Offer at a glance
- Interest Rate: 4.11% APY on balances up to $15k
- Additional Benefits: ATM fee refunds
- Minimum Balance: $100 minimum to open
- Availability: Louisiana; must apply for account in-branch
- Direct deposit required: No, see below
- Additional requirements: Yes, see below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: None
- Insured: FDIC
The Offer
- Gibsland Bank of Louisiana offers a high-interest checking account that earns 4.11% APY on balances up to $15,000 when doing qualifying actions (below)
- Balances above $15k earn an interest rate of .98% APY
An additional benefit of the checking account is that domestic ATM fees incurred will be reimbursed when doing the qualifying actions.
Qualifying Actions
To be eligible for the 4.11% rate, you need to do three things each qualification cycle:
- Have at least 15 debit card purchases post and settle
- Be enrolled and receive eStatement notice
- Have at least one recurring ACH payment or direct deposit post and settle
Basically, after the initial setup, you’ll have to make 15 debit card purchases (of any amount, apparently) and have one payment or direct deposit post and settle.
Any ACH should hopefully work for direct deposit so you can automate a transfer from another bank account on a monthly basis. The other option (instead of direct deposit) is to make a “recurring ACH payment” which can be accomplished by paying your credit card bill or insurance via ACH payment initiated on the card/insurance website.
“Monthly Qualification Cycle” means a period beginning one day prior to the first day of the current statement cycle through one day prior to the close of the current statement cycle.
The Fine Print
- Must apply for the account in-branch
- If qualifications are not met on GBT Hometown Rewards Checking all balances earn 0.15% APY
- Qualifying transactions must post to and settle GBT Hometown Rewards Checking account during monthly qualification cycle; transactions may take one or more banking days from the date transaction was made to post to and settle account
- APYs accurate as of 01/01/2014; rates may change after account is opened
- If qualifications are met, Domestic ATM fees incurred during qualification cycle will be reimbursed and credited to account on the last day of monthly statement cycle
Our Verdict
Very limited geographically as it’s only for Louisiana and requires a visit to the branch to complete signup. Still, 4.11% on $15k is quite good, and I’d probably do it if I was in that area.
Only question remains if it will result in a hard pull, which would likely deter me from going for this account. Let us know if you find out more on this.
It’s worth reading this post on which high-interest savings account to get as there are a few options that offer 5% APY with easy requirements and some other 3% options; check it out to see what’s best for you. Also, check out this post for some ideas on how to meet the debit card requirements.
