Credit Card and/or Banking and Checking Account

[epiphany9x]

Hi, and thanks for opening.

These types of deals aren't my area of expertise so I'd like some help on this matter. I am a college student who is pretty poor... I don't spend much (well less than the average slickdealer?) and I don't save much either.

I'm looking for a good credit card with good rewards on gas and grocery, or a hefty enough bonus to let me use it for a year. I've only ever owned a Citi Dividend Platinum Select (2% on gas and grocery, 1% on all else) and I've got a good credit history (700+).

What I want in a checking account is low fees and high interest... also I'd like to be able to use the ATM or at least be able to get cash back from grocery stores.

Anyway, I'm interested in whatever options you have to recommend. Please post whatever comes to mind. Thanks a lot!

[damnyou]

From your location I looked at bankrate.com and found out these banks

http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/checking-account/checking-account-results.aspx?local=true&market=973&prods=31

There was a washington mutual or chase deal posted a while back

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1425559

In case of credit cards, the two good ones are Chase Freedom and American Express Blue Cash. However, Chase Freedom might be having fees from next year as was posted in a thread in hot deals section

You can find other cards here

http://www.creditcards.com/

Just remember that a good cashback card will have a high APR. Of course if you are paying off your balance every month it will not matter to you

[thetobster]

What I want in a checking account is low fees and high interest... also I'd like to be able to use the ATM or at least be able to get cash back from grocery stores.

i doubt you can find a checking account with high interest

[WriterGal]

i doubt you can find a checking account with high interest

Maybe, here's a website to help

www.checkingfinder.com

"Getting more than 5% from an account I can write checks from is not something to laugh at. If you have less than $50,000, ING Direct's Electric Orange. I used CheckingFinder's "Find My Best Return" feature and found the Bank of Tipton will give me 5.26% interest... if I meet some requirements..."

I know what you must be thinking, "Here is the catch. Watch the hammer drop on this one." Actually, the restrictions aren't so bad. For many banks, you don't have to keep a minimum balance. Usually the requirement is to make 10-12 debit card purchases a month, sign up for paperless statements, and/or sign into your account once a month. With the bank I mentioned above, you have to do all three. Looking at a few of the banks that came up on my search, they seemed competitive in features that you'd want in a bank. For instance, many provided free online bill pay and most reimburse ATM fees.

How I might play the high-yield account game...
It seems relatively easy except that for the debit card purchases. I like to use credit cards to rack up the reward points. Giving up the reward points to earn more interest may still be a financial win, but it might not be optimal. A good plan might be to use your debit card on small transactions such as cheap lunches at McDonalds. That way you could get the best of both worlds. It might even be worth it to you to have 10 $1 transactions for a something on a value meal and then tell McDonalds to keep the food. Another idea would be to go to grocery store during off hours and use their self-checkout option to buy 10 things in small transactions. I'm sure that they'll think you have lost your marbles, but then again, it wouldn't be the first time. If I were to do this, I'd have a paper explaining what I'm doing and why. If they looked at me odd, I'd just hand it over and hope they let me continue about my business.

If you don't keep a lot of money in your checking account ING Direct's Electric Orange is probably the way to go.

article from: http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/5-interest-from-a-checking-account-yes/