Heritage Bank 1.02% APY Rewards Checking Account on up to $25,000 – Available Nationwide (Requirement Change)

Update 12/2/21: January 1st, 2022 and the requirements will be changing. No longer requiring 10 debit card purchases, but will require $500+ in debit card spend instead.

Update 7/18/21: Rate is now 1.02%

Update 3/15/20: Due to Federal Reserve rate reductions in March, our eCentive rate will be reduced as of April 1, 2020. Our current rates remain in effect through March 31, 2020. Rates advertised here are updated daily.

Update 12/2/19: Rate decreased from 3.33% to 3.03%.

Offer at a glance

  • Interest Rate: 3.03% APY
  • Minimum Balance: None ($100 minimum to open)
  • Maximum Balance: $25,000
  • Availability: Nationwide
  • Direct deposit required: Optional
  • Additional requirements: Yes, see below
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft
  • Credit card funding: Yes, up to $1,500 with a Visa credit card Credit card funding no longer allowed
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Early Account Termination Fee: $30 fee if account is closed within 6 months of opening
  • Insured: FDIC

The Offer

Direct Link to offer

  • Heritage Bank offers their eCentive rewards checking account with an interest rate of 3.33% APY on balance up to $25,000 and ATM fee waiver.

Heritage Bank is a bank in the midwest with locations in Minnesota and Iowa. This account can be opened online for any US citizen nationwide.

To be eligible for the 3.33% rate, you need to do the following:

  • Enroll in e-statements
  • Have at least one direct deposit or automatic payment (ACH) each month
  • Make 10 or more debit card payments and/or purchases that will post to your account each month (excluding ATM transactions)
  • [Login once per month – this is mentioned in the video but not on the offer page]

The Fine Print

  • Any portion of the balance above $25,000 will earn .15% APY
  • If qualifications are not met, account will earn .05% APY
  • When you meet the eCentive Account qualifications we will refund up to $25.00 per statement cycle of domestic ATM fees and MasterCard cross border/currency conversion fees for foreign debit card transactions.

Avoiding Fees

There is no monthly fee. There is an early termination fee of $30 if the account is closed within 6 months.

Full fee schedule can be found here. There is a $10/month dormancy fee which will apply after 12 months. Won’t apply to anyone using the account who will be making debit and ACH transactions, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you end up not using the account.

A reader notes that you must always leave $.01 in the account, else they’ll close it automatically after a few days, and will result in a $10 fee if you want to reopen.

Our Verdict

Comparing this other high interest checking and savings accounts, this comes out as one of the best available options. There aren’t many other options which have a $25k allowance, and the 3.33% rate is better than most. Plus, the qualifications should be fairly easy to meet. It is worth noting, however, that with general interest rates climbing, these rewards checking become less enticing.

We’ll add this to our List of Best Savings Account options. 
    Chuck
  • On December 2, 2021, 22:30

View Comments (766)

  • There are many checking accounts with 3% returns available - why would anyone be using this one? LMCU, ETFCU etc... go find a place that rewards you for jumping through debit, ACH and login requirements:

  • Why would anybody do this instead of using T-Mobile Money account? 1% unlimited amount, no requirements. Serious question. You don't have to be a T-Mobile customer.

    • Hopefully we don't cause a DoC effect on T-Mobile which causes them to change their requirements too. Their only requirement used to be monthly $200 transfer. Currently requires 10 debit card tx (no minimum).

    • A lot of folks are reporting issues about acct restriction and that you can't move money around the way you can with a "regular" bank.

  • Qualifications seem to have changed. From the website "STARTING JANUARY 1, 2022: No more counting debit card purchases! Total monthly debit card purchases posted to your account equalling a minimum of $500*"

    • Thanks for the info!

      I did not receive any notice of the Jan 2022 account requirement changes via secure message -have you?
      Stephanie's info is at the website: Home Page>Today's Rates>eCentive Learn More (it took time to find!)

    • Yeah, I got that email too. Very disappointing, and really almost fraudulent, since they start out making it seem like you won't have to use the debit card anymore.

      • And the most annoying part is that the email is titled "Exciting Updates Regarding eCentive® Accounts". Exciting for them, maybe.

    • exactly, moving to Kabbage with the 1.10% APY with no hoops to jump through. Maybe when the economy recovers and Heritage bump their interest rate back to 3% again, I may return.

      They pretty much made it clear they don't like us. First they limit it to 2 accounts, now bumping up the debit requirements. I've been using Heritage as my main banking

      • Same here. I just opened the Kabbage account for the bonus and will likely now start using it as my primary checking acct.

      • I asked a question on the Kabbage post related to this. Are there any issues with keeping personal money in the "business" Kaggage account?

        • Shouldn't be a problem, but I'm sure it's frowned upon and they expect it to be used for business use only.

      • 1.10% APY is for Business Checking...do you need to provide any business related info or can open one just using personal info? Thanks

        • Yes. Kabbage asks business questions because this is a business account. But many people have a business and don't realize it.

      • If only Kabbage was easy to get in I'd move everything to them. They keep sending me emails and targeted links in my Amex login, but they won't approve my app.

  • @chucksithe,

    The rate on this account is only 1.02%. It's been that way for a while.

  • Venmo payments and amazon reloads are not working for 10 debit card payments and/or purchases. Sad..... Is there any better way to do this? Thanks!

    • CashApp funding (through your banks debit card) registers as a purchase at both my banks with rewards checking. The $400+ requirement I have is the easiest..since it's one time. I just move the money back at the end of the month.

    • Amazon reload worked for me for the month of Feb. Got $19.47 in interest on Friday. Double check to make sure you have your DD and count the number of debits.. There were a few months where I missed a debit by accident

        • When I need to do debits, I just pay my ISP in penny increments ($0.01). Stick it to the ISP while getting debits done

  • Time for a new bank. Tried to deposit a couple of checks today. They've apparently changed their mobile deposit, and it does a bunch of checking in the app before accepting the deposit and took several minutes before I was even able to submit. Then, It told me that one of the checks I was depositing was already deposited (which was ridiculous since it was a state tax refund check and I just got it on Saturday), so I just cancelled out of the deposit and submitted them both in the Fidelity app, where they were accepted. I just noticed that I got an email from Heritage saying that the other check was processed, even though it never let me proceed past the "submit deposit" screen.

    Anyway, are there any banks that offer better rates with similar requirements and no in-person debit card use?

Leave a Comment