SmartMoney magazine has released the results of their Annual Broker Survey in its June 2012 issue. Check out the attached article for additional commentary and insight into rankings and methodology. You’ll find my own commentary on their findings below.

SmartMoney 2012 Top 10 Overall

1. Fidelity
2. Scottrade
3. TD Ameritrade
4. E-Trade
5. Schwab
6. TradeKing
7. Zecco
8. Merrill Edge
9. ING Direct Sharebuilder
10. WellsTrade

Best in Commission & Fees Category (5 stars)

Scottrade doesn’t have a rock-bottem per-trade commission at $7 a trade, but it’s lower than average and they still win overall due to lower fees elsewhere – such as annual fees, inactivity fees, fees to use a phone, or close out an account.

1. Scottrade
2. ING Direct Sharebuilder

Best in Customer Service Category (4 stars+)

One important factor here was speed of reply in addition to accuracy, and per the article all of the brokers surveyed now offer Live Chat online except for WellsTrade. I think TradeKing was the first to offer this feature?

1. TradeKing ($50 opening bonus link)
2. Scottrade
3. E-Trade
4. Zecco

Trends

• Prices are still dropping, although more slowly. SmartMoney reports that in 1994 the average commission price surveyed was $28. Last year, $8.27. This year, only $7.96. Note that every single one of their top 10 brokers have per-trade stock commissions of under $10. I suppose anything higher would just seem greedy now.
• Banking. More firms are adding banking features like debit cards and billpay to make it more likely that you’ll keep all your money there, joining firms like Merrill Lynch (Bank of America) and WellsTrade (Wells Fargo) which are already closely aligned and owned by big banks.
• Smartphone and iPad apps. These are indeed cool, but the brokers really love them because they increase your trade activity.

Omissions

SmartMoney mentions the the Merrill Edge BofA deal, where you can get 30 free trades a month if you hold a combined $25,000 as cash in your *deposit* accounts only at Bank of America. However, they don’t mention the WellsTrade deal which offers 100 free trades a year if you hold a combined $25k across acounts including your brokerage balance, but instead requires a PMA checking account that you have to keep active with “in-person” activity like writing a physical check at least once a year.

WellsTrade and Zecco enter the top 10 this year, but Vanguard and OptionsXpress were bumped out. Vanguard was #7 in their 2011 rankings. There was no mention of what happened… I’d like to know if they were notably worse in some area or were simply excluded? OptionsXpress was bought by Schwab last year, but still runs an independent site.

Finally, there was no mention of the quantity and quality of the commission-free ETF lists offered by the majority of these brokers. If anything, I thought that was more important to mention than smartphone apps that scan product barcodes at the grocery store.

Finding The Best Broker For You

Don’t forget to compare these results with the Consumer Reports 2012 Rankings and the Barron’s 2012 Rankings. The key is to drill down to see which broker satisfies your personal set of needs the best, as there is a lot of fluff in there. This is why I’d rather look at specific sub-rankings more closely than the big headline “Top 10″ rankings.

Take the “Banking” category, which included as a criteria but some brokers just don’t offer banking services and I don’t think they should be penalized for it. Another area I don’t care about is “Research” tools. I’ve ever used a broker for research. Morningstar offers me everything that I need, otherwise I just look at Google/Yahoo quotes and look for related news and blog articles. I don’t see how a discount broker would have the time or resources for unique analysis. Just give me cheap trades with good fills, solid customer service when I need it, and track my capital gains and tax lots accurately.

Find more in Investing | 5/15 | 12 Comments »

Old security system vs. New security system

I’ve never had a security system until now, other than our dogs which are all bark and no bite. I suppose the main reason for that is that I didn’t own enough property to be worth protecting. Burglars could take everything and it would perhaps fetch $600 total on Craigslist, which is less than what a year of ADT monitoring fees might cost.

Combine the baby nesting instinct with a rash of recent break-ins in our quiet neighborhood, and my mindset has changed. I wanted a home security system, but I didn’t want to pay $60 or even $30 a month for monitoring. The monthly bill is where companies make most of their profit. $60 a month = $720 a year = $7,200 over a decade.

