Lake Michigan Credit Union: 3% Reward Checking Account On Up To $15,000 (Debit Requirements Not Required For March & April)

Update 3/19/20: Debit requirements are being waived for March & April:

Typically, Max Checking account holders must use their debit or credit card at least ten times in a given month to qualify for the 3.00% interest rate. Under normal circumstances, most of us do this in the first week, but these aren’t normal circumstances, so we’ll waive this requirement for March and April.

Update 1/8/19: Reader Looney Tunes kindly points out that a $5 donation to ALS works for anybody to join now. This is confirmed on the membership page.

Lake Michigan Credit Union is no longer available to everybody with a $5 donation to ALS Association of Michigan. It’s now restricted to the following:

  • Anyone who lives, works, attends school, or worships in the entire lower peninsula of Michigan or the counties of Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Polk, Hardee, Desoto, Highlands, Glades, Hendry, Monroe, and Palm Beach in Florida.
  • · Membership is also open to the immediate family of existing members (immediate family is defined as father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, grandmother, grandfather and spouse)

Offer at a glance

  • Interest Rate: 3%
  • Minimum Balance: None
  • Maximum Balance: $15,000
  • Availability: See above
  • Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
  • Additional requirements: Yes, see below 
  • Hard/soft pull: Hard (TransUnion)
  • ChexSystems: Mixed reports
  • Credit card funding: $50 (Previously it was $15,000)
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Insured: NCUA (62514)

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Receive a 3% interest on balances up to $15,000 when you complete the following requirements:
    • Direct deposit into your Max Checking account
    • Minimum 10 debit card purchases per month
    • Minimum 4 logins to home banking per month
    • Be eligible for and sign up to receive eStatements/eNotices
  • They’ll also refund up to $10/month in surcharge fees for non-LMCU ATMs

The Fine Print

  • Remember that you need to pay taxes on any interest earned

Avoiding Fees

This account does not come with any monthly fees.

Our Verdict

Update: Deal is a lot worse now there is no credit card funding.

The main downside to this deal is the fact they do a hard credit pull. There are several things that I like about this deal though, the fact that you can do credit card funding up to $5,000 is great for those struggling to meet minimum spend requirements on a new credit card (just make sure you set your cash advance limit to $0 before trying). I also like the fact that there are no monthly fees, this means if your money is busy elsewhere (e.g using it for a bank account bonus) you can just leave the account empty and not worry about earning the 3%.

Whenever I open a bank account I try to get at least $100 in value, this is because you can’t open an unlimited amount of checking accounts due to ChexSystems. If you funded this account with a 2% cash back card [best credit cards for non-category spending] you’d earn $100 on just the initial opening deposit and then any money you earned with the 3% interest rate would be a bonus. Because this is a hard credit pull you’d need to get additional value out of this account. I use 1% as my baseline on what you could expect to reasonably earn with a non rewards checking account, this means this account earns at an additional 2% with a maximum of $15,000. This would net an extra $300 before expenses in meeting this bonus rate.

Here is how I’d complete the requirements if I was going to take part:

  • Enroll for eStatements
  • If you add your LMCU account to Mint, everytime Mint updates it will count as a login
  • Purchase 10 * $0.5 amazon gift cards each month
  • Setup a recurring direct deposit from my normal checking account (this should trigger the direct deposit requirement)

My total expenses would be $5 per month or $60 per year. This means I’d net a total of $340 and $60 in Amazon gift cards. It’s up to you if this is worth a hard credit pull or not, keep in mind you need to pay taxes on this. I’m personally going to sit this one out, I might do it if I need a quick $5,000 in credit card spend for some reason or another.

They allow mobile check deposit, which might be useful for those doing manufactured spending with money orders. They don’t look to be inquiry sensitive either, it’s also an advantage that they pull TransUnion which most card issuers do not do (apart from Barclays). This deal has been going on since at least July, 2013 so hopefully it continues to last for at least one more year (previously this deal was 4% and 5% respectively for a total of 5 years at least).

We’re going to be posting more rewards checking bonuses in the future, so keep an eye out for them. If you’re unfamiliar with them, we’d recommend reading our introduction which can be found here.

Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer

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190 Comments
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John
John (@guest_1456015)
September 30, 2022 23:18

Come on, LMCU! You should increase the interest rate now since many other banks increased their interests. 3% APY is not very attractive anymore due to the extra requirements needed to get it.

John
John (@guest_1478669)
November 3, 2022 01:57

Pressure them! They’re pocketing the difference right now.

John
John (@guest_1478868)
November 3, 2022 11:08

CS Rep:

“Thank you for your message. I hope you’re well today. I appreciate you reaching out and continuing to be a loyal member with LMCU. At this time, we have not been made aware of any changes being made to our share rates. We did recently add back on a CD Special though! All rates/changes can be found at Rates | Lake Michigan Credit Union (lmcu.org). Have a good rest of your day and week!

If you need further assistance or have further questions, please reply to this message or contact our Member Services Department at (800 or 616) 242-9790. They are available Mon-Fri 8am-9pm and Sat 9am-1pm.”

Oscar
Oscar (@guest_1490809)
November 17, 2022 23:56

I “pressured” them by pulling all my funds out. I think they treated people well during the low rates the last few years by sticking with 3%. I have hope in them so won’t close the account as it is one of my favorites. My only real complaint is the contests they run are only open to FL and MI residents which is a crappy way to treat your customers.

Brendan
Brendan (@guest_1416366)
July 28, 2022 17:42

Anyone think this goes back to 4% with the rate hikes? Debating closing it vs. keeping it open. (Would rather not waste another hard pull to re-open it in a few months.)

DP719
DP719 (@guest_1416381)
July 28, 2022 17:56

Why not just keep it open with a few dollars? There is no monthly fee.

Brendan
Brendan (@guest_1416399)
July 28, 2022 18:38

There’s an inactivity fee after a set period of months, I guess I could go in every 5 months and do a dummy transaction but unsure it’s worth that if it’s gonna stay at 3%

Oscar
Oscar (@guest_1490816)
November 17, 2022 23:59

Can you split your direct deposit from pay check? I just have $1 going in every pay check now and hope they will raise rates eventually.

Eric
Eric (@guest_1416480)
July 28, 2022 21:12

I didn’t even realize this account used to be 4%. I just re-read the post and see that it was at 5% at some point. That would be great if it rises to that level.

This is 1 of my favorite accounts because of the tracker and easy requirements. Why don’t you want to keep it?

m
m (@guest_1349722)
March 17, 2022 19:52

they don’t pull Chex to open the account but they do to apply for a loan or visa

Davis
Davis (@guest_1342108)
March 3, 2022 11:46

Useless DP: You will need a state or Driver’s license from a state that is not California. If you try to apply with a passport and another state address, they will still ask for your state/Driver’s license.

Mike
Mike (@guest_1335192)
February 20, 2022 16:22

It doesn’t take California

ljviss
ljviss (@guest_1304672)
December 25, 2021 00:20

This is nationwide. If you live in any state other than Michigan or Florida you can join by contributing $5 to the ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) Foundation. Full details below.

https://accountopening.lmcu.org/?_ga=2.221897233.866204824.1640407229-2124510885.1640407229

I live in Michigan and I opened the Max Checking account in October and I have been happy with them.

Mike
Mike (@guest_1335193)
February 20, 2022 16:23

Doesn’t have an option for California.

abe
abe (@guest_1251256)
September 10, 2021 13:49

absolute worst acct opening experience ever. cancelled acct immediately. they appear to be an ongoing criminal enterprise. only one party in a banking partnership should be an ongoing criminal enterprise, not both.

Bill
Bill (@guest_1236396)
August 9, 2021 21:06

I recently opened the account and use my capitalone debit card to do the initial funding. The bad news is that my card seems to be compromised and there is a suspicious transaction named “Lake Michigan insurance agency” in the description of my debit card transaction history. Any idea for this?

Otto
Otto (@guest_1236408)
August 9, 2021 21:26

That’s a branch of LMCU:

https://www.lmcu.org/personal/insure/

Bill
Bill (@guest_1236442)
August 9, 2021 22:28

Hi Otto,

I don’t have any insurance product with LMCU. Lake Michigan insurance agency just charged me $25 bucks and I’m so confused with that transaction. Should I call my bank to disable the debit card and file a dispute? Ty. 🙂

EddieSpaghetti
EddieSpaghetti (@guest_1201884)
June 6, 2021 23:49

Just opened the Max Checking and Member Savings account. LMCU did a hard pull on Experian and not Transunion.

Dave
Dave (@guest_1192255)
May 17, 2021 08:51

Debit card compromised – pending charge made to ALMACENES EXITO
in Columbia. Numerous LMCU members have been effected.

DP719
DP719 (@guest_1192263)
May 17, 2021 09:30

Thanks for the advice, Dave. Have just disabled my debit card as a precaution.

DP719
DP719 (@guest_1339568)
February 27, 2022 09:58

Was notified of two debit card charges of $15.90 each (mine were never above $2). Chat to cancel card and submitted dispute as directed through LMCU website. New card issued and charges reversed within two weeks.