[Changes] Orion Federal Credit Union Premium Checking 6% APY On Balances Up To $10,000

Update 1/1/23: Rate now 5%.

Update 10/2/22: Rates are now 4% when meeting the requirements on balances up to $10,000. Hat tip to redvwmicrobus

Update 8/1/22: Rates (when completing the requirements below) are now 3% on up to $10,000 and then 2.15% on any amount above that.

Update 6/13/22: Rate is now 3%. You need to do the following

  • Electronic deposits totaling at least $500/month Electronic deposits include: direct deposit, ATM deposit, mobile deposit, and electronic transfers from another financial institution.
  • Spend at least $500/month on your Orion debit or Orion credit card

Hat tip to reader Baked

Update 3/20/20: Maximum balance is now $10,000, down from $15,000. I’m guessing this change is effective immediate? Rate will also drop to 1%

Update 2/27/20: You’ll soon need $500 in debit spend 🙁 . They do note that PIN purchases count. No longer need 8 transactions.

Effective April 1, 2020: To make it easier for Premium Checking members to earn 3% APY each month, we are changing the Premium Perks Qualifiers to provide flexibility in how you spend. Here is a summary of the changes taking effect: You are no longer required to have 8 transactions. Instead, spend at least $500 on your Orion debit or credit card to qualify. All signature and PIN based purchases will count toward the $500 minimum.

Update 11/25/19: Rate reduced from 4% to 3% and limit reduced from $30k to $15k. Basically kills the deal.

Update 9/15/19: Limit of one account per person now applies.

Update 6/30/19: Looks to be definitely nationwide.

Update 1/4/19: It doesn’t look like the original state restrictions listed were/are accurate as people have been able to open in Arizona, California, Florida & Massachusetts. It’s possible this account is actually available nationwide, but YMMV. Hat tip to reader Pablo.

Offer at a glance

  • Interest Rate: 3% APY
  • Minimum Balance: None
  • Maximum Balance: $10,000
  • Availability: I believe you need to be a resident of Shelby, Tipton, and Fayette Counties in Tennessee or Desoto and Marshall Counties in Mississippi or Crittendon and Mississippi Counties in Arkansas. Nationwide
  • Direct deposit required: No, just total deposits of $500+
  • Additional requirements: 8 signature based transactions
  • Hard/soft pull: Hard pull (equifax)
  • ChexSystems: Yes
  • Credit card funding: None
  • Monthly fees: Avoidable
  • Insured: NCUA

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Orion offers the Premium Checking Account this account offers a 4% APY on balances up to $30,000 when the following requirements are met:
    • Electronic deposits totaling at least $500/mo
    • Perform at least 8 signature-based card transactions

The Fine Print

  • (1) Deposit at least $500 electronically (direct deposit, ATM deposit, or transfer from another institution) and
  • (2) Perform at least 8 signature-based debit card transactions.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

This account has a $5 monthly fee. If you meet the requirements for the 4% APY then the monthly fee is also waived. There is also an early account termination fee of $10 if the account is closed within 6 months of account opening

Eligibility

This definitely works in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida

It has been confirmed as working in the following states:

  • Hawaii: 1,
  • Massachusetts: 1,
  • New York: 1, 2,
  • Pennsylvania: 1, 2, 3,
  • Texas: 1, 2, 3,

Our Verdict

Great account, easy to meet requirements and a 4% APY rate with such a high maximum balance is basically unheard of. If you live in a qualifying area then it’s definitely worth at least considering. Now the game of trying to work out how to open an account outside of that area begins.

