Bank Deals & Bonuses
Best Mortgage Rates Stay Below 5%
Lenders are offering traditional fixed-rate mortgages for less than 5% in nine of the 10 major cities we surveyed this month.
That’s quite an improvement from July when only one of the 10 cities we looked at had those loans available for less than 5%.
It’s nearly as good as what we found in November, when average mortgage rates plunged to new record lows and loans were available for less than 5% in every single city we surveyed.
By any historical standard, a 30-year, fixed-rate loan that costs less than 6.5% is a good deal. That makes today’s rates nothing short of spectacular.
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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Bank of America $50 Checking Bonus
Sign up for a personal checking account at Bank of America and receive a free $50 bonus. The minimum deposit needed to attain this bonus is only $100, so this is a very hot deal.
Offer expires 2/29/09.
Citibank FREE $25 Savings Account
Here is a hot deal from Citibank. Sign up for the Ultimate Savings Account (2.50% APY) with $1000 minimum deposit, and they will give you a $25 bonus after 3 months.
This is your bailout money at work, people! Citi stands to drain up to $300bn in bailout funds from the Treasury, FDIC, and Federal Reserve, and yet, here they are giving away free cash!
It is your duty as an American and a taxpayer to take advantage of this deal! They’re paying you with your own money
FREE Luggage Tags at TripAdvisor
This deal has nothing to do with banking, but it is a nice deal nonetheless. TripAdvisor is giving out 2 free luggage tags just for filling out a short form (source: MyMoneyBlog).
If you travel a lot, this is a nice and free tag to strap onto your luggage to make it easier to spot on the conveyor belts.
Can’t beat free.
National City $150 Bonus
National City Bank is running a FREE $150 bonus. You need to sign up for their checking account, link your account with direct deposit, and swipe your check card 10 times to qualify.
Offer expires Dec 31, 2008.
Chase FREE $50 Checking Deal
Chase is running a FREE $50 bonus for opening a checking account. You will need to follow the link above and enter your email to get details. Keep in mind that direct deposit is required to qualify for the bonus.
Offer Details
To qualify for the reward you must open a new Chase Checking(SM) account with a $100 minimum opening deposit of new money (money not currently held by Chase or its affiliates). Also, within 60 calendar days of account opening, you must initiate a monthly direct deposit such as payroll, pension or Social Security, or other government benefits. The reward will be deposited into your new account within 10 days after the initial direct deposit has posted to your account. Limit one personal checking account-related reward/premium per customer, per calendar year.
Bank of America FREE $50 Deal
Dan at BankVibe found a free $50 deal at Bank of America. Basically, if you open a checking account with $100 minimum deposit, they will give you a $50 bonus.
Offer expires January 31, 2009.
E*TRADE 3.30% APY Savings + $25 Bonus
This is an oldie, but goodie. E*TRADE has brought back their $25 bonus on their online 3.30% APY savings account.
$25 will be credited to your Complete Savings Account within 30 days of the account being funded with a minimum deposit of $1.
This is fairly hot deal, don’t miss out!
WTDirect Up To $250 Bonus
WTDirect has launched a winter promotion for their 3.06% APY online savings account. Not really the HOTTEST deal out there, but worth mentioning.
OPEN a new account — use promotion code “WTG3DNC”
LINK an existing bank account to your new WTDirect account during the application process.
FUND your new WTDirect account by initiating an online transfer by 12/22/08.
EARN your bonus — calculated by determining the average balance from 1/1/09 – 2/28/09.
During that time, you will have 100% access to your funds.
RECEIVE your cash bonus in mid-March. It will be deposited directly to your WTDirect account.
