Presidential Bank Raises Rates to 4.25% and 4.37% APY

January 31, 2006 By Jonathan Ping 5 Comments
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Perhaps inspired by Greenspan’s parting rate hike, the rate on the Presidential Internet Checking Plus (review) account has been raised to 4.25% APY and their Presidential Premier Savings (review) account is now at 4.37% APY. I consider my Prez account as my main checking due to their good rate (for a checking account) and flexibility, but their savings account has a $5,000 minimum. I was hoping they’d raise rates higher, especially on the savings end, but this is about what I expected.

Filed Under: Banking
Last updated: August 5, 2006
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Comments

  1. johns wu says
    January 31, 2006 at 6:47 pm

    hey,
    you may or may not know this already, but this was new info to me. ING is giving 4.75% rate on new deposits from now until april 15

    Reply
  2. Sarah E. says
    February 1, 2006 at 6:51 am

    I read your review of the checking account and like the sound of it but am leary about giving up my local bank for a couple of reasons. First off, it doesn’t seem to give you a debit card that could be used to like buy groceries – just an ATM card for ATMs? Also, how do you go about depositing money in this checking account if you have a hand full of small personal checks you want to deposit – do you have to mail them in??

    Reply
  3. Mike says
    February 1, 2006 at 1:30 pm

    Here is an email I sent to Emigrant when they solicited a response after I transferred about ~$50,000 to ING from Emigrant. ($40,000 of that is from 0% credit card offers)

    To whom it may concern:

    ING Direct recently offered a winter save sale interest rate of 4.75%. That is why I moved the money there. Also I had intended on moving the money back to you on 4/15/06 when that sale ends, but I know see HSBC direct has an interest rate of 4.80%. I have found that all 3 banks (Emigrant, HSBC and ING) have excellent customer service, so the only differentiator is interest rate. You used to have the highest rate but even with your new 4.25%, the rate is not yet high enough. Thank you.

    Sincerely,
    Michael E. Rohr

    EmigrantDirect wrote:
    Dear Valued Customer:

    Our records indicate that you recently made a significant withdrawal of funds from your account at EmigrantDirect.

    In the interest of continuing to provide a competitive internet banking
    product and superior customer service, would you please take a moment to
    share with us the reason for your withdrawal by replying to this message.

    Additionally, we would greatly appreciate any comments about your experience
    banking with EmigrantDirect.

    Please note that any information shared will be used for internal marketing
    research purposes only, and will be treated confidentially. All responses
    will be consolidated into an overall report which will reflect categories of
    comments, but will include no names of individual customers.

    Thank you, in advance, for your cooperation.

    Peter Chace, Marketing Vice President
    EmigrantDirect

    Reply
  4. Dan says
    February 1, 2006 at 1:49 pm

    Sarah:
    1. Presidential does offer debit cards. You just have to apply for it separately, and it will take three months after you start your account for the application to be approved. (The plain old ATM card, on the other hand, you’ll get within 3 weeks, according to the phone rep.)
    http://www.presidential.com/onlinebanking/ob_atmvisa.htm

    2. Yes you can mail checks to them. They list the various ways to deposit into these accounts on this page:
    http://www.presidential.com/faq1.htm#check8

    (No, I don’t work for that bank 😛 I’m considering switching to Presidential just like you, so I was researching and happened to have the info handy when I saw your post.)

    Jonathan,

    Thanks for all the info on Presidential – I’m signing up tomorrow morning!!! I live in the DC area (where they are based), so I will have the additional bonus of the “brick-and-mortar” experience of a few branches as well.

    One thing you might want to add for the benefit of any other readers in the DC area: You can avoid the hard credit pull when you apply for the account by opening it in person at one of their branches.

    – Dan

    Reply
  5. Jonathan says
    February 4, 2006 at 9:34 pm

    Wow, thanks for the links Dan. I see you do your homework!

    Sarah, I use Presidential in conjunction with a free local Bank of America checking account for ATM access and the occasional check deposits.

    I have used my ATM card as a check/debit card for year. I always buy my groceries with a 5% cash back credit card (Link). =)

    Reply

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