Susquehanna Community Bank 3.00% APY Introductory Savings Rate, 2.53% Afterward (Minimum $100,000)

Offer at a glance

  • Interest Rate: 3.00% introductory rate for 6 months, after that 2.53% APY (prime minus 3%)
  • Minimum Balance: $100,000
  • Maximum Balance: ?
  • Availability: Nationwide
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: None
  • Monthly fees: None with $25,000 minimum balance
  • Insured: FDIC
  • Early Termination Fee: $10 if closed within 90 days

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Susquehanna Community Bank a 3.00% APY introductory rate for 6 months on their Eagle Premium Savings account.
  • After introductory period, rate will revert to Prime minus 3%, currently 2.53% APY.

 

The Fine Print

Terms

  • $100,000 minimum deposit to open account
  • $25,000 new money required
  • You may make unlimited deposits into your account

Avoiding Fees

  • $10.00 Maintenance Fee if balance falls below $25,000.00 on any day in the statement cycle.
  • $20.00 Excess Debit Fee will be charged for any withdrawal/debit in excess of ONE debit semi-annually (January 1-June 30 and July 1-December 31). DEBITS are defined as: Checks, ACH/Automated Clearing House, POS/Point of Sale, Telephone Transfer, Online & Mobile Banking Transfers and ATM Withdrawals. ONLY the monthly compounded interest may be withdrawn on a recurring basis without penalty.
  • Early account closing fee of $10 if closed within 90 days of account opening
  • Popmoney transfer fee of $.50/ transaction when initiated from Susquehanna Community Bank
  • Popmoney transfer limit of $5,000 per transaction

Our Verdict

For those with large cash balances, this account is the best available: it’s regular rate of Prime minus 3% seems to be the same or better than the other best rates available, and the introductory 3.00% rate is a sweet bonus (around $250 gain from the bonus rate per $100k deposited). I also like that they tie the rate to Prime which should mean that it increases  automatically as interest rates increase. Of course it’ll also decrease as rate decrease.

The big thing to keep in mind is the $20 Excess Debit Fee mentioned in the fine print which basically limits you to just one free withdrawal every six months, sort of like a no-penalty CD. You’d have to pull out all funds in one shot either by transferring to another account at the bank or with a transaction initiated from an external bank.

Hat tip to Depositaccounts

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Ben
Ben (@guest_809092)
September 11, 2019 21:54

I got 6 months at 3%
closed my account, put my money elsewhere paying more.
no fees no fines what so ever

midas89
midas89 (@guest_809094)
September 11, 2019 21:57

Ben, where did you put your Susquehanna money? (My 3% is up at end of September and I wanna find a place to move the $, but fear wherever I move it to will not stay “more than Susquehanna.”

Scott S.
Scott S. (@guest_817220)
October 2, 2019 00:27

How did you close the account? My 6 months is up and want to get my money out. Did you call or write a letter?

midas89
midas89 (@guest_817244)
October 2, 2019 01:25

Scott S., using their Contact Us Online Form at their main page, I sent a message requesting to close my account. (I had already zeroed my balance by pulling the money out using my external bank doing an ACH.) Susquehanna emailed me and said they would send me a PDF file via secure email. I signed that form and emailed it back, also via their secure email. They got it right away and closed my account. All this was done within an hour’s time today.

Of course, you can also call them, if you’d like.

scott s.
scott s. (@guest_817861)
October 3, 2019 00:58

Awesome, thanks for the info. Just sent them a message so hopefully mine goes as smoothly as yours did.

Philipp
Philipp (@guest_739718)
March 26, 2019 12:59

Just to let everyone know…this 3% special will expire on the 3/30….I did not open this account…just did not feel secure enough for some reason…

midas89
midas89 (@guest_740048)
March 26, 2019 23:13

Philipp, I did not get any negative feelings at all when I opened up my 3% Susquehanna account. And I still don’t have any concerns today. I have not had any issues at all, and everything went very fast and smoothly. With the Fed not going to raise rates for quite some time, I am glad I opened up the Susquehanna account. In 6 months, you read that Susquehanna says they’ll pay U.S. Prime Rate minus 3%. We’ll see what that amounts to at that time, of course. (If it was today, the rate would be 2.53% APY as you saw above the comment section.)

Philipp
Philipp (@guest_734854)
March 14, 2019 14:32

am I missing anything?

Philipp
Philipp (@guest_734851)
March 14, 2019 14:31

I know nobody cares about this….but look at their response….I would stay away from that mickey house bank…..what you think Thank you for contacting us regarding our Eagle Premium Savings Account. Q: Do I get charged for the two withdrawals? A: It depends on the source of the ACH: The initial “test” transactions will only be credits into the Eagle Premium Account, so they would not count towards the Excess Withdrawal limitation. For example, the customer wants to transfer $250,000.00 into the new account and selects funding during the online application. The initial test deposit with debit the customer’s other bank and credit SCB for $0.50. Once the customer confirms the withdrawal at the other bank, the remainder of the deposit will process ($249,999.50). There will be no fees assessed so nothing would need refunded. However, if the customer is linking their SCB account to another bank’s external transfer service and that bank initiates “test” debits to their SCB account, those would count toward the “Withdrawal limitation.” There is now way to avoid it because an ACH debit is an ACH debit on our system. The customer could request that the fee be waived, but that would be a branch/Steve Y decision. You could also guide him in the direction of a wire transfer to SCB; however normal incoming wire fees would be assessed. Unless chosen to be waived. I’m not sure how often he is planning to transfer money into SCB or if he is just trying to get the initial deposit in. Q: What is the maximum dollar amount initiated from an external account, that would be subject to limitations of the bank from where the transfer was initiated, but your fee-free limit of one debit each six months would still apply. A: Limits for ACH transfers initiated by other Banks, we have NO limits on what we can receive here at Susquehanna Community Bank. The Online Banking External Transfer feature you referenced that allows you to initiate ACH entries does have an incoming and outgoing initiation limit of $5,000.00 per day per transaction if you choose a 3-day delivery option. If the 1-day delivery option is chosen, the limit is $2,500.00. You can choose the timeframe for the transfer; either 1 day or 3 day. Per transaction fees would apply based on the option chosen; $3.00 for a 1-day transfer and $1.50 for a 3-day transfer. Here is the breakdown on the account: Eagle Premium Savings • $100,000 minimum deposit to open account • $25,000 new money required • $.01 minimum daily balance to obtain the disclosed Annual Percentage Yield • You may make unlimited deposits into your account • $10.00 Maintenance Fee if balance falls below $25,000.00 on any day in the statement cycle • $20.00 Excess Debit Fee will be charged for any withdrawal/debit in excess of ONE debit semi-annually (January 1-June 30 and July 1-December 31). (DEBITS are defined as: Checks, ACH/Automated Clearing House, POS/Point of Sale, Telephone Transfers, Online & Mobile Banking Transfers… Read more »

Alex
Alex (@guest_727907)
February 27, 2019 10:29

For this savings account:
An ACH pull from an external account initiated in their internet banking costs $1.5 (3 business days). An ACH push to an external account costs $3 (next business day) or $1.5 (3 business days).
You can link some external accounts only using your other’s bank online credentials without trial deposits.

Philipp
Philipp (@guest_730765)
March 5, 2019 11:21

Purepoint offers a 2.6% no penalty CD now…anyone dealt with Purepoint yet?

Kent
Kent (@guest_739550)
March 26, 2019 07:07

I tried opening that CD at PurePoint. Online application wouldn’t go through, CS didn’t know why despite confirming I’d be approved over the phone. PITA, gave up.

Disappointed
Disappointed (@guest_726318)
February 23, 2019 12:50

Good product on its face but the bank fails to disclose material provisions restricting access to the funds. Bank management represented that the one debit allowed each six months without fee is limited to $5,000 as that is the maximum ACH amount that can be transferred in one day. Bank management further represented that the only way to get more out at one time is to wire transfer (for a fee), initiate ACH from destination account (subject to their limitations) or close the account. Bank management confirmed that none of those restrictions is disclosed anywhere in writing. Bank management also represented that they do not consider the offer as an “online savings” account but as a promotion for their existing brick an mortar customers, who could then make unrestricted transfers between their other hosted accounts. Bank management represented that this was a new offer for their “small local” bank and indicated that they would address the material non-disclosures and transfer restrictions at their next risk meeting. Bank management was very forthcoming and cooperative. This would be a great product from a very customer oriented bank if the transfer restrictions were made comparable to competing “online savings” account offerings.

O-Qua Tangin Wann
O-Qua Tangin Wann (@guest_726466)
February 24, 2019 00:53

Thank you, Disappointed, for your posting. You wrote regarding withdrawing money: “…initiate ACH from destination account (subject to their limitations).” The question is: What exactly would their limitations for ACH withdrawals initiated at external banks be?

Disappointed
Disappointed (@guest_726541)
February 24, 2019 12:07

Bank management represented that they did not limit the dollar amount of transfers initiated from an external account, that would be subject to limitations of the bank from where the transfer was initiated, but their fee-free limit of one debit each six months would still apply.

O-Qua Tangin Wann
O-Qua Tangin Wann (@guest_726606)
February 24, 2019 16:25

Thank you very much, Disappointed. That’s good news. So, that means if one has an external bank that offers high ACH limits, such as PurePoint, as one example, all of the money from Susquehanna could be pulled out at once where the maximum fee would be just $20 if the one free debit per 6 months was already exceeded.

Ben
Ben (@guest_727115)
February 25, 2019 19:11

I verified an external account.

I did not get charged anything for the two withdrawals.

I think PurePoint limits transfers to 250K, not meaning to ding PurePoint, I like that bank

O-Qua Tangin Wann
O-Qua Tangin Wann (@guest_727120)
February 25, 2019 19:29

Ben, that is good news you’re reporting regarding that so far you have not seen a $20 charge for the 2nd ACH test withdrawal. I hope it stays that way, and that the charge doesn’t simply post when the monthly statement period closes.

(I agree with you that there is a lot to like about PurePoint, I have an acct. with them as well. I just wish they’d hurry up and raise their savings account rate to 2.5%. Of course they might not do it.)

Phil
Phil (@guest_730768)
March 5, 2019 11:22

Purepoint offers a 2.6% no penalty cd now

Alex
Alex (@guest_725904)
February 22, 2019 14:07

Does anyone know when you open a new account with them how they verify an external account from which they are going to make an ACH pull for the initial funding? It seems to be different than with other banks.

ra
ra (@guest_728323)
February 28, 2019 02:53

They verify with a single withdrawal under $1.00. You enter that amount and then they pull the money the next day.

Alex
Alex (@guest_725902)
February 22, 2019 14:05

From their rep:
If you link your Eagle Premium Savings account on another website that will require test debits to his your Susquehanna Community Bank account, these debts will count towards the Excess Withdrawal limitation on the account.

O-Qua Tangin Wann
O-Qua Tangin Wann (@guest_726141)
February 22, 2019 21:21

Alex, this is a very important issue, as you know, since they will charge $20 for every debit after the 1 free per 6 months is used up.

A rep told someone else that they will waive the ACH Trial Debits if you call and ask. I would recommend that you ask a different rep one more time. Please report back if you do.

Alex
Alex (@guest_727903)
February 27, 2019 10:24

I plan to open a Freedom checking account (seems no fees, no minimums) and transfer money there first to be safe and not get any fees.

Alexey Smirnov
Alexey Smirnov (@guest_725901)
February 22, 2019 14:04

Please delete

James
James (@guest_723042)
February 15, 2019 18:33

Couldn’t you open a checking account and transfer funds there

ra
ra (@guest_723176)
February 15, 2019 23:53

Add “Freedom Checking.” No fees. Basically it’s a 3% 6-month no penalty CD, except for the $10 fee to close within 90 days.

Robert
Robert (@guest_723321)
February 16, 2019 13:39
  ra

Do you have a link to the Freedom Checking for the 6 month no penalty CD?

Schmekel
Schmekel (@guest_723497)
February 17, 2019 00:01

What “ra” is posting is:

“Add ‘Freedom Checking’. No fees

Basically [Eagle Premium Savings account is].a 3% 6-month no penalty CD, except for the $10 fee to close within 90 days.”

Ben2
Ben2 (@guest_725260)
February 21, 2019 15:44

I was told ACH had to be initiated from a external bank.
And there are no limits.

You could pull the whole amount in one shot.

This bank does not do ACH transactions from their side; per the representative.

No need to add the checking account.

O-Qua Tangin Wann
O-Qua Tangin Wann (@guest_725377)
February 21, 2019 18:56

Ben2, there are reliable reports that they do allow ACH’ing directly from Susquehanna, however with a very small limit. You are correct that the better way to go is to initiate all ACH transactions from one’s external bank. The only negative is that most external banks will initially do a deposit/withdrawal of tiny amounts to verify the account. With Susquehanna only permitting one free debit per 6 months, the ACH Test W/D will count as a debit. That would require a call to Susquehanna to request they don’t count the test withdrawal(s).

(Of course it could turn out that the info the rep told you is accurate and that they don’t allow any ACH’ing directly from Susquehanna, and that the others reporting they not only do allow ACH’ing out but that someone has already tested their ACH system to obtain the accurate daily limit is wrong.)