After some research, we settled on a company called Simplisafe. Here’s a list of reasons why we chose it:

• Wireless. Simplisafe uses GSM cellular technology, which means you don’t need a landline (which can also easily be cut by a criminal). Wireless monitoring was a requirement for me, and usually costs extra with other brands.
• Affordable up-front cost. The total cost of equipment was about $400 to completely cover my 2,000 sq. ft. house. You could probably cover an apartment or condo for $200-$300.
• DIY Installation. You order it, and install it yourself using the included 3M sticky tape. No drilling holes. Installation literally took less than half an hour. (Their YouTube video has it done in one minute.) If I moved, I just remove the sensors and buy some new sticky pads for $10.
• Affordable monitoring fee with no contract. Again, the monthly fee is where your cost over time adds up, and you’re usually stuck in a 2 or 3-year contract. Simplisafe 24/7 monitoring is only $15 a month with no contract. You can add instant text message alerts for an optional $5 a month. That’s is pretty much as cheap as UL-listed monitoring will cost. If you prefer, you don’t have to buy monitoring at all and you’ll just have a loud audible alarm (you can also buy extra sirens) which may be adequate for condos and apartments.
• Battery-powered. The base station has a rechargeable battery that will last up to 8 hours in a power outage. All the rest of the sensors use their own individual lithium battery. This means the entire system will work in a power outage or if the power is cut on purpose.
• Expandable. Everything is a la carte on the website, so you buy just as many sensors as you need. They recommend a contact sensor for each entry into the house, and motion sensors to cover important areas.
• UL-listed 24/7 Monitoring. On a cheap system, I imagined the monitoring system to be two minimum-wage employees taking turns in an apartment. But Simplisafe is certified by United Laboratories just like ADT and commercial fire alarm systems. Central station monitoring is provided by AMCEST Corporation (UL #S2299). This may also make you eligible for a discount on your homeowners or renters insurance.

Read the rest of this entry…

Find more in Deals & Offers, Frugal Living | 5/14 | 25 Comments »

Offer is back for 2012. Every Friday this summer from now until August 17th, you can get 2-for-1 movie tickets from Fandango.com if you have a Visa Signature card and use it to buy the tickets. You can also get $5 off $25 in Fandango Bucks gift cards for the rest of the week.

Tickets must be purchased on a Friday for a Friday show time. Limit 1 movie ticket per Visa Signature card purchase, per 30 day period following the date of a purchase in connection with this offer.

Check out your credit cards, you may be surprised to have one and not know it. If you’ve gone after some of the juicy $500+ sign-up bonuses this year, you probably have one of these cards.

• Chase Sapphire Preferred with $500 in travel bonus = Visa Signature card
• British Airways card offering 100,000 bonus Avios points = Visa Signature
• Hyatt Credit Card with 2 free hotel nights at any Hyatt in the world = Visa Signature

If you are a member of AMC Stubs, you can get the Fandango service fee waived as well at those theaters (membership costs $12 a year, they have discounted it previously). Time to see The Avengers!

Find more in Frugal Living | 5/11 | 6 Comments »

…because it looks like I’m getting another one. After seeing repeated news articles titled “Mortgage rate set record lows”, I’m now looking at refinancing to a 15-year fixed mortgage for 3% with all lender closing costs covered. I’ve seen multiple quotes for under 3% and getting under or close to zero in net fees.

Here’s a chart of the historical mortgage rate averages, courtesy of HSH.com. It includes the 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed, and the 5/1 30-year adjustable. Since I bought my home less than 5 years ago, 30-year fixed mortgage rates have ranged from a high of 7% to just above 4% today.

Even though I stopped trying to predict mortgage rates a while ago, I still find it hard to believe that I started with an interest rate of over 6% and now could be paying under 3% with a no-cost refi.

Alternative investments
If I successfully close on this loan, I don’t know if I’ll be aggressively paying it down as much as before. It’s important to note that the risk levels are not the same for the options below, but the interest rate environment is finally tipping to the point that I’d consider investing instead of paying off 3% debt.

