Tracking down those Elusive High Interest Checking Account Plans

There are quite a few checking account plans out there, that tempt retail bank customers with high yields - if those hopeful people qualify. To qualify of course, you need to meet their (demanding) expectations in being an ideal customer - which means, that you'll need to show them your goodwill by being regular enough with certain kinds of profitable banking transactions. For instance, you'll need to use your debit card to make at least ten checkouts a month, you'll need to use their online bill payment facility, and so on. In a survey published by Bankrate, they have found that there are about 50 banks around the country that offer high interest checking account plans to customers; and on one of these plans, the high interest rate you get for your efforts can be as great as 6%, although on average it is usually half that.

So what happens when you qualify and continue to do so for months - until one month, you don't make enough of those qualifying transactions with the bank; how does the bank deal with your interest in such a case? The moment they see that you don't make their the grade for high interest checking account, they will drop your interest rate to whatever regular rate they have at the bank - it could be anything below half a percentage point. They are aware of it though, that an interest rate of between 3% and 6% on a checking account can be a huge temptation; why, people could clean out their savings and their stock investments to plonk it all down into their high interest checking accounts. The banks don't want run these accounts for large scale personal investments like this though. To guard against this, high interest checking account plans usually come with a ceiling on how much money you can hold in them - usually it's something under $30,000. Anything you hold above this, will usually just drop you down to the default interest rate for the excess. With some banks, that ceiling can come down to $1000, if you want to earn their highest interest rate.

Finding a bank or credit union like this isn't that hard; but if you are having a tough time locating a high interest checking account in your area, you could look up Checkingfinder.com. The biggest complaint most people have with high interest checking account plans is the fact that they have a few simple rules for how many transactions a month you must have to qualify, among others. This particular checking account rule is especially easy to beat - you just need to use your debit card to buy yourself lunch, or to pay for groceries. When the reward for that is a 6% interest rate, what is to complain about?