Offer at a glance
- Interest Rate: 5% APY
- Minimum Balance: None
- Maximum Balance: $10,000
- Availability: Must live, work, worship or attend school in botetourt, craig, franklin, montgomery, radford, roanoke city roanoke county, salem or vinton all in VA
- Direct deposit required: Yes, but says any automated transfer works
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: None
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: $9, avoidable
- Insured: NCUA
The Offer
- Freedom First Credit Union offers the Freedom Stash checking account. This offers 5% APY on balances up to $10,000 when the following requirements are met:
- $5,000 or more in direct deposits each month
The Fine Print
- “Direct Deposit” is defined as ACH deposits only and will not include check or cash deposits done either in-branch or remotely. ACH deposits may be any combination of your paycheck, social security check, dividend deposits, and other such automated deposits.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
This account has a $9 monthly fee, this is waived with $1,000 in monthly direct deposits
Our Verdict
The direct deposit requirement should be easy to meet as it does say any automated transfer will work. You might also be able to join outside the area as you can join if you join an association that is headquartered in one of the eligible counties. My guess if too many people do this that it’ll be shut down.
Hat tip to James
View Comments (19)
What kind of bs are these CUs running that supports these cockamamie bonus schemes?
United Way donations won't cut it ... :(
Got this from a CSR "We received your message inquiring about membership eligibility and you indicated you’re currently a member of an association based in VA. What association are you a member of and to what capacity? The association would have to be based within our field of membership and we’d be looking for an active contribution to that association like sitting on their board of frequent volunteering in the area, etc. Monetary donations would not count in this case. "
TL;DR - VA residents within the specified counties only! :( :( :(
Dang, worth a try at least!
Yikes, pass then.
it's like pulling teeth. really not worth the hassle bc they make decisions on a "case by case basis" and can't flat out tell you if you can join if you're a mbr of a local org---even though their own site says that's a way to join. it was suggd that i just fill out the app. someone in the comments said that there's a hp. not worth it for a hp AND a maybe...another rep said that you have to live/work in the area and your employer needs to be a small company. ok. lol
I need sleep. I saw VA and thought Veterans Affairs and got excited, alas :(
I got this account recently. They do a hard pull. I even verified with them after the fact if it was intended and they confirmed yes, that's what they do.
Nice deal if it was nationwide. I need to park $20,000 in a high yields savings account that offer 5% APY. Every bank is less than 1% now and i can make better use of the funds by continuing to do checking bonus deals.
Check out https://worthybonds.com/. I am able to pull money out of the account when I need it. I never had any issues with them.
You take a decent mount of risk on these bonds for *only 5%. They're unrated bonds, which I would consider far outside of most people's risk tolerance. There are a couple internet threads about these bonds https://www.depositaccounts.com/community/misc/31292-worthy-bonds-3-year-5-apy.html and https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=268828 worth reading.
You're funding a private company for a 5% return. This is about as far from FDIC insured as it gets.
A company that has "substantial doubt" about their ability to operate as a going concern at that!
Thanks
I went to https://business.botetourtchamber.com/list/category/non-profit-organizations-108 to find associations in one of the eligible counties. I might call and see if my $5 donation to the United Way of Roanoke Valley satisfies eligibility.
Does anybody know if the credit union is Chex sensitive or Hard pull?
submitted online applicn w $1000 credit card applicn.
This is what I got :
Thank you for your application. In order to complete your application, we will be contacting you at the phone number or email you provided. Expect to hear from us no later than the next business day following the date of your application to complete your request.
Are you in footprint? Keep us posted, thanks!
"Maximum Balance: $5,000" should say $10,000
(and above $10,000 you get 0.50% APY)