Yes. I said 3%.
I know many people complain about the low interest rates in banking these days. I just feel that people need to know they don’t have to settle if you don’t mind banking online. LMCU, or Lake Michigan Credit Union (non-affiliated link), offers their members 3% interest on their checking accounts for balances of up to $15,000.
They have a few requirements to earn the 3% interest which include:
- Direct Deposit
- Minimum 10 Debit Card Transactions a month
- 4 Logins a month
- Receive an eStatement
Now LMCU traditionally offers it’s services to the residents of the lower peninsula of Michigan. Don’t live in the lower peninsula of Michigan you say? Well they apparently made a work-around that if you donate a minimum of $5.00 to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association of Michigan you can still sign up for an account (they make this possible in the signup process). So if you don’t mind online banking and feel confident that you can meet these requirements, then the $5.00 investment may be worth while so your cash can actually earn some interest.
I feel that this is worth my time to share, because it can help boost many people’s returns on emergency fund balances. If you have a balance of $3,000 sitting in a “high yield” 1% checking or savings then you are earning $30 a year on these funds. Switching to LMCU will increase your total interest earned by $55.00 the first year and that is assuming you have to donate the $5.00 to setup the account. If you hold more funds in your checking or emergency stash you can see an even greater benefit.
If you know of a better checking account then PLEASE SHARE! I feel that in this community the more we help each other the better off all of us are. Next month I will have been a member with LMCU for 5 years and they have indeed decreased the interest rate over time. Sometime before I signed up they used to offer 5% interest and for awhile I was earning 4% interest. I hope that they will return to these levels if the federal reserve starts to push up the interest rates, but there are no guarantees. Anyways, I wouldn’t be sharing about them if I didn’t feel like their is value in what they provide.
Note: Credit Unions are Federally Insured through the NCUA.
Man, I wish I had access to a checking account with a 3% interest rate! Good find!
Small remark: I don’t get the $55 interest in the first year at a 3% rate on $3,000, minus $5 ALS donation? Shouldn’t that be $90-$5=$85?
Cheers,
NMW
Thanks for stopping by No More Waffles! I have tried to click on your link when I saw you comment on other blogs, but for some reason it doesn’t load for me.
Anyways, the comparison was if you have an account currently yielding 1% interest. That account would spit out $30 a year in interest. By switching to LMCU you could get a 3% account which does indeed give $90 interest the first year (and if you live outside this section of the state, a $5 donation to establish the account). Thus my full calculation was $90 less the interest you would have earned $(30) less the one time donation ($5) to have an additional earnings of $55 a year.
Does that make sense?
Derp. I should read again before saying dumb stuff when I’m tired. It’s right there in the text.
You’re totally right!
My blog isn’t loading for you? Weird! Thanks for mentioning, I’ll look into it.
Have a great day,
NMW
I *think* I tried both at work and at home, but if I remember I will try when I am home in a bit. The good thing about a slow cooker meal is I don’t need to cook when I get home so I have a bit more extra time :). That should give me some time to work on my over-due stock purchase post… at least get it far enough that I can complete it for Friday.
Yea, not loading at home either.
I would love to earn 3%. I currently earn pretty close to nothing in my checking account!
Well you can earn 3%! The hassle is moving all of your automatic stuff to a new bank (or credit union)…
3% interest is awesome. That’s why I’ve always loved working with credit unions, they always have better deals!
3% is very nice and I think most people in the personal finance realm can take advantage of this because we have emergency funds. I also like that I get upto $20/mo reimbursed from ATM fees (this amount depends on your “membership level”, right now I think I am at the highest level, but the mid level gives $10 so that isn’t bad either).
My bank (a small, local bank) actually offers 2.25% interest on balances up to $10k, and we definitely take advantage of it. It’s better than what we get in our MM account, and I haven’t even seen anything that comes close to it. It doesn’t make me feel as bad parking my money in cash, waiting for a correction when I can plow it into the market, you know?
I know what you are saying and 2.25% is very good. Especially since it is a local option so if you have an issue you can resolve it in person which is nice.
Who knows when a correction will come, but yea it makes it less painful to carry a balance over what you would normally for emergencies.
I remember the days when I earned one penny on my $300 in my savings account each month. Those days are long gone. Do you wonder how the bank is still in business at those rates?
Cheers,
Henry
Well, being a credit union, they don’t need to give profits to shareholders, as a member you are the owner. Also they cap how much can earn that interest rate, so a married couple each with an account cannot exceed $30,000 in deposits earning that kind of interest.
And yea, I do wonder why they do things like offer auto loans at a lower rate than what they give for interest? But they are doing good and have started to expand again (everything around here took a pause after the recession).