Hat tip to reader Ash

 
    William Charles
  • On January 1, 2023, 15:40

View Comments (1977)

  • I'm planning to close this account once my pending transactions are settled. In the month of June, they charged me a penalty of $5 because there was a credit adjustment of a few hundred dollars from the month of April even though I had over $500 deposit and spend using the debit card. Initially, when I opened the account, the agent told me that if I am going to receive the credit adjustment on a future date, it's not going to be an issue. However, I learned that your total spend should be greater than $500. For example, if you have spent $500 on something in January and $500 on something in February, and if you are getting these amounts back in the month of August, then you need to spend $500 (from Jan adjustment) + $500 (from Feb adjustment) and $500 or above (for August month debit requirements), which equals $1500. The above numbers were just used for calculations and were not from my example. Spending $1500 a month just on debit seems too high if someone runs into this situation.

    • By "credit adjustment", do you mean that you received a refund from a merchant on your Orion debit card? If not, what does it mean?

      • Yes, I made some purchases in the month of April and had to return that thing in June so my overall spending went below $500 for June month even though I spent above $500 spending using my debit card in June.

  • @will @chucksithe

    Orion is now 6% on the 1st $10K. The amount over $10K is not competitive.

  • After all my technical difficulties trying to open an account, I get a notice in the mail that I have an open account with only the last 4 account numbers given. I cannot sign up online without the full number. So, I call customer service and am told that that need to provide photo ID. I send everything to them. I haven't heard back. It has been a few weeks now. At this point, I really don't care.

  • Would Moneygram work for the debit card requirement? It's not a no-fee solution, but if it's $4/month that might be worth it...no?

      • Because I believe that moneygram will automate the transaction on a monthly basis and it's a completely online transaction. Therefore, a kind of set and it and forget it approach to the spend requirement. However, I see very little mention of this idea on Reddit or here, so that's a clue to me that it's a flawed approach. If Cash App and Venmo aren't working, is there a better plan that can be accomplished from the comfort of my couch?

        • By "Moneygram", I thought that you were referring to sending money to someone in Walmart or some other store. What are you referring to that can be done online for $4?

          I do not know of an easy way to meet the spend from your couch.

          • Moneygram.com is in the Western Union universe of businesses, and of course, charges outrageous fees for transferring money. However, the fees to send $500 are $4 if you use a debit card (and I believe can be automated). I really have no experience using it's service, but was in search of possible ways to meet the spend requirement outside of traditional P2P services.

  • Any ideas on how to meet the $500 spent per month? Used to work via P2P (person to person) but they did an app update and this feature no longer works

  • Does a cash app $500 pull using an Orion Debit card work for satisfying the requirement? I tried searching in the comments and couldn't find any DP related to this.

    • CashApp w/ debit used to work to satisfy requirement when I had an active premium checking account the first half of last year. I switched to a $500 CC charge followed by a downgrade to my checking after a couple months.

      • Ok. Thanks. So it might work for me. I will test it. Still waiting to receive a debit card from them.

        • Also the first month could be auto qualified, can you please ask them in secure email if it is so? Then you don’t have to do any spending and deposits this month.

          • They will just waive the fee and won't qualify anyone for the 5% requirement. I asked them this via secure message and over the phone after opening my account.

        • Thank you. Please let us know if it will work. You can try also using Venmo, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Bluebird card and Netspend cards add money from your debit card. I would like to apply also for this Orion account if any of these will work. Not interested in MO. And don’t want to waste HP. 🙏

          • The cash app didn't work for me and I spoke to the CSR. So I'm using spending $500 somewhere else. For me, it wasn't a hard inquiry although they did ask me to unfreeze Equifax before opening my account.

          • Did cash app load code as something else? How did you know it didn't count?

  • I have tried to apply 3 times today. The first time I encountered the dreaded "spinning wheel" when I tried to fund the account. The second time I encountered the "spinning wheel" after answering the stupid identity questions and the 3rd time I encountered the "spinning wheel" on the final confirmation screen. I guess I am now done!

    • They have some technical glitches. I was not able to open it online even though it showed all check marks in the end screen of their user interface and then they called me to finish the process.

  • If I had closed my Orion account 2-3 years ago, would opening a new account cause a hard pull? Or is it possible to reopen my old account?

Leave a Comment