Thank you Mr. Henrichs for your time, I just think the term “cash back” is not quite as true as it sounds… If I am wrong on this, please correct me. Can I get a check in the amount of the built up “cash back” just simply mailed to me? If not then I think that the term “cash back” should DEFINITELY be changed…

G-d Bless…

Thanks for the kind words. While I can’t fix the lack of StarSF ATM’s in rural OK (which I empathize with being from rural IL), I can promise the perks do pan out and offer some advice.

I wrote a blog post about how our perks program is different than other because it isn’t an incentive to get you to do something that benefits us more than you, it’s more like profit sharing. How much you benefit is dependent on how much you spend on your debit card. Since you are already spending on debit, that means you recognize it is better to spend the money you have rather than risking the death spiral of credit card debt. That’s smart and PerkStreet makes it rewarding. You can check out the post here: http://perk.st/wSP8

On the ATM front, many grocery stores allow you to take cash out when doing a PIN debit transaction. You don’t get perks on a PIN transaction, but it does beat driving 35 miles to avoid a fee if you buy a few small items and take out the cash you need at the same time.

Thanks for being a customer and let me know how it goes or if you have suggestions at jhenrichs “@” perkstreet.com

~Jason
COO
PerkStreet Financial

Unfortunately fighting fraud is a tremendous burden that has several impacts not just for the bank but for the customers as we establish a relationship. For AV’s first point, the limit does go up over time and with the deeper relationship. There are several ways you can get money in the account besides our free online transfer- by pushing the money from the other account, setting up direct deposit or sending a check. We recognized that this would limit a new customer’s ability to meet the $5,000 threshold which is why we put in a 90 day grace period where you earn 2% no matter what. If we were looking to bait and switch to keep your balance captive we certainly wouldn’t have done that. We keep a small share of the interchange earned when a customer uses the card and give most of it back to the customer. It is in our best interest to make sure customers can spend as much as they want while balancing the fraud exposure to us and to the customer.

On the daily limit, I’ve worked with the customer service agent on how to better handle the situation and apologize that it was not a stellar experience.

For your last point on the check, it is clearly stated in FAQs what the hold times are but let’s face it, wading through FAQs is a pain so you naturally picked up the phone where the representative was not clear in her explanation. Again, I’ve worked on the education that she should have inquired whether you were a new customer because their is an extra hold time for the first 30 days.

Unfortunately banks have done little to engender trust so we’re fighting little by little to do better and earