Updates
26 Dec 2008 Recently the rewards checking rate dropped to 4% at Lee County Bank and Trust. See Bank Rewards Checking for banks still offering at least 5% on their rewards checking.
8 Jan 2009 Today I received notice that tomorrow the rate drops to 3%. Good grief that’s hardly rewards checking and I’m sure some customers will not appreciate the short notice. One wonders if the bank is in some sort of trouble. Fortunately I already pulled out my money and signed up with Deseret First Credit Union.
Rewards Checking at Lee County Bank and Trust
Rewards Checking
I wrote earlier about my experience with rewards checking at Coulee Bank. Lee County Bank and Trust offer the same 6.01% APY with their rewards checking account. They require 10 check card transactions a month, one automatic payment a month, online statements, and accessing your account at least once a month. They pay 6.01% on the first $25,000 and 2.50% on anything above that. The base rate for not meeting requirements is 0.15%. For those with a lot of spare cash, the 2.50% is a very good rate. However, I am merely looking for a backup account to transfer to if Coulee Bank should drop their rates or become rickety.
Process Me
The whole process of signing up for my Lee County Bank and Trust account took a month. Not exactly at the speed of internet time. It began with the initial signup June 26 through CheckingFinder where I electronically made my first deposit. This was very smooth and I received an email saying:
Your application for The Big Account was successful. You will be contacted shortly by a representative at Lee County Bank & Trust, N.A.
The next day I was indeed contacted with a pleasant email which began:
Let me be the first to welcome you to Lee County Bank & Trust, N.A. We are so happy to have you as a new Big Account Checking customer. Your account has been approved and I’d like to let you know what you can expect from here.
In the mail I was to receive these several documents to sign and be notarized:
- Online Statement Agreement
- Combined ATM/POS/Debit Card request form
- Account Holder Card
- TIN/Backup Withholding
- Online Banking Service Application
- Notary Acknowledgment (just fill out, not sign)
This was not particularly stressful, as I stopped by my Credit Union on the way home from work and they notarized the documents for no charge. This was accomplished by June 6.