A Long Island credit union, seeking to capitalize on growing antibank sentiment, is offering new customers guaranteed “fee free” checking accounts — for life.
Bethpage Federal Credit Union says that effective immediately, new customers opening a Bethpage Bonus checking account can be assured of a lifetime of no debit card fees, no monthly maintenance fees, no transaction fees, no minimum balance fees and no fees charged by Bethpage for use of other banks’ A.T.M.’s. Plus, there are no fees for online, mobile or telephone banking.
Really? Absolutely no fees? For life? Guaranteed? “There are no caveats,” Kirk Kordeleski, the credit union’s president and chief executive, said in a telephone interview.
Well, almost none. The fine print on the credit union’s Web site notes in part, “Fees associated with insufficient funds will apply as necessary.” So, yes, there can be at least one fee — if you sign up for overdraft protection and overdraw your account by more than $20 when making a debit card purchase. (That fee, though, is $10 — roughly a third of the typical overdraft fee charged by big banks.)
Making the offer isn’t that big of a leap for Bethpage, Mr. Kordeleski said, because it already wasn’t charging most of those fees anyway.
The move is a savvy marketing ploy by the credit union, which has already seen an influx of new accounts. Since Bank of America announced its monthly debit card fee, the credit union has opened 1,500 new checking accounts — double the typical amount for a three-week period. A special Web site urges consumers to give their banks a “pink slip,” and offers a $25 incentive for turning in checks or debit cards from their old banks.
The checking account offers a 1 percent annual percentage interest rate, as long as customers use direct deposit, use online banking and make at least 15 debit-card purchases a month. Bethpage also offers better-than-average rates on its certificates of deposit. It is currently offering 0.90 percent on a one-year certificate of deposit, and 0.70 percent on a six-month C.D. Bankrate.com says the national averages for those C.D.’s are 0.36 percent and 0.23 percent, respectively.
Membership in the credit union, according to its Web site, is open to anyone who “lives, works, worships, attends school, regularly conducts business in Nassau or Suffolk County, or is an immediate family member of a current member.”
Are credit unions like Bethpage looking more attractive to you?
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=91f98102407fd56b18be4c9fb1fcfcad
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