easily, then might want to proactively do so. They do seem to be scrutinizing things a bit more now, although nothing that difficult.
I'm surprised that you didn't have a notarization requirement. I did, and I thought it was the normal procedure. My wife had her signature notarized for her application as well.

Rather than applying on-line, I had all the forms mailed to me, and included with those forms was one for the Allen County SPCA. That was completed, and the amount included on my funding check, IIRC. So there was no issue of proving my membership with the ASPCA. My wife's application was sent along with mine; her eligibility for membership in the CU was assured based on my application.

GroveStreetOG said: My wife and I just got our stuff last week and haven't gone to get it notarized yet. Our packages did NOT include a mechanism for applying for the ASPCA, but we did get the note about how making a donation would qualify, and it did include the notarization requirement. It did not explain what the big deal is about getting the truth in lending statement notarized.

I got the ASPCA application off the ASPCA website and mailed it in, signing us up for a family membership. I made copies of the application and the check I used and will send it in if we get our stuff for the CU organized before the SPCA stuff comes, and see how that works. I didn't pay attention and didn't realize that only one of us has to be a member, but my attitude about that is, who cares, I'm glad to do it and I hope that the ASPCA gets tons of money from this.
Perhaps because I asked the CU to mail me the relevant forms, the form for the ASPCA membership was included. When I called, I had asked about the ASPCA membership and was told that the credit union would process the application for me, so receiving the form from them wasn't a surprise.

I paid for a family membership in the ASPCA. Good cause. For the notarization, my notary didn't directly notarize one of the CU's forms, but used a separate attachment, which was included with the returned forms and documentation. So it wasn't a big deal to have a particular form notarized -- at least for me.

glxpass said: Rather than applying on-line, I had all the forms mailed to me, and included with those forms was one for the Allen County SPCA. That was completed, and the amount included on my funding check, IIRC. So there was no issue of proving my membership with the ASPCA. My wife's application was sent along with mine; her eligibility for membership in the CU was assured based on my application.

Would you mind expanding on this a bit? Which number did you call, and did you specifically ask for the SPCA app to be mailed to you along with the CU and account paperwork? I'd be interested in going this route if I can get all of the paperwork done in one fell swoop.

When I send in the check for the initial deposit, do I make it to myself? Thanks.

klm123 said: Gman476 said: How would you rate their online banking? Is ACH available to other institutions?

yes, they have ACH Push and Pull! (ie send, receive and take)

I don't see the option on their website to setup external accounts for transfers. Have you done this? If so, how?

Zon said: klm123 said: Gman476 said: How would you rate their online banking? Is ACH available to other institutions?

yes, they have ACH Push and Pull! (ie send, receive and take)

I don't see the option on their website to setup external accounts for transfers. Have you done this? If so, how?
I was told MWAFCU can’t do ad-hoc one-time ACH transfers. The only ACH service they provide is recurring ACH transfers upon completing their ACH Transfer form for each external institution.

ACH transfers initiated by external accounts are fine.

Also, no free starter checks.

Don't know whether this information is already there:

1. No hard credit pull
2. A/c and SCPA membership can be opened together (you send the check for fees and they take care of the memebership)

shalein said: Where is the link for online application?
Or Do I need to contact them and ask to send the papers in mail?
Also I applied for ASPCA membership thru online (using paypal) but yet to receive any membership number..
What are the experiences of others?

Be sure to contact them somehow. I joined the ACSPCA online, too, and then sent MWAFCU a $25 check for the opening share deposit. MWAFCU kindly wrote a check on my behalf for $20 to the ACSPCA and deposited $5 in my account.

So I ended up joining twice. Not a huge deal if the interest rate stays at 7%, but I'd prefer to have kept my $20.

Those puppies better find really good homes!

This is the hardest part for me on these high yield rewards checking accounts: 10 Debit Card transaction

Do you guys just start using the debit card all the time instead of your credit cards? I personally use my AMEX for everything I can and that would be a hard habit to break. I'm not a fan of debit cards at all. I guess you could stand there at the gas station and pump 10 x $5 worth of gas or less but that seems like a hassel That's why I'm stuck rate chasing for 3.75 to 4% APY.

What about when you're out of the country for a month, then the interest drops down to nothing?

Thanks for any feedback!

My favorite micro-purchases: fast food dollar/value menu, Staples 8-cent self-service photocopies, squeeze-and-stop gas purchases.

How to make 10 debit card purchases?

I buy coffee from 7eleven everyday.

cashandmorecash said: How to make 10 debit card purchases?

I buy coffee from 7eleven everyday.

My wife gets her starbucks every day. I used to give her a starbucks gift card that auto-reloaded. Now im just going to have her pay with the debit card every time. That's a good 20 transactions a month minimum. I can easily pull 20 transactions a month since I buy a lot of my small lunches on the debit card.

I am going to open a good 3 or 4 reward checking accounts for my next AOR. Worst case scenario I can also do gas clicks.

$0.49 cents for Amazon short stories... one click ordering.

FDIC has requirements for reward checking accounts:
"Banks may not require that transactions be of a certain dollar value (individually or in aggregate)."
http://www.complianceheadquarters.com/Documents/fdic-chiro-05-2007.pdf

That being said, I've seen postings that some Reward Checking accounts close your account if it looks like you are using it differently than they intended.

I've found that Amazon purchases count as Point of Sale purchases with my reward checking account (not this one).

livedog said: I've seen postings that some Reward Checking accounts close your account if it looks like you are using it differently than they intendedBanks and customers can close an account at any time and are not required to provide any reason.

So they have a couple of links that claim to be the application:
Here and here

Which one do I want? How do I apply to the rewards checking and the Allen County SPCA at once?

jatan1986 said: PoisnBGood said: So they have a couple of links that claim to be the application:
Here and here

Which one do I want? How do I apply to the rewards checking and the Allen County SPCA at once?I applied with the 2nd link you posted (http://www.midwestreward.com click APPLY NOW and then wait 20-30 seconds for the form to show up) and once you fill that out they'll mail you a packet with the membership info that you need to fill out (got mine 3 days after filling out that form)

You'll have to fill out the 4 forms they send you, get your signature notarized on 2 of the forms, copy of state ID or license, copy of SSN card or passport, $5 check for your share account, and $20 donation check for Allen County SPCA

Apparently WAMU and maybe BOA might have free notary service for customers so I'll find out tomorrow and get my signature notarized so that I can mail everything out tomorrow

Be careful about WAMU's notary. I've tried to have other reward checking account documents notarized there, and they refused saying they would only notarize WAMU documents. BOA wouldn't notarize either for the same reason(except maybe if you have a ton of money with them). Community banks or credit unions would probably be the better option for this.

jatan1986 said: Apparently WAMU and maybe BOA might have free notary service for customers so I'll find out tomorrow and get my signature notarized so that I can mail everything out tomorrow

WAMU touts their free notary service, but their policy in CA is to only notarize their own documents (according to an outsourced CSR, whom I called to complain about the deceptive advertising). They're more than happy to point you to some other notary nearby, at least at the 3 branches I tried in SF.

I finally ended up at First Republic Bank, where I have a CD. The rate sheet says it's $2 per doc, but I wasn't charged anything.

armus said: jatan1986 said: Apparently WAMU and maybe BOA might have free notary service for customers so I'll find out tomorrow and get my signature notarized so that I can mail everything out tomorrow

WAMU touts their free notary service, but their policy in CA is to only notarize their own documents (according to an outsourced CSR, whom I called to complain about the deceptive advertising). They're more than happy to point you to some other notary nearby, at least at the 3 branches I tried in SF.

I finally ended up at First Republic Bank, where I have a CD. The rate sheet says it's $2 per doc, but I wasn't charged anything.
Wachovia has always given us free notary service for outside documents... Credit union docs, HEL's for closing docs, HELOC's for closing docs, Online bank accounts. We have a crown classic account which is grandfathered from a 1980's and 1990's takeover by first union/wachovia. I have found the notary service offered by your local bank is totally dependant on your personal relationship with said bank. We have a great relationship with our local wb.