Okay, so I bank at a local credit union, AllegacyFCU. (Here is their rates sheet.)
Currently I have through this bank:
- Daily Access Savings account with 0.2% interest
- Totally Free Checking (no interest)
- Credit card (I pay it off monthly in full)
My bank is offering a "SmartRate" checking account. It yields 2.5% interest so long as the following requirements are met every month:
- Signed up for eStatements
- At least one direct deposit in the account
- 10 transaction ("point of sales" - must be used to buy something)
If the requirements are failed to be met, it drops to 0.05% interest for that month.
I can easily meet those requirements as I already have a direct deposit in my checking account, am signed up for eStatements, and easily do 10 transaction/month on my credit card (that I pay off automatically).
I'm currently working on building up my 6 months emergency fund and am looking for a place to put my savings with an interest rate above inflation. The 0.2% savings account is a joke for that, so should I switch to this new checking account and keep all of my money there or should I look for another savings account at another bank?
The biggest downside I can see is that I will no longer have a separate checking/savings account (which I believe I can handle okay) and would be reducing the use of my credit card. On the plus side, I keep my money at the same bank.
Any thoughts on this? Thanks!
EDIT: I ended up switching my checking account to this SmartRate checking account. Thanks everyone for your input!