Banks are offering consumers as much as a 6% return on certain U.S. checking accounts, a Bankrate.com survey found.
To earn the top interest rate, consumers generally must meet monthly requirements such as one direct deposit or automated payment and 10 debit card transactions, according to the study. The required debit card purchases are the "biggest hurdle" for consumers, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. Savers who don't meet the requirements in a given month earn an average of 0.11%, he said.
"It's a slam dunk" for savers who can meet the requirements, McBride said. "It's an easy way to raise the yield on some of the cash portion of your portfolio."
High-yield checking accounts are offered predominantly by smaller community banks and credit unions, McBride said. Banks offering nationally available checking account yields of more than 3% include Ouachita Independent Bank in Louisiana, BankTexas in Texas, Danversbank in Massachusetts and Atlantic Coast Bank in Florida and Georgia.
The Federal Reserve in December proposed capping debit card swipe fees charged to merchants at 12 cents a transaction, replacing a formula that averages 1.14% of the purchase price.
The caps, which will be formalized this week and are scheduled to take effect July 21, won't apply to banks and credit unions with less than $10 billion of assets.
Banks may increase the number of required debit card transactions in order to earn the higher yield because of the debit card reforms, McBride said. High-yield checking accounts earned an average 2.56% compared with 3.3% last year, Bankrate.com said Thursday.
Banks also generally limit the balances in checking accounts that earn the highest yield. The most common cap is $25,000, while others set it at $10,000 or less, McBride said. The highest yield found in the survey was 6.17% on up to $500, from Boeing Employees' Credit Union in Seattle, with excess balances receiving a rate of 0.1%, he said.
Bankrate, in North Palm Beach, Fla., surveyed 155 banks and credit unions in May and found 57 high-yield accounts, of which 27 were available to consumers nationwide. While the average interest rate has declined, it's still higher than the earnings from money market funds and traditional checking and savings accounts, McBride said.
Top-yielding savings accounts that are nationally available earn 1.1% and the average traditional checking accounts earn 0.07%, Bankrate.com data show.
The seven-day compound yield of the average taxable money fund was 0.02% during the week ended June 14, according to IMoneyNet Inc., a research firm in Westborough, Mass.
