bank rates credit cards insurance finance calculators

OneUnited FREE $50 5.15% Savings Account

Johns Wu Posted in Bank Deals & Bonuses by Johns Wu
January 24, 2008 06:49 PM - 36 Comments

I was a little shocked to see this bank deal in my inbox this morning. While banks have been dropping their interest rates to cope with the federal reserve rate cuts, OneUnited Bank is actually maintaining their 5.15% APY savings account AND giving you $50 to sign up for an account.

This interest rate is WHITE HOT! Even the best CD rates are currently only about 5.00% APY right now.

Here’s how to get in on this bank deal.

If you sign up for an account, please remember to swing by our savings account comparison table to leave a review of your experiences with OneUnited Bank.

Don't miss out on the next bank deal. Get the newest deals delivered straight to your inbox!
Name:
Email:

Comments (36)
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (69 votes, average: 3.09 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
36 Existing Comments

Add New Comment

  1. N2D2 said:
    on January 24th at 08:47 pm

    Savings withdrawal options may be limited. I was reading the fine print and it said that savings withdrawal may be made in person(Los Angeles) of by mail using their withdrawal form, period.

    However, their website does offer “online banking”. I called their toll free phone number to ask them and the recording said to leave a message and they will call me back tomorrow.

    Something does not seem right to me. Good Luck.

  2. sdfkj said:
    on January 24th at 10:36 pm

    TWENTY purchases? what good is a savings account (for them or you) if they expect you to keep withdrawing from it

  3. Conrad said:
    on January 24th at 11:20 pm

    just buy a pack of gum everyday after work hehe

  4. scorchie said:
    on January 24th at 11:57 pm

    $1000 minimum balance for Unity Gold e-savings account

  5. sderf said:
    on January 25th at 02:45 am

    Couldn’t they just lowered the rate after people get in on the deal? It isn’t going to last.

  6. smaea said:
    on January 25th at 12:42 pm

    It looks like all you have to do is open an account and setup a direct deposit. Not that buying gum isn’t a good idea, but spending money out of a savings account doesn’t make much sense…

    I’ll take the 5.30% as long as it lasts. No one else is doing that on their savings accounts.

  7. Talie said:
    on January 25th at 02:47 pm

    Look at the interest. It is compounded ANNUALLY – in most cases you would be better off with a lower rate that compounds daily.

  8. Talie said:
    on January 25th at 02:50 pm

    Well one detail page says annual and there is another detail that says quarterly, I would call to make sure if you were interested. Personally I still go with the dailys

  9. JF said:
    on January 25th at 06:16 pm

    Direct deposit? Would a transfer from one bank account to this one qualify as a direct deposit?

  10. Conrad said:
    on January 25th at 08:15 pm

    why would daily versus annually matter? it all comes down to the APY anyway

  11. brenden said:
    on January 26th at 03:12 am

    here’s a limitation from their online disclosure..

    For all Savings Accounts:>$1.00 for each
    withdrawal (including preauthorized debits) in
    excess of 3 per month

    and yes their interest is credited quarterly…. i think they have a local branch in socal…

    i still on the fence about this one.. several bad reviews from another website.. the usual: poor customer service, difficult to setup, etc..

  12. Liat said:
    on January 26th at 04:36 am

    I called today and spoke to an associate as I was interested in all the questions everyone brought up. She said that the APT is 5.3% but the interest rate is 5.20% (yes, still a great rate for today) however, it is only compounded quarterly Plus you have to conduct transactions. In addition, there is no minimum term of investment (but remember its quarterly compound)- so basically its the same as having a 4 months cd- shorterm CD.

    Now, just a general question to you all; which savings account do you think is the best if i have 2,500 dollars to invest. the way I figure is if i recieve a 100 dollars to sign up that will be like earning 5% alone in addition to a decent interest rate.

  13. sdfkj said:
    on January 26th at 04:49 am

    “Not that buying gum isn’t a good idea, but spending money out of a savings account doesn’t make much sense… ”

    Exactly my point – I wasn’t talking about how to get the best value by making 20 purchases, I was talking about how it’s stupid for them to want you take pull money out of a savings account. Both from your point of view (you are losings those savings and the interest it would earn) and the bank’s point of view (they are losing long-term access to the money, which is the reason they pay a nice price in the first rate). I guess maybe it’s helping their economies-of-scale negotiating with the credit card processing companies (I assume that the fine print will say the 20 debit purchases need to be charged as a credit at the store, etc.).

  14. sdfkj said:
    on January 26th at 04:51 am

    FIXED POST (hey, it’s late):

    “Not that buying gum isn’t a good idea, but spending money out of a savings account doesn’t make much sense… ”

    Exactly my point – obviously you can cheap out on the 20 purchases, but I was talking about how it’s stupid for them to want you take pull money out of a savings account at all. Both from your point of view (you are losing those savings and the interest it would earn) and the bank’s point of view (they are losing long-term access to the money, which is the reason they pay a nice rate in the first place). I guess maybe it’s helping their economies-of-scale in negotiating with the credit card processing companies (I assume that the fine print will say the 20 debit purchases need to be charged as a credit at the store, etc.).

  15. smaea said:
    on January 26th at 05:36 pm

    Looking a little further into this I realized that the promotion must be for all customers because with a savings account you can’t have debit card transactions since you don’t have a debit card, you only get a regular ATM card. So I guess as a savings customer you are only able to get the $50 if you set up a direct deposit…

  16. R Carr said:
    on January 27th at 09:59 pm

    You all seem to be confusing compounding and crediting. I’m sure it is compounded every night based on that days balance, and the amount that accrues for the quarter is credited after 3 months (not 4 as somebody else mentioned).

    And no, this isn’t like a (3-month) CD, because funds can be added and removed as necessary.

  17. dnr said:
    on January 29th at 11:58 pm

    Googled the bank and got this interesting blog post
    http://fabulousfinancials.com/2006/07/my-drama-with-oneunited-bank-is-over.html

  18. E. Elan Kesler said:
    on February 5th at 06:25 pm

    Have found ongoing problems with various banks incurring CDs in a timely fashion. Will someone tell me please who today (reputable) is doing a 5%, 3 mo CD, cause i sure wont be going with OneUnited after these insights.

  19. Nazim said:
    on February 5th at 07:09 pm

    Their customer service department is the worst. I have been calling them for 1 week now and they have yet to respond to my question “you have cashed my check and have received all my identifying documents, Why do I not have online access to my account ?” What wrong with this picture ?

  20. romod said:
    on February 7th at 07:49 am

    Yep I stopped payment on my life savings to them tonight,they have not answered my e-mail sinced I signed up with them and you can’t get through on the phone just an answering service telling you to wait wait wait,plus I live about 3000 miles away from them so they freaked me out and also the The Better Business Bereau gives them a grade “F”.Funny I never heard a bad thing about them before I signed up.

  21. Bill Hopkins said:
    on February 7th at 07:00 pm

    Black owned bank paying a high rate- to loan out to poor blacks and other poor minorities at much higher rates . Nice Black Republicans who know how to manipulate the system like their White and Arab brothers in finance.

  22. henry f. said:
    on February 15th at 06:29 pm

    Savings accounts are not allowed more then 6 withdrawal per
    month by Federal regulation.
    Something fishy is going around with this Bank……
    I will not apply.

  23. Mr Wilson said:
    on February 19th at 09:24 pm

    There isn’t a boogie-man under every rock. Countrywide was rock solid until it was quicksand.

    I have an account with OneUnited. Opened it almost 2 months ago.

    Here’s what I can say:
    It’s one of the hardest online accounts to open. The online ID verification seems to be down and you have to mail in your ID. There seems to be a delay in the final verification period so it took almost 2 weeks to get the account funded and online.

    Once online it’s fairly simple and they use the same system as many other banks. The external funds transfer has crashed twice, but it was the first business day of the week and I can only assume it’s over worked.

    I had to call in twice and one time I got the voicemail (not within hours of operation). The other time I was helped by friendly and knowledgeable online teller.

    So far the only part I don’t like is the ‘compounded quarterly and credited quarterly’

    At the moment I have 6 bank accounts where all my money is spread.

    FNBO
    AmTrust
    OneUnited
    Countrywide
    iGoBanking
    DiscoverBank

    The list is in order of my best to worst experience with online banks.

    Hope that helps.

  24. Mr Wilson said:
    on February 19th at 09:42 pm

    One more thing. I read dnr’s link. That person who wrote that blog is an idiot. I admit the final funding and creation of an online account is a little difficult. Sometimes the Experian ID check fails and that requires some paperwork. The funding part is easy, so it goes through faster. So it may seem they have your money and you don’t have an account # yet. The same thing happened to me, so I made a quick call and it was explained to me. Yes it took longer (see above) but if the process stalls you have to get involved. Once I understood that I needed to register online and then wait until I was assigned an account # all went smooth.

    Also, if you’re going to play around in interest shopping online, you better understand how it works. The blogger didn’t know how to get his/her funds out of One United. I’ve never had trouble transferring funds out of any account. I did it from Italy when people were lining up at Countrywide branches wasting their whole day. I moved all my money out in 3 days (daily limit).

  25. ManBearPig said:
    on February 20th at 08:21 pm

    ManBearPig keeps his money in ManBearPigs butt,

  26. gabby said:
    on February 21st at 02:11 pm

    This bank is PURE BOGUS !!! Over a month ago, i filled out the application. Tried contacting them dozens of times without ANY calls returned ! When I finally did speak to a rep, he inforned me they needed me to fax in my drivers license so they could complete my application.

    Why didnt they at least email me and tell me of the hold up ? Then when I faxed them my drivers license, they never confirmed or open my account !

    REALLY, come on people…..this is NO WAY to run a professional bussiness….

    Sincerely,
    One pissed off customer whos happy to go elsewhere !

  27. Fuseball said:
    on February 23rd at 05:37 am

    OneUnited dropped their rate to 4.60% APY.

    They pay interest quarterly. They restrict the amount you can withdrawal per month. Their customer service is awful. The rate will continue to drop.

    Not worth considering anymore.

  28. inphri said:
    on February 23rd at 07:29 am

    I wish I had read these comments before I signed up. Now they have my money and I don’t have access to my account there. I am very worried. I will try my best to close this account.

  29. Tukia said:
    on February 27th at 01:17 am

    Charter Bank of New Mexico is offering 6.01 APY for checking with some requirements. It seems a good offer if you have direct deposit. Check it out.

  30. Calli said:
    on February 28th at 02:57 am

    Worst customer service ever. Attempts to contact went without response. So glad I never completed the application and gave them my money.

  31. Jeff said:
    on March 4th at 03:38 am

    This bank blows hard! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

  32. Max said:
    on March 6th at 05:27 pm

    I haven’t had any trouble with them. The account was a bit slow to get set up, but that’s about it. I did not have to mail in any ID. I had some trouble with setting up the online thing, but got through to customer service right away to resolve it. Sucks that the interest rate has dropped so much, though.

  33. jeena said:
    on March 8th at 07:07 pm

    My 5.25% CD came due at Chase today, and of course I was not going to open another CD at the low rates under 3%. I told the bank employee I wanted my money in a bank check so I could by a car, I didn’t want to tell them I was putting it in Fidelity Investments Cash Reserves which is paying about 3.5%, with no time constraints on it, so they wouldn’t hassle me. Sure enough, the back employee, the teller, and the manager are now having a conversation. The bank employee comes back and tells me she can’t issue a check in my name because the car dealer might not accept it! She is making the assumption that I’m giving the entire check to the car dealer. She ask me if I wanted cash, or if I wanted the money put in my checking account, By this time I was fuming, I said just issue the bank check to Fidelity Investments. Now the bank manager comes over and tells me their rates are just as competitive as Fidelity’s. I said oh really, that’s
    not what your CD rate sheet says. She said she meant Chase’s investment vehicles were comparable to Fidelity’s (yeah right, I was thinking). I told her I want my money out of Chase. Now the bank employee is telling me to come to her desk to get the check and she is still harassing me to keep some of the money at Chase for emergencies! I said why would I want to keep it here when I can get 3.5% someplace else with no time constraints! I have such a headache now, I will never get another CD from Chase, ever. They force you to go into the bank to get your CD when it comes due, so they can talk you into not taking it out! Next time I will go to ING and do everything on the phone, no hassle! Bye the way, I think Countrywide Bank is offering 4.11% n CD’s over $10,0000.

  34. payattention said:
    on March 15th at 03:44 am

    I opened an online account with One United over a year ago when the APY was 5.50. I regularly transfer money between my traditional bank account and One United at no charge, the most I have electronically transfered from the account is 30K which took about 3 days with no fees and I have also setup recurring transfers from my traditional bank account to the One United account. I will admit it was not easy figuring how to set this stuff but I’m a IT guy, but was worth it. The average joe would probably have alot of difficulty. I believe I am allowed to transfer up to 150K and the only time you will incur a fee if you want same day transfer. Interest is paid quarterly it FDIC insured and I live in Socal.
    I can’t address customer service in any detail, but the one time I called I was promptly helped. It may have something to do with the large size of my deposit.

  35. Bill said:
    on March 26th at 09:24 pm

    In a decling economy down goes your savings rate…DO NOT forget that there is a PENALTY when you close the account BEFORE a certain LIFETIME of the account…Remember FDIC reimbursement will take some time and insures the INDIVIDUAL a MAX of $100,000 INCLUSIVE of interest PER SS# and NOT by EACH account.

  36. Bill said:
    on March 26th at 09:32 pm

    Compounded at 4% per YEAR at a Quarterly posting… IT is NOT compounded DAILY…Interest every 91 days. Quite deceptive…There ARE Fee(s) to check ON… No People to people CONTACT… Leave a message… READ the fine print… Do NOT be impulsive.

© 2009 Bankrate, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
privacy policy - terms of service - contact us - affiliates - press