The Offer
- Golden State Bank will double the rate you were getting on a Money Market account for a full year
Bring in your most recent statement from your current bank, and get the rate doubled for a year. For example, if your current Money Market account is getting 1% interest, they’ll double it and you’ll get 2%.
The “Most Recent” statement must be dated within 3 months of opening the new account.
The Fine Print
- Must make a minimum deposit of $10,000 to a maximum of $500,000 with funds new to Golden State Bank
- The account balance may not exceed $500,000 during the first year the account is open
- The promotional Interest rate will be fixed for a minimum of one year beginning from the day the account is opened
- After the promotional interest rate expires, your rate will be subject to change at any time and at our discretion
- This offer applies to personal and business money market accounts only
- Limited time offer: New eligible account must be opened July 1 to August 31, 2016
- Please contact one of our offices for complete terms and conditions.
Our Verdict
This is a solid offer for someone with lots of cash float. The biggest restriction here is that they’ll only double Money Market accounts, apparently, not ordinary Savings accounts. If you have a Money Market with a solid interest rate, this can be an opportunity to double your earnings.
Suppose you have $500,000 earning 1% APY, you can transfer the money to Golden State and earn 2% APY for a year. Instead of earning $5,000 over the course of the year, you’ll earn $10,000.
Remember that only $250,000 will be FDIC insured, so you probably don’t want to deposit the full $500,000.
Account needs to be opened in-branch. Hopefully, there isn’t any hard pull done when opening an account.
Hat tip to Fatwallet
Sort of a gimmick to be honest. A tiny bank making vague claims/promises on the flyer then asking (in bad faith) for bank statements from everyone under false hopes even when they know they’re not going to honor anyone living beyond two blocks from their branch.
Waste of time. Stay away.
I live in the Bay Area, CA and I am willing to fly down to Glendale to open the account. Ticket is just a couple of hundred dollars but the returns are in the thousands. I was wondering about the chances of being approved,however. I do not want to fly down for nothing. I am pretty sure that this “less than 10 employees” bank had been hammered once the post appeared on doctorofcredit blog and probably, they’ll say you have to live like a block or two away in order to honor the offer.
They say to call them up.
I just opened a MM at Patelco, it gives 3% on the first $2k.. I might want to gather $10k before September.
The highest money market rate I can find is 1.25% at All America Bank up to $35k:
https://allamerica.bank/mega-money/
Or 1.25% at State Bank of Texas on $100k+:
https://www.statebnk.com/sbotrates
So you could theoretically get 2.5%. That’s excellent for a guaranteed return. But the S&P averages 10% annual returns, if you’re investing long term. And the absolute cheapest way to invest in the S&P is with Vanguard’s S&P index fund, VOO.
Should change this to [Glendale, CA]. Just called the bank and told them I’m living in northern California and have a Everbank 1.6%APY account. They told me to send them the most recent account statement and see what they can do. Got a phone later saying that this offer is mainly targeting at their local community in Glendale, CA and they’re unable to honor me this promotion.
Thanks, I’ll add “CA Area”
Just got this in my email:
Who’s eligible?
Only invited, registered eBay Bucks participants who receive the promotional offer from eBay in My Messages are eligible. Sorry, no forwarding—the offer is not transferable.
• 4% in eBay Bucks on every qualifying item of $50 or more
• 6% in eBay Bucks on every qualifying item of $100 or more
• 8% in eBay Bucks on every qualifying item of $150 or more
Promotion details
The Promotion starts at 5:00AM PT on July 20, 2016, and ends at 11:59PM PT on July 21, 2016. Extra eBay Bucks can only be earned on every single item purchased that meets the minimum purchase requirement specified in the offer. Valid on multiple qualifying purchases made within the promotion time period. In order to qualify for the offer, you must click the email to activate.
*Qualifying purchase excludes all items in the following categories: Classifieds, Business & Industrial, Real Estate, eBay Gift Cards (within the Gift Cards & Coupons category), Bullion (within the Coins & Paper category), and eBay Motors (including Parts & Accessories).
Rewards are capped at $100 per transaction and $500 per Earn Period. Purchases must be completed during the Promotion period and paid for with PayPal before the Promotion ends. eBay reserves the right to cancel, amend, or revoke the Promotion at any time. Other restrictions apply. See Terms & Conditions for details.
Thanks, John
Haha if only they allowed for checking accounts (where we can get 3% or higher with the likes of Consumers Credit Union….)