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Dimes Add Up With A Green$ense Bonus
Checking account customers at Citizens Bank and Charter One Bank can earn a dime every time they make an electronic transaction.
All you have to do is enroll your account in the banks’ Green$ense program and follow a few extra rules.
Basically that means getting all of your statements online and making at least 10 debit card purchases or online bill payments a month.
The marketing spin behind this effort is that using “less paper is good for the environment,” hence the name Green$ense.
All types of personal checking accounts are eligible, but to get one you usually have to live in one of the 12 Northeastern and Midwestern states where Citizens and Charter One have branches. (Both are owned by Citizens Financial Group, based in Providence, R.I.)
Although it’s possible to make as much as $120 a year with Green$ense, you’d have to average a staggering 100 debit card purchases and online bill payments a month to do so.
We suspect the annual bonus will be more like $30 or $40 for most customers.
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H&R Block Tops 6-Month CD Rates
H&R Block Bank has jumped to top of our rankings of the best 6-month CD rates.
Its promotional offer of 2.0% APR with a minimum deposit of $10,000 is available until Sept. 30, and you can apply online.
That’s the same rate United Central Bank was offering when it led our latest rundown of the best, nationally-available 6-month certificates of deposit.
But United Central cut its rate in half just before Labor Day and H&R Block stepped up to take its place as the only bank still offering 2.0%.
Click here to compare these rates with the best CD rates and terms from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.
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Credit Cards Rates, Fees Keep Going Up
Well, you can’t say they didn’t warn us.
The banks threatened to go on a rate-raising, fee-hiking, rule-writing rampage if Congress approved the Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility Act of 2009.
It did and the result has been an unending stream of letters from my credit cards making good on that threat.
But I still find it ironic that the most recent arrived the day after the first few provisions of the law intended to protect me from the credit card industry’s worst abuses took effect.
READ THE ENTIRE POST.
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Reap 2.5% Returns With Best 2-Year CDs
Tennessee Commerce Bank grabbed the top spot in our September rankings of the best 24-month CD rates.
It’s mid-August rate hike to a 2.50% APY makes it the best-paying, nationally-available 24-month certificate of deposit we can find.
As recently as July you could still find at least one bank paying 3% on 2-year CDs. But that’s no longer the case, with the national average for these investments dropping to a near-record low 1.47% APY last week.
The top deals currently available to all savers are:
2.50% APY with a $2,500 minimum deposit from Tennessee Commerce Bank, which has a single location in Franklin.
2.50% APY with a minimum deposit of $50,000 or 2.40% APY with a minimum deposit of $500 for “Silver CDs” from Frontier Bank, which has 50 branches in Washington and Oregon.
2.43% APY with a minimum deposit of $2,500 or 2.48% APY with a minimum deposit of $25,000 from Wedbush Bank, which has one branch in Los Angeles.
2.40% APY with a minimum deposit of $5,000 from OneWest Bank, with 33 branches in Los Angeles area.
Frontier led our August survey with slightly higher returns — 2.70% APY with a $50,000 minimum deposit and 2.60% APY with a $500 minimum deposit.
Click here to compare these deals with the best CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.
Related Posts:Tennessee Bank Boosts 24-Month CD RatesEarn 2.4% With Wedbush’s 2-Year CDsBest Savings Accounts Pay Over 2% APYWashington Bank Tops 24-Month CD Rates11-Month CD Special Offers 2.78% APY
Our Favorite Cards For College Students
If you’re heading back to campus this month, you need a credit card with the lowest possible interest rate and minimal fees.
With lots of expenses and not much income, you want to spend as little as possible to get the credit you need.
In a perfect world you’d pay off your balance every month and the interest rate wouldn’t matter all that much.
But a whopping 82% of college students don’t do that, and by the time they graduate they’re carrying $4,100 in credit card debt.
READ THE ENTIRE POST.
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Local Deals Offer Highest CD Rates
Small banks are paying local customers 2.5% or more for short-term certificates of deposit — beating the best nationally-available CD rates by almost half-a-point.
That’s because the highest CD rates continue to be offered through deals restricted to the local customers of community banks.
In most cases the best rates are on odd-term certificates of deposit — CDs that don’t mature in the traditional 6-, 12- or 24-months.
But they routinely:
Pay more than twice the national average of comparable, traditional CDs — a record-low 0.98% APY for 12-month CDs right now.
Beat the best nationally-available rates — currently 2.15% APY for a 12-month CD from OneWest Bank.
Here are just some of the deals you can find out there. In each of these examples the CDs must be purchased in person at a local branch.
2.55% APY on a 13-month CD with a minimum deposit of $100 from the Bank of Kirksville, which has eight locations in northeast Missouri.
2.50% APY on a 15-month CD with a minimum deposit of $500 from Enterprise Bank of South Carolina, which has 12 locations in South Carolina.
2.50% APY on a 13-month CD with a minimum deposit of $500 from Atlantic Southern Bank, which has 13 branches in Georgia and Jacksonville, Fla. (This deal is also available at the three Georgia branches of Sapelo Southern Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary.)
Click here to compare these offers with the best CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.
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Don’t Waste the Marketing & Communication Benefits of an iPhone App Update
I’ve written plenty about the importance of the iPhone App Store, both here and in Online Banking Report (note 1). But there’s one subtle side benefit I hadn’t thought too much about previously.
Every time a new version of a native app is released, users much take action to download it if they want the new features. While this process used to be a nightmare in the desktop software days where users had to use floppy disks, CDs or large downloads to reinstall the software. It’s an absolute breeze on the iPhone and usually takes less than a minute from start to finish. And there’s no restarting the iPhone or choosing installation options. It’s just a one-click process plus the input of your iTunes password if you weren’t already logged in.
So why is this process a benefit? Because each time a new release is available a little icon shows on top of the App Store icon (see screenshot 1 below). Users then press the App Store icon, choose update, and they see a list of applications with updates available (screenshot 2). At that point users choose to update them all or look at them individually.
We believe most users are interested enough in their financial apps to take a look at the update, at least until the novelty of the mobile app wears off some years in the future. This provides financial institutions a free marketing opportunity to not only explain the new features of the app, but to get across other marketing messages. You are much more likely to make an impression with your customers during the update process, compared to sending out a random marketing email.
In the three bank examples below, only USAA (screenshot 3) uses the opportunity to further cement its relationship with mobile customers, touting the new remote deposit capabilities along with several other enhancements. Wells Fargo (screenshot 4) takes a matter-of-fact, “we’re fixing bugs” approach that is OK, but still misses the chance to communicate with users. But Chase (screenshot 5) completely annoys users with two sentences of marketing speak that says nothing about the update.
Lessons for financial & mobile marketers: Whenever you release an update for your mobile app (note 2), take the opportunity to communicate with your customers as follows:
- Clearly explain the benefits of the changes to the app
- Highlight one or two related benefits of the app
- Mention any related news or promotions
- Strike a good balance between disseminating technical info and marketing new benefits
Screenshots
1. Main iPhone screen shows 2. The Updates page shows the 4 apps
that 4 app updates are that have new versions available.
available (right side halfway down).
3. USAA’s latest update explains the specific changes made and provides several new benefits to using the app.
4 & 5. On the other hand, the Wells Fargo and Chase update messages are sparse. The Wells Fargo update appears to be a minor bug fix, so we’ll cut them some slack for the terse message. However, Chase, with a minor update (2.0.1 update) to its major 2.0 release (released Aug 25), says absolutely nothing in 24 words of marketing-speak:
We’re listening — You asked for a fully native iPhone banking application. This Chase iPhone app is built exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch users.
Seriously Chase, this is the best you could come up for the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of iPhone users waiting for your updated app? At least the bank gets points for brevity.
Screenshot 4 Screenshot 5
Note:
1. For more info on the importance of a native iPhone app see Online Banking Report: Mobile Banking via iPhone.
2. The same advice holds true for communicating online banking improvements as well, although the communication methods are different (email, newsletter, statement insert, blog, interstitials, log-off messages, etc.).
Learn Your Rights From Free Videos
If you’re looking for easy to understand legal advice on all sorts of financial problems you need “Money, Credit and the Law — Know Your Rights!”
It’s a free, six-part series of online videos produced by the Center for Consumer Law at the University of Houston Law Center.
In them, law professor Richard Alderman explains how to stop abusive calls from debt collectors, find legitimate credit counselors, defend yourself against lawsuits, file for bankruptcy and much more.
If nothing else, these videos will make it harder for you to be scammed or bullied by unscrupulous creditors and con men who prey on consumers in financial trouble.
READ THE ENTIRE POST.
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Earn 4.01% With easyGROW Checking
When we ran down our favorite high-yield checking accounts last week, Tiffani wrote in to say how happy she was with easyGROWchecking from First Bank & Trust.
The bank, with 16 locations in South Dakota and Minnesota, is paying 4.01% APY on deposits up to $25,000.
Earning that kind of interest isn’t easy. Even the best-paying 60-month CDs top out at 3.5% APY — and that’s for a five-year commitment.
First Bank & Trust’s rules and perks are pretty standard. You must make 10 check card purchases each month and you’re reimbursed for all fees when using other banks’ ATMs.
(If you’re unfamiliar with how these work, take a look at our ABCs of high-yield checking accounts).
Since easyGROW checking was launched May 4 it doesn’t have a long track record.
But the account’s available nationwide. The online application is pretty simple. And at least one Bankaholic reader gives it a hearty endorsement.
“I have to admit, I love not having to worry about whether or not an ATM is on my network,” Tiffani says, “and the interest is already starting to add up.”
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Let The Feds Lower Your Down Payment
Want to buy a home, but don’t have much cash?
Two government programs can ensure you make the smallest possible down payment.
You can still get 100% financing if you can qualify for a VA loan. And you’ll only have to pay 3.5% of the purchase price with an FHA loan.
These are mortgages where the government promises to repay the bank if you default. With guarantees like that, banks are able to take on borrowers they might have rejected on charged a much higher interest rate.
READ THE ENTIRE POST.
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