Offer at a glance
- Interest Rate: 4% APY
- Minimum Balance: None
- Maximum Balance: $10,000
- Availability: Must live, work, worship in Allegan, Barry, Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Kent, Livingston, Newaygo, Ottawa, Shiawassee counties in Michigan or be related to somebody who is already a member.
- Direct deposit required: Yes, at least $100
- Additional requirements: Yes, see below
- Hard/soft pull: Hard
- Credit card funding: Up to $2,500
- Monthly fees: None
- Insured: NCUA
The Offer
- Adventure Credit Union offer a 4% APY rewards checking account (called Edge Checking). To receive the 4% rate you need to meet the following requirements:
- Set up a direct deposit of at least $100
- Complete 20 or more debit card transactions, signature and/or PIN
- Receive eStatements
- Log into Online or Mobile Banking at least once
The Fine Print
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
This account has no monthly fees, even if you don’t meet the 4% APY requirements.
Our Verdict
Assuming this is a soft pull, this is a very good offer if you can meet the bonus requirements. I don’t mind requirements like direct deposit/debit transactions as they are fairly easy to automate but I find remembering to log into online banking a pain. I guess the upside to this account is that it has no monthly fees, so if you do decide to move funds for a month or two for a savings account bonus you’re not penalized.
I do love the fact that it has a $10,000 limit, most of the high APY checking accounts have a $5,000 or lower limit so this is nicer for those with bigger balances. We will be adding this account to our list of the best regional high APY accounts.
Declined opening an account online. They want me to visit a branch to open in person. Im in Michigan in one of these counties. They are about 1 hour drive. They mentioned I am potential fraud and have opened many financial institutions recently.
I asked if I make the drive if I am confirmed to have the account approved, as I dont want to drive 2 hours to be told by a banker I am declined. Annoying by these silly games.
I live in Kalamazoo County and was approved for an account. I’ve also used PayPal as direct deposit and it has worked two months in a row. Amazon GC reloads work to meet minimum debit card transactions. Funded with Citi Double Cash Card for $2500 and it counted as a purchase.
Thanks, added DP.
Pulled Transunion for me, and the max credit card funding is $750.
4/3/17 DD triggered Capital one 360
3/21/2017 Deposit triggered with $100 Paypal trasnfer
You mentioned in your article that it is easy to automate the debit card transactions each month. Is there a link somewhere on how to do that? Thanks!
Just a comment. You mention its hard to remember to log into accounts. I use Mint to keep track of financials and if you hook your bank account up there whenever you log into Mint it ‘logs’ into your bank account for you. At least with every bank I’ve ever used, I obviously can’t speak for every bank in the US.
Good catch. Would be great if Mint works for this.
I’ve heard some reports that Mint log ins will not work for these type of requirements. If anybody can confirm it’ll work for this that would be great.
I just confirmed for two Adventure Credit Union accounts (which uses netteller as a backend- like many other credit unions) that a mint.com account refresh counts as a “Logged into Online/Mobile Banking”. I looked at the February statements and it shows the date of 2/28/17 as the last date that I “Logged into Online/Mobile Banking”. Last login was actually a week ago and I only refreshed in mint on 2/28/17.
They pulled transunion in April of 2016. I was out of state and met the requirements by donating to a local church. I don’t recall doing credit card funding.
What church did you donate to? Did you open in branch? Thanks for DP.
Opened online/phone. Find a church in the county- http://www.thecatholicdirectory.com/ Donate $5 to the church through
https://www.parishgiving.org/ (It seems like they accept money for a lot of churchs.) Send receipt to bank. This also worked for Citadel bank in PA, though I had to give them a reason why I wanted to join the bank.
Interesting, nice work!
Wife had a transunion pull as well when I opened one up for her in April/May 2016.