Bank Deals, Checking Accounts, Misc. Deals

You can get up to a $75 bonus for opening an M&T Bank checking account. You can open it online, by phone, or in a bank branch. M&T Bank has branches and ATM access in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.

Details of the bank deals on checking accounts include:

• Overdraft protection and direct deposit required to receive cash bonus
• Free online banking and bill pay
• Check card available

For the Direct Checking account, there is no monthly fee with direct deposit or if the balance of the combined accounts is $1,500. There is unlimited check writing. This account pays a $25 cash bonus with direct deposit.

The Select Checking account is available with interest. There is no monthly fee if the average daily balance is $5,000 or if there is a combined balance of $10,000 with other eligible accounts. If the balance requirements aren’t met, the monthly fee is $14.95. This account pays a $50 bonus with direct deposit.

The Classic Checking account offers free checking for people 50 and older. There is no minimum balance or monthly service fee. This account pays a bonus of $25 with direct deposit.

Woori American Bank is a Korean-American bank based out of California. The FDIC-insured bank has a Korean-version and an English version of their website with the same products advertised on both. One of their products is an automatic savings plan called the One Heart Savings Account. This account pays a high rate of interest to savers who contractually agree to make regular monthly payments for deposit in the savings account. The minimum contract amount is $1,000. If you opened a 5-year $1,000 One Heart Savings account with Woori America Bank, your monthly payment would be $14.43.  After five years your total payments plus interest would equal the contract amount of $1,000 and you have full access to withdraw the funds. You can make your monthly payments by check or automatic bank transfer.

One Heart Account Features:

- All payments must be current to obtain stated APY

- Minimum contract amount is $1,000

- Penalties apply for early withdrawal

Savings Rates:

48-month 5.50% APY

60-month 5.75% APY

120-month 6.25% APY

The automatic savings plan from Woori American Bank is tempting because of the high rates offered. Although it should not replace an emergency savings account because of the costly penalties for early withdrawal, many Americans could use an organized savings plan. It is a simple and effective way to take advantage of monthly savings and compound interest. Automatic savings plans can also be used retirement savings. Best of all for investors, if you make all your payments the bank can tell you with certainty how much money you will have at the end of the contract. There are probably more than  a few General Motors (GM) stockholders and bondholders who might have liked a deal like that.

Last month, we started an IndyMac vent and promised someone $100.  We picked a comment at random and the winner is… Sheryl!  Congrats!  We’re going to contact you via e-mail to give you more information no how you can get your cash.

To look at that old post, see it here.

If you want more contests to come in the future, be sure to let us know!

In the past, you’ve probably noticed that Gotalkmoney.com highly talked about IndyMac Bank.  While, we never saw the bank closure coming, we tend to be on the IndyMac bandwagon an awful lot.  No, they never paid us, we just believed that they offered great rates and customer service seeing that I have dealt with them before.

Right now until August 15, 2008, vent your frustrations about the bank.  You don’t need to have a bank account with them in order to qualify.  On the 15^th, we will pick one random comment and send the winner $100, it’s that simple!  Only one entry per email.  Thanks!

To be entered in the contest, this is what you need to do -

Simply add a comment and vent your frustrations!

Make sure you add the correct e-mail address so that we can contact you.  This won’t be made public AND no, we don’t sell your e-mail.

The past few weeks we have seen a few increases in CD rates but the money market has been consistently going down or staying still.  For the first time in nine months, WTDirect raised their rate from a 3.16% APY to a 3.26% APY.  Is this a sign that the market is making a turn?  Let’s hear your thoughts.