High Interest Checking Accounts

2009-02-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

Let me ask you a very simple question, ok?

Does your family have a checking account?

I am going to assume the majority of you answered yes.

So, here is one other question for you. How much money did you earn on your checking last year?

If the answer was nothing, then today is the day to set up your new High Interest Checking Account. Last year, I made $760. There is absolutely no reason you should not be making money on something you currently own and use daily, your checking.

So, let me first give you a bit of background information on High Interest Checking.

They are almost always electronic checking accounts. This means simply that you do not have a brick and mortar bank to visit whenever you want. But, there are ways to work around this, as I do, which I will discuss below.

You can use them just like a normal checking. I have checks, of course, that I use to write out whenever I need. I also have my husbands direct deposit set up here. Our bills are set to pay from this account automatically. Everything runs just like our old checking did.

The percentage you get paid can vary depending on your balance. This simply means the more you have in your account, the higher percentage you will earn.

Debit or ATM Cards can be used at any ATM. This is one of the more common questions I get. How do you get your money out? Well, with the account I have, it is even better than when I used to bank with Fifth Third. With them, I had to only use their ATMS or I got charged fees. But, with my High Interest Checking account, they charge no fees, AND they reimburse me the fees I get charged from the other bank when I use their ATM. So, basically, it is free anywhere.
Finally, you earn FREE money! And, for something you use anyway!

I do have a few suggestions of how to manage your account. My main problem was that I was not going to have a Brick and Mortar bank to drive up, deposit my checks, etc. The thought of manually mailing my checks into my High Interest Account was not appealing to me.

So, I kept my account open with a $0 balance ( check your local bank to make sure what the minimum amount you need to leave in to keep the account open ). Then, when I need to deposit checks, I simply do it like I always do at the bank.

How do I get the money to my High Interest account? I log into my old bank and simply do an electronic transfer for free. They send the money electronically to my High Interest Account. Now, I have a paper trail from my deposit and an electronic confirmation on the transfer. I feel much better about that then mailing it.

The only other issue for many is the actual process of transferring everything. Ugh! Doesn't sound fun, does it? But, believe me, it is well worth it.

The time invested was just a little over an hour for me. It didn't take long to set my account up. Once I got my account numbers, I pulled my last 2 checking account statements from my old account. That way, I could see ALL direct deposits, electronic payments, etc, that goes in and out of my account. I spent about 1 hour going to all the accounts and changing the old account number to the new number. Then, done!

Well worth the money I made last year!

What accounts have great rates right now? Check my side bars. I will have current offers posted there. But, don't just stop there. If you don't see a Bank if my side bar that you like, feel free to search and find one you want. But, the important thing is, it must be High Interest.

Finally, make sure you read the terms of whatever Bank you decide to go with on your account. Each has different requirements that you must consider. For example, a minimum balance for different interest rates, etc.