Bank of the Sierra: Are they legit? How can the checking interest APY be so high?
The FDIC is pretty confident about them being legit. http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/main_bankfind.asp  (type in Bank Of The Sierra in the name field and search on that) You got to realize how much money they will make if you use them per the agreement.  Every credit card / debit transaction gets them some cash.  Businesses get between 1 and 5% of each transaction even on debit cards.  Then there is a flat fee the merchant pays for accepting the credit card between .25 and .50 per transaction.  Even at 12 transactions a month, the bank is looking at making around $6/month.  Probably more because who uses a debit card just 12 times a month.  It would be convenient for most people to juse use it all the time. Does 4.09% APY beat $6/month?  You would have to keep a balance of $2000 plus to cost more than you earn.  And if you keep more than $2k in the account, they have other ways to make money off of you. I would also assume they make money on the bill pay and direct deposit side of things, but I can't speak for certain about that. Bottom line is this seems like a good deal to attract customers, they would rather make a bit less profit then BofA to grow their business.  They are betting their offer restrictions will change your habits and make you more profitable to them. "I believe MrChrister's answer is correct:  Since they're FDIC insured, they are ""legit.""  Second, on the seemingly too-good-to-be-true rate: They're basically making up the difference on other fees (not necessarily paid by you) in order to offer you the higher-than-market rate. I'd like to point out two things not mentioned about the current rate offer, though: The high 4.09% APY advertised is only on balances up to $25,000; anything over that threshold is at a lower 1.01% APY. The offer also states in the footnotes: ""Rates may change after the account is opened."" You might want to see if they have a good history of paying higher than average interest rates. You wouldn't want to switch only to find out the promotional rate was a teaser that soon gets reduced."
I read an article where this website did an interview with them and concluded its very sketchy and possibly illegal. They refused to give out their FDIC number and they got the high interest rate by selling personal customer information to third parties From what I Understand, people put up with BofA because it's convenient in that there are branches everywhere in the country. Not sure if it's worth it, but if you're a normal banking customer, your won't face any of those fees. Check your calculation of A**. I was able to duplicate their calculations using excel. Make you sure have accounted for all the terms, it can be easy to be one off. They are making a guess at the interest rate which will be wrong, then they are adjusting it to see how wrong it is, then making another adjustment. They will repeat until they see no movement in the guesses. I had a modest car loan with Chase.  I always felt like they were trying to fuck me over.  They charged for electronic payments, would mail the payment coupon (the bill) less than two weeks before it was due each month, the payment schedule seemed to wander, etc.  I was constantly stressing that I was going to miss a payment and incur a large late fee.  This was on just a small car loan.  I've heard they've gotten better (electric payments don't cost extra anymore) but it definitely made me feel very adversarial with banks. Yes it should be a ACH or other electronic transfer. However, it not unusual to have checks sent for large amounts in corporate banking. Large companies don't give large checks to tellers, they have it sent to a lockbox. However, lockboxes are suited for payment of invoices and I never heard of a billion dollar invoice.  edit: Also, I believe that some of the bailouts were done in checks, but honestly I'm not 100% on that. "Let me guess, it's a fairly large amount of money, a few thousand at least. This is a scam. This is a variation on the many fake check scams out there. You deposit the check and you think it ""cleared"" your bank, but it didn't clear. A clever fake check can take a couple weeks to bounce and the bank will demand the money back. Any money you wire back to the fraudster in the meantime will be lost forever." I concur with the answers above - the difference is about the risk. But in this particular case I find the interest level implausible. 11% interest on deposits in USD seems very speculative and unsustainable. You can't guarantee such return on investment unless you engage in drug trade or some other illegal activity. Or it is a Ponzi scheme. So I would suspect that the bank is having liquidity problems. Which bank is it, by the way? We had a similar case in Bulgaria with one bank offering abnormal interest on deposits in EUR and USD. It went bust - the small depositors were rescued by the local version of FDIC but the large ones were destroyed. Go to your local credit union and open an account there! Why do people put up with banks? Big banks are for business not for regular folks, they will nickel and dime you all the time, and that's the honest ones, the scum like WF will just trash you. I would suggest a high interest checking account if you qualify, or if you don't, an Investor's Deposit Account (IDA). No, we did not apply for the loan. So, this is why we thought it was a bit strange a company just sending you a real check for $30K. It does not say anywhere in big red letters that it is a loan. Probably something in very small letters on a back of a paper.  This is really horrible. Especially,if your customers do pay you by check and small business relies on online statement to determine who paid what. I can easily imagine a small outfit that just takes all the checks to the bank, cash them, and then use online statement to update their books.   I do not see how it is helpful to businesses to receive pre-approved credit that is so poorly marked. Especially in the age of electronic transfers!!!  I am trying to understand why I feel so offended by this, and I guess it all comes down to disgust: I refuse to believe that any serious company would use these sort of tactics and instead of us spending more time developing a better product, we have to put more time and effort into ensuring we do not fall victim to this. I think part of the reason people overdraft is because the online banking app/website doesn't show a true indication of your account balance. I've had mine (at Bank of America) adjust to $30 less than it told me I had when I checked due to processing payments being altered. Mango is legit, there are some other forums out there with some reviews and discussion about whether or not it's worth the effort of setting it up and following the rules to realize the maximum benefit. The main downside is that Mango is fee-heavy: ATM fees, monthly fees, etc. One person did a calculation that if you follow all the rules and minimize fees, your maximum benefit above what you can get at other online banks with enticing rewards or interest rates is about $250/yr. Is $250 worth the hassle of following the Mango rules? You'll have to decide. "This is another version of an old scam -- ""let me have a check deposited in your account because I can't open one for some reason, and I'll share some of the money with you.""  Here the scammer is promising to ""start a business"" with you as a way to gain your confidence and trust. The first danger sign is that you only know this person from online.  They are not someone you are friends with in the ""real"" world.  They could be anybody.   They used the name of a big company as a way to make what they're doing sound legitimate, but it's all a fraud.  They could be depositing a faked Exxon check into your account, which could land YOU in huge trouble. Here's the thing -- The only way Exxon (or any other company) can deposit money in a bank under someone's name is if that person provides the account and routing numbers to an account that already exists.  No company can just create an account in another person's name.  That's Hollywood movie stuff, but it's not how banking works.  To open an account, the bank would need identification on the account holder, so your ""friend"" already has an account if Exxon has allegedly deposited money.  Further, Exxon isn't going to take back money that has already been deposited.  In fact, they can't take it back.  If the account is in his name, they can't do anything to the account or with the account.   This is a situation you should run away from and never look back.  Nothing about this story sounds right or legitimate, but this is one of the oldest scams out there since the beginning of the Internet. You would be well advised to stay VERY far away from your supposed friend, because they're anything but your friend.  You are being SCAMMED.  Don't be a victim.  Stop communicating with this person immediately, and DON'T give them any personal information of any kind.  They're crooks! I hope this helps. Good luck!" And this is why we calculate actual yield and not just coupons. Nobody pays par for high yield notes. If the company performs well, the price of your note goes up and you can realize a gain when is called or your sell it.  High yield works exactly like equity, and in a lot of cases it's better because it spits out cash in the meantime.  I'm not even allowed to call the interest I get on my HY notes as interest. All realized gain. "Based on what you asked and your various comments on other answers, this is the first time that you will be making an offer to buy a house, and it seems that the seller is not using a real-estate agent to sell the house, that is, it is what is called a FSBO (for sale by owner) property (and you can learn a lot of about the seller's perspective by visiting fsbo.com). On the other hand, you are a FTB (first-time buyer) and I strongly recommend that you find out about the purchase process by Googling for ""first-time home buyer"" and reading some of the articles there. But most important, I urge you DO NOT make a written offer to purchase the property until you understand a lot more than you currently do, and a lot more than all the answers here are telling you about making an offer to buy this property.  Even when you feel absolutely confident that you understand everything, hire a real-estate lawyer or a real-estate agent to write the actual offer itself (the agent might well use a standard purchase offer form that his company uses, or the State mandates, and just fill in the blanks). Yes, you will need to pay a fee to these people but it is very important for your own protection, and so don't just wing it when making an offer to purchase. As to how much you should offer, it depends on how much you can afford to pay. I will ignore the possibility that you are rich enough that you can pay cash for the purchase and assume that you will, like most people, be needing to get a mortgage loan to buy the house. Most banks prefer not to lend more than 80% of the appraised value of the house, with the balance of the purchase price coming from your personal funds. They will in some cases, loan more than 80% but will usually charge higher interest rate on the loan, require you to pay mortgage insurance, etc. Now, the appraised value is not determined until the bank sends its own appraiser to look at the property, and this does not happen until your bid has been accepted by the seller. What if your bid (say $500K) is much larger than the appraised value $400K on which the bank is willing to lend you only $320K ? Well, you can still proceed with the deal if you have $180K available to make the pay the rest. Or, you can let the deal fall apart if you have made a properly written offer that contains the usual contingency clause that you will be applying for a mortgage of $400K at rate not to exceed x% and that if you can't get a mortgage commitment within y days, the deal is off. Absent such a clause, you will lose the earnest money that you put into escrow for failure to follow through with the contract to purchase for $500K.  Making an offer in the same ballpark as the market value lessens the chances of having the deal fall through. Note also that even if the appraised value is $500K, the bank might refuse to lend you $400K if your loan application and credit report suggest that you will have difficulty making the payments on a $400K mortgage.  It is a good idea to get a pre-approval from a lender saying that based on the financial information that you have provided, you will likely be approved for a mortgage of $Z (that is, the bank thinks that you can afford the payments on a mortgage of as much as $Z). That way, you have some feel for how much house you can afford, and that should affect what kinds of property you should be bidding on."