Comments on: Farmers & Merchants 4.51% Checking

By: anon

anon — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:26:51 +0000

I signed up with malvern, been a customer for the past four months. The interest rate has kept going down: 5%, 5% then, 3.5%, now 3% as of today. What a rip from their advertisment, but it’s still tough to beat that rate right now. They must be paying a lot of interest for a small bank.

By: DealMaven

DealMaven — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:11:33 +0000

Andy: True deal. A bank executive told us that Bankaholic, Bankrate.com and USA Today all did stories about its reward checking account within a few days of each other and Malvern was swamped with applications. It had to do something, so it stopped offering the deal nationwide. We’ll check out Coulee Bank.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:40:50 +0000

I just learned that Malvern has limited enrollment to those states in proximity to PA. I guess I got in just in time.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:32:55 +0000

I’ve recently opened two reward checking accounts, both earning 5.01% apy. They’ve both maintained these rates for over a year. Malvern Federal Savings in PA has a max of $35,000 and Coulee Bank of WI has a max of $25,000. Both are rated four stars by Bankrate.com and Bauer Financial. Simple sign-up and money transfer for both done all on line. Each has 10 debit card purchases and one auto deposit or debit requirement. Great customer service with a personal account rep.

I did a lot of research and these are far and away the best offers out there. I recommend them highly.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:07:23 +0000

Gabriella, I think these banks have in their rules that the rates can be changed at any time, but when they do lower them, it’s still usually much higher than you would normally get. So, I think it’s worth a little hassle. You can always cancel the account if it gets too low.

By: Gabriella

Gabriella — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:57:39 +0000

Spoke with the people @ the bank, everything looks good, except for the fact that the rate can be changed at any time…so, after all the hassle to open the account the rate can drop…

By: lee

lee — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:01:13 +0000

Whaz bait and switch, Walt ?

By: walt

walt — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:25:32 +0000

F&M site: ”
*Annual Percentage Yield. Rate effective December 17, 2008. We may change the interest rate and APY at any time after account is opened. Check our Rate Sheet for current rates.”
rate sheet: $5,000 – $24,999 .15%
$25,000 – $49,999 .35%
walt: bait and switch

By: DealMaven

DealMaven — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:55:14 +0000

Yeah. The Farmers & Merchants Bank seems to be operating with oh-so-out-of-date 20th Century technology.

When it receives an online application, it does a credit check and then lets you know you’ve been approved. The next step is to send a notarized copy of your driver’s license. The bank will then send you paperwork. When you get it you fill it out and send it back with a check (preferably a cashiers check).

This isn’t as convenient as electronic transfer, but considering the benefits, it seems well worth the effort. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

By: lee

lee — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:59:00 +0000

The thing is we don’t even know how long this rate gonna last. I’m not sure if I wanna go through such hassle to setup this acct with the fact that it’s lacking convenient features of FNBOdirect, HSBC. SmartyPig may sound like a better deal.

By: maggie

maggie — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:47:05 +0000

i think that the rate may justify it. if you arent planning to do too many of these transactions. way I see it, parking your $ to get max interest…and leave that pile alone. if you have to transfer $ regularly then maybe it’s not the right account for you.

By: lee

lee — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:42:36 +0000

I spoke to the bank rep. about transferring money from my local bank to Farmers & Merchants acct. She said their online acct doesn’t have features like HSBC or FNBODirect where you can easily initiate money transfer from local bank to this bank. I would have to initiate transfer by visiting local branch using the routing number & acct number. This sounds really inconvenient. What you all think?

By: DealMaven

DealMaven — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:54:10 +0000

Lee: Please let us know what happens. You’re the test case for a nation of rate-starved savers.

By: lee

lee — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:49:03 +0000

I’ve just applied for an acct last night. Today the bank rep. emailed me to mail her a copy of my state ID because I’m out of state. Hope this goes well.

By: DealMaven

DealMaven — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:51:23 +0000

The banks offering these accounts are making money off the debit card transactions you’re required to make — and they hope you’ll make more debit card purchases than the minimum. (You don’t pay those transaction fees. The stores you shop at pay them everytime you swipe your debit card and enter a PIN number.) But there’s only so much money a bank can make this way. So to make sure they make a profit on these accounts the banks have to limit how much they pay in interest each month, and one way to do that is to offer a high rate but on only a limited amount of money. Some banks offer a higher limit, but a lower maximum interest rate. It all comes down to how much income these accounts generate and how much of that the banks can afford to share with you in the form of interest payments, and still turn a profit.

By: maggie

maggie — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:22:03 +0000

what is the motivation of banks in setting a cap on deposit amt. if they are looking to increase funds on deposit for their balance sheets, why do they pay lower interest on amounts greater than $50K. I see this with lots of offers but I cant understand the logic. help!

By: BloggingBanks

BloggingBanks — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:20:29 +0000

This seems like a decent deal. Few banks offer their high rates for amounts highr than 25K. In fact I am aware of only 60 which offer rewards checkign accounts with limits up to 50K..