Offer at a glance
- Interest Rate: 4.08%
- Minimum Balance: None listed
- Maximum Balance: $15,000
- Availability: Michigan & in branch only. [Branch locations]
- Direct deposit required: No, just deposit $500 or more
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None
- Insured: NCUA
The Offer
- 4front Credit Union offers the Straight4ward Rewards Checking Account. This offers 4.08% APY on balances up to $15,000 when the following requirements are met:
- Deposit $500 or more (direct deposit not required)
- Log-in to online/mobile banking one or more times
- Make 15 or more purchases with your 4Front smart debit MastercardTM
- Be enrolled in eStatements/eNotifications
Avoiding Fees
This account has no monthly fees to worry about
Our Verdict
Always nice to see a high yield rewards checking account with no direct deposit requirement and a nice big maximum balance. We need to know if it’s a hard or soft pull to open, but you should be able to ask that before opening the account in branch. If anybody has any experience with this account, please share your experiences in the comments below.
Hat tip to DepositAccounts
Despite my previous complaints on this, I did sign up for it this year as they still have the 4%. It seems good so far. The only complaint I have is they said they would pay the first month without the qualifications but they didn’t. I guess I could call them about it but I don’t care enough to bother. It seems they are allowing opening it online, I didn’t have to go into a branch to open it but I did have to speak to them on the phone to be able to set up the online banking. Amazon reloads work for the debits and the 500/month doesn’t have to be a direct deposit. I push it from another bank and it works fine.
I was going to do this one anyway until I got the fees emailed to me after applying. There are fees on here I’ve never seen before and I have no idea what they mean, especially in the ACH category. You can’t find any of this on their website, you have to go all the way through the application process before you get this and other disclosures. In general I don’t trust this CU anyway due to bad reviews and all the lawsuits but it would be nice to know what some of this stuff means. I’ve copied the entire thing below.
Share Draft
Image Copy (staff assistance) $2.00
Stop Payment $25.00 per item
Bill Pay Inactivity $5.00 per month (after 2 months of non-use)
Check/EFT
Courtesy Pay $25.00 each up to 2 per day, then no charge
Foreign Item Deposit $20.00 per item
NSF/Force Post Fee $25.00 each up to 2 per day, then $5.00 per
Returned Deposited Item (from member’s other institution) $25.00
ACH/External Account Transfer (Online Banking)
New ACH Origination or Change to Existing Origination $20.00 per item
ACH Return or Notice of Change $15.00 per item
ACH Return (Unauthorized) $25.00 per item
External Account Transfer Return or Notice of Change $15.00 per item
External Account Transfer (Unauthorized) $25.00 per item
Miscellaneous
Account Balancing/Research $25.00 per hour (1 hour minimum)
Address Correction $5.00 per event
Card Replacement $10.00
Card Replacement (rush) $50.00
Check Cashing (may be waived based upon relationship) $3.00
Inactive Checking Account $5.00 per month (after 6 months of non-use)
Garnishment/Escheat/Tax Levy $25.00
Gift & Reloadable Travel Cards $3.00
Money Order $2.00
Non-CO-OP ATM Transaction 3 free per month (then $1.50 per)
Outgoing Domestic Wire $20.00
Outgoing International Wire $50.00
Starter Checks 4 sheets free (then $2.00 per)
Just a red flag warning on this one…I live in Traverse City and this CU has been on my never-use list for some time. There are complaints about them which you can see on line, but beyond that they seem to be suing everyone who ever crosses their path. I know this because I was looking through court cases in the local district court and just accidentally came across page after page of lawsuits from this CU, most for small amounts. The online system isn’t very detailed, but we have a lot of financial institutions in the area and this is the only one with numerous lawsuits against numerous people. It’s not a heavily populated area, so it seems really fishy to me like something weird is going on there so it’s something I would just steer clear of no matter how high their interest rate is.
So, my understanding is that you need to continue making a $500 deposit, logging in to mobile banking at least once, and making 15 purchases with the debit/credit card EACH month in order to qualify for the dividend that month. Am I correct?
Correct
I wish I could do this, but I live in NJ. A free $51 a month on a $15,000 account is pretty good. If you get fast food/coffee with the required debit card transactions that means the interest pretty much pays for them.
You wont be saving much if u end up travelling back and forth to their branch locations
They have mobile check deposits, plus direct deposits count as part of the $500 deposit, so there’s no reason to travel after you have the account open. I don’t have the account so I don’t know for sure, but you should be able to do everything you need to do online as far as meeting the monthly requirements.
To save others a click, I’ll point out that their branches are located in Traverse City and the Charlevoix/Petoskey area. Nothing anywhere near Metro Detroit, they are strictly “up north” along the Lake Michigan coastline.