• I could buy super-safe US Treasury bonds, with yields at ~2.2% for a 15-year maturity. Interest on Treasury bonds are exempt from state income taxes.
• I could buy a municipal bond fund like the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund (VWIUX), which invests in investment-grade municipal bonds. The fund holdings have a duration of about 5 years and yields nearly 2% federally tax-exempt. If you’re in the highest tax bracket, that would be an effective yield of ~3%.
• If I lived in California, I could buy shares of the Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund (VCITX) with 2.60% yield that is exempt from both federal and state income taxes, with a duration of 6.4 years. That could be an effective yield of well over 4%.
• I could take on more risk and buy shares of mature, dividend-paying companies. The Vanguard Equity Income Fund (VEIRX) has a current dividend yield of nearly 3%.

I’m going through a local mortgage broker, but you can find similar rates over at Amerisave. If the “all lender fees and points” is negative, that means the credit they give you is more than all closing costs including appraisals and title insurance. (Anyone use them before?) Compare that with rate quotes from and Quicken Loans.

Find more in Investing, Real Estate | 5/11 | 26 Comments »

Reaching financial independence faster boils down to either increasing your income or decreasing your expenses. This is why so many books and blogs focus on frugality and saving money. However, too often the term frugality conjurs up the image of an old woman eating gruel while separating her double-ply toilet paper into single-ply.

After an interesting conversation about how vegetarians often have different motivations (religious, ethical, environmental, amongst others), I thought about the many driving forces that can result in frugality.

Purely Financial
Let’s start hypothetically, and say that all you care about is money and you cut expenses purely because you would rather invest that dollar and have it produce income for you. You could move into a smaller house, buy a fuel-efficient car, walk or use public transportation instead of driving when possible, make dinner from scratch at home instead of ordering dinner at the restaurant, and cancel the cable TV service. But if you won the lottery tomorrow, you’d drive your Hummer everywhere, eat at Morton’s Steakhouse once a week, and subscribe to everything from ESPN to HBO and add in the 5-DVD Netflix plan to top it all off.

Environmental / Green
But wait, you are rather concerned about preserving natural resources, so perhaps you’d still walk a little more and buy a fuel-efficient car. A smaller house would probably use up less electricity and heating oil as well. Using raw ingredients to cook uses less wasteful packaging made of plastic and styrofoam.

Simplicity / Minimalism
If you want to reduce chaos and clutter in your life, then you may still have a reason to move into a smaller home since that’ll force you to get rid of some extra things. Do you really need a big car, or is a hatchback or station wagon enough? Hey, the Europeans make do, as gas costs $10 a gallon there.

Physical Health
Walking or biking is much healthier than driving, so you won’t need that Hummer as much. Medical studies have shown that the more time you spend sitting, the shorter your lifespan, so you don’t want to be that TV-watching couch potato.

Self-Empowerment
Sure, you could pay someone to cook your food, but wouldn’t you feel great if you knew how to brine a turkey, make your own beer, or grow your own vegetables? This might also apply to whatever other skills you want to pick up. Home repair, appliance repair, auto repair, landscaping, investing…

Religious / Philanthropic
The sooner you reach financial independence, the sooner you can start giving more back to society and serving others instead of trying to make money.

So in the end, you could be the same person, with or without a big pile of money. (Maybe not. I’d get some cool toys.) A more practical idea would be to use these other motivations to make saving money more appealing. You’re not buying a compact car because you’re cheap, you’re being minimalistic and environmentally conscious. You’re not skipping Olive Garden because you’re broke, you’re doing it because you know how to can make your own risotto at home that’s even better. Find a different (higher?) cause. (The extra thousands of dollars growing in your brokerage account won’t hurt either.)

Find more in Frugal Living | 5/10 | 11 Comments »

(Updated with Amazon confirmation info.) The Blue Cash Preferred from American Express Card offers a whopping

• 6% cash back on purchases at supermarkets
• 3% cash back on gas and department store purchases
• and 1% cash back on everything else.
• 6% back on Amazon gift certificates bought via supermarkets. Finally, don’t forget that you can buy a lot of nice gift cards at popular stores at supermarkets – I’ve seen Home Depot, Best Buy, Macy’s, Sears, and various gas stations and even Amazon.com. (Update: Confirmed to work for Amazon gift cards bought at Safeway stores. I bought it in along with other grocery purchases.)

In addition, there is now a $150 welcome bonus for new cardholders when you spend $1,000 or more within your first 3 months. The card has a $75 annual fee, but keep in mind that spending $25 a week on groceries, that 6% back will earn enough cash ($78) to pay for the annual fee by itself. The Blue Cash Preferred also has 0% APR interest on purchases for 12 months.

The regular Blue Cash Everyday from American Express gives you $100 cash back bonus after spending $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months, pays 3% cash back on purchases at supermarkets, 2% cash back on gas and department store purchases, and 1% cash back on everything else and has no annual fee.

If you spend less than a combination of $175 per month on groceries and $100 on gas per month, then the Blue Cash Everyday would give you more money back overall. Otherwise, the Preferred above works out better. Both cards offer the simplicity of cash back on the major “need” categories of groceries and gas, great for those that don’t like dealing with rotating categories or don’t travel very much.

If you get some sort of application error, you should try clearing your cookies or using the Private Browsing or Incognito option in your web browser. This worked for me to see the application page.

Blue Cash Preferred from American Express Card application link

Find more in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 5/9 | 27 Comments »

SunTrust Bank is offering 30,000 Delta Skymiles for opening a new checking account by 6/30 with qualifying direct deposit and choosing the Delta SkyMiles World Check Card. Available in AL, AR, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, WV, VA and Washington, D.C. The debit card does have a $75 annual fee but do you get 1 mile per $1 spent (for those that avoid credit cards). However, you don’t get the free checked bags or Priority Boarding of the Delta American Express credit card.

Still it’s not a bad deal, $75 for 30k miles if you live near a SunTrust branch. Some of the text suggests that you can get 15k of those miles with just the new checking account and no debit card, but it’s not entirely clear. Direct deposit must be $100 or more. The “Balanced Banking” checking account option has a $12 monthly fee, waived with a $3,000 minimum balance across Suntrust accounts. Selected fine print below:

Read the rest of this entry…

Find more in Banking, Deals & Offers | 5/9 | 1 Comment »

Summer is coming, and that often mean rising gas prices. A comment from reader Thadf reminded me of an old post from late 2008 about hedging gas prices using ETFs. He points out that looking back, using the United States Gasoline ETF (UGA) was a much better hedge than using alternative ETFs like the United States Oil ETF (USO) and iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil TR Index ETN (OIL) which tracked crude oil futures instead of unleaded gasoline.

All of these ETFs use futures to try and match the price movements of a commodity, but they don’t actually hold the commodity itself as storage and transaction costs would be cost-prohibitive. The concern back then was that UGA only started trading in February 2008 and was thinly traded so the bid/ask spreads could be wide and NAV premiums could be high. Today, UGA still has significantly net assets than OIL or USO.

Here’s a chart of the past 3-year performance of USO vs. OIL vs. UGA, via Google Finance:

Here’s a chart comparing the past 3-year price change of UGA vs. gasoline prices at the pump. UGA daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance, national average gas prices from the US Energy Information Administration.

The tracking looks better than expected, considering the concerns I’ve read about contango and hedge fund manipulations. UGA’s expense ratio is 0.80%. I wonder how much trouble it would be to trade gasoline (RBOB) futures directly on the NYMEX.

Is hedging gas prices worth the effort for the average consumer? Probably not. Unless you are especially sensitive to a price spike for some reason, any money is better invested for the long run. But if that’s your goal, your better option would appear to be UGA.

Find more in Budgeting | 5/8 | 8 Comments »

As new parents-to-be, we have been exploring our options for paid and unpaid family leave from work. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but I was pretty surprised by all the possible permutations that you could do. I would add that while knowing your legal rights is important, I also support the idea of working with your employer and co-workers to make the process easier on everyone.

Your Work Contract
Most employers offer their full-time salaried worker’s some length of paid maternity leave, and it’s usually spelled out clearly in the lawyer-ese language of your work agreement. A few employers even offer paid paternity leave. Making an appointment to discuss all your options with Human Resources can be time well spent. Keep in mind that you are subject to the laws of the state where you work, not where the company is based.

In addition, you may be eligible for a longer unpaid leave-of-absence. For example, a big company may allow you up to one full year of leave and your same job (or comparable) will still be yours when you come back.

Short-Term Disability Insurance
Depending on your insurance plan and local laws, being pregnant or taking time off to bond with a new child may be covered under short-term disability insurance. This means you may be eligible for an additional period after your paid maternity leave where you will get a disability benefit that is somewhere around 50% of your normal pay (subject to caps).

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The FMLA entitles an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of job-protected unpaid leave for the birth or placement of a child, to bond with a newborn or newly placed son or daughter, or to care for a son or daughter with a serious health condition. You may or may not be required to use up your paid vacation days first. To be eligible for FMLA benefits, an employee must:

• work for a covered employer;
• have worked for the employer for a total of 12 months;
• have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months (~24 hours per week average); and
• work at a location in the United States or in any territory or possession of the United States where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles.

Under some circumstances, employees may take FMLA leave intermittently – taking leave in separate blocks of time for a single qualifying reason – or on a reduced leave schedule – reducing the employee’s usual weekly or daily work schedule. If FMLA leave is for birth and care, or placement for adoption or foster care, intermittent leave is subject to the employer’s approval. To get that permission, you should approach your employer in a way that suggests that taking the leave in chunks would disrupt the office operations less than taking all 12-weeks at once. For example, you may propose a 4-day workweek over a period of several months to a year, as opposed to leaving entirely for three.

State-Specific Family Leave Laws
Each state can have their own separate family leave and/or disability laws that may grant you more time and/or pay. Running a Google search for “[Your State] Family Leave Act” or “[Your State] Family Leave Laws” should locate the appropriate information.

Let’s take the most populous state and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). Under federal law, any leave taken for a pregnancy-related disability is part of your FMLA 12-week limit. However, in California, an eligible employee who is disabled on account of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions is entitled to take Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) for up to four months. In addition to that, an eligible employee could then take 12 weeks of family leave to care for and bond with a new child under FMLA/CFRA. That adds up to a total possible leave of 7 months.

Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, CA Dept. of General Services, CA Fair Employment and Housing Commission

Find more in Career, Family | 5/7 | 23 Comments »

If you’re like me, you have a cabinet in your kitchen stuffed with a scratched and stained mess of Gladware, Ziploc, or Tupperware food containers and an even larger stack of lids that never seem to fit. I even remember telling myself to stick with one brand and three sizes, but after years of dinner parties, brown-bag lunches, and outdoor potlucks, entropy has kicked my butt. Add in the baby on the way, and I wanted to reset and replace with BPA-free (linked to cancer and hormonal disorders) containers and perhaps buy additional ones for storing baby food.

The creators of America’s Test Kitchen ran another test (like with the knives) of the major brands of plastic food containers including Gladware, Ziploc, Rubbermaid, Sterilite, OXO, and more. All were BPA-free and they used the rectangular/square 8-cup sizes. They froze them, put stinky food in them, microwaved them with chili, washed them repeatedly, submerged them in water to test for leaks, and more. Being frugal doesn’t mean just buying the cheapest thing out there, it’s about finding the best value for the price.

The winner? For plastic food containers, the winner was Snapware MODS (update: now “Snapware Airtight”) which featured good performance across all categories. However, the reviews on this 38-piece set of Snapware Airtight for $40 shipped at Amazon.com seem to be worsening over time, and look at the pictures the constructions does look slightly less “beefy”. I did find a cheaper 20-piece set for $15 shipped at Wal-mart that may be worth trying out. It may be better to recognize that most of the better performing containers use the kind of seal that Snapware uses with snap-down “wing” flap, silicone gaskets, and a lid with full wraparound ridges.

For glass containers, the winner was Kinetic Go Green Glasslock, which is also sold under Glasslock by Snapware. Made of microwave-safe tempered glass, this type of container seems to be enjoying a comeback due to all the concerns about microwaving plastic. I have to say, it does sound like a great idea as long as you don’t drop things a lot (like me). Freezer safe. Add in that airtight lid, and I’m sold.

The main drawback beside fragility is the additional cost. You can buy their 16-piece set for $70 at Amazon.com including free shipping, although I’d rather buy a six-piece set of a medium-size for about $30-$40. All seem to have overall good reviews, and I also noticed that people seem to really love these cute Wean Green Wean Cubes Baby Food Glass Containers, which are also made by Glasslock (Snapware). Hopefully these can last a long time. Besides, there’s always that baby registry…

Find more in Frugal Living | 5/4 | 16 Comments »

“Sell in May and go away” is a rhyming market-timing slogan that may never… go away. Here’s a graphic that seems to support the idea that stocks have historically performed much worse between May and October than the rest of the year. Credit to Reuters/Scott Barber via Abnormal Returns. Data set is the MSCI World Index from 1971-2011.

Meanwhile, The Big Picture shares a bunch of graphs from TheChartStore that don’t make it look so clear-cut. Looking at this one, why shouldn’t just bail out every September? Data set is the S&P 500 from 1928-2011.

Larry Swedroe tests the theory out using 30-day Treasury bonds as the alternative investment in this CBS Moneywatch article:

He looked at returns through 2007 from six start dates since 1950. “Sell in May” beat “buy and hold” if you started investing in 1960, 1970 and 2000, but not if you started in 1950, 1980 or 1990. “It’s pure randomness,” Swedroe says. “How would you ever know when to start?”

Throw in the tax implications of all that buying and selling, and I agree. Do you really want to base your investing strategy on a data-mining result that has no logical explanation behind it? Sounds too much like driving a car using only your rearview mirror.

However, Tadas Viskanta of Abnormal Returns has what I think is a reasonable compromise – what if you just decided to rebalance your portfolio at the very end of April and the very end of October? You should rebalance your portfolio regularly anyway, so why not do it twice a year, six months apart. If your target asset allocation is 70% stocks/30% bonds and now you’re at 80/20 due to the recent run-up, why not go back to 70/30. If things end up at 60/40 in November, then again, go back to 70/30.

You could call it “Remember to Rebalance in May and November”. It even rhymes! If “sell in may” really works, you’ll get some benefit from this mean reversion wackiness. If it’s just noise, you portfolio shouldn’t theoretically be hurt any more than picking other months.

Find more in Behavioral Economics, Investing | 5/3 | 11 Comments »

Chase Exclusives is a program that encourages you to open a Chase checking account whenever you have any other relationship with Chase. I closed my Chase (formerly WaMu) account a while back after they slowly started making it harder to keep as a secondary account, but some of these perks actually seem pretty good. I remember hearing something about them, but never actually took a good look at the details until now.

10% Extra Cash Back + 10 cents per purchase on Chase Freedom
The Chase Freedom Visa card is a popular cash back card that features 5% cash back on rotating categories and 1% back on everything else. This quarter you’ll get 5% back on all purchases at grocery stores (up to $75 cash back a quarter based on $1,500 in purchases). Check out my page on 5% cash back credit cards for more info.

However, if you have a Chase checking account, they will add an additional 10 points + 1 extra point for every $10 in purchases. Since 100 points is worth $1, that’s basically saying every purchase on the Chase Freedom earns 10 cents plus 1.10% cash back and every 5% category purchase earns 10 cents plus 5.1% cash back. For someone like me that puts everything on their credit card for easy expense tracking, that can add up especially with smaller purchases.

Currently, the Chase Freedom has a promotion offering $100 bonus cashback if you sign up and make just $500 in purchases in your first three months.

1% Mortgage Cash Back program
If you have both a Chase checking account and a Chase mortgage, you can earn 1% cash back on your mortgage payments (principal + interest). You have to have the checking account open before the mortgage closing, and enroll in automatic payments from said account within 60 days of closing. If you take the option of having your 1% cash back applied towards your loan principal, that works out to shortening a 30-year fixed mortgage by 9 months if you stick with it. (They really should make this an option on other mortgages, paying just 1% extra instead.)

I don’t know how good Chase mortgage rates are, but I’d probably get a quote now from Chase just to see if they are competitive. Overall though, it would probably be better to just get a better interest rate and pay extra towards your principal as if you had a higher mortgage (takes discipline).

$150 New account opening bonus
Thinking about opening a new account? You can also get a $150 bonus through this link if you open a Chase Total Checking account with $100 and set up direct deposit (new customers only). To avoid monthly service fees, you must do any one of the following each statement period:

1. Have monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more made to this account, or
2. Keep the daily balance in your checking account at or above $1,500, or
3. Keep an average balance of $5,000 or more in your checking and other types of qualifying Chase accounts.

Find more in Banking, Credit Cards | 5/2 | 14 Comments »