For the second installment in our finding the best rates series, we’re going to talk about interest checking. If you Google ”best rates checking,” a bunch of sites will come up. Some are OK. Some are tough to use. My favorite by far is Checking Finder. Why? Because it is the best of both worlds. It is easy to use and it seems to find the best rates. Others, like Bankrate or even Mint, seem to come up short with interest checking. Bankrate is fairly easy to use (not very pretty, but that’s OK) but doesn’t seem to come up with any rates to write home (or a blog) about. Although I love Mint, it falls short here too. It is a little easier to use than Bankrate (and prettier, for what it’s worth), but the rates don’t seem to be as high as the accounts listed on Checking Finder.
So what’s the catch? There are a couple – but I still think they’re worth it.
First, in order to get the real high interest rates you have to meet monthly requirements like having direct deposit, using your debit card to make 10-12 purchases (ATM transactions don’t count) and getting statements electronically. If you don’t do each of the requirements for a month you don’t get the high interest. That’s OK. As of today at least five checking accounts are offering over 3% interest! I don’t spend money often, but for 3% interest, I can make sure to use my debit card to make those purchases. With online banking it’s probably not very hard to keep track of how many purchases you make.
And second, the high interest only applies to balances up to a specified limit with lower rates above that limit. For example, the five accounts offering 3% cap that rate to the first $25,000. Beyond that the rates range from .51% to 1.01%. Although a simple solution for those who want more than $25,000 and still get the high rate would be to open multiple accounts, remember that you would have to achieve the debit-card-transaction limit for each account. That could be tough and difficult to manage. So if you have more than $25,000 and don’t want to open multiple accounts, Checking Finder has an easy-to-use tool that allows you to input your projected average balance and it filters the results to the highest return for you.
For those concerned with minimum balances or fees – don’t worry. Right on the front page Checking Finder explains that there are no minimum balances. There are also ATM fee refunds for the accounts on the site in case you don’t live near the banks. And, most importantly, all accounts are insured by either the FDIC (for banks), NCUA (for credit unions) or ASI (also for credit unions) up to the applicable limits.
So check it out (pun intended). And let me know what you find in the comments. Anyone have a better site? I’m always looking for good sites and ideas! Anyone currently use Checking Finder? What did you think? How much more interest did you make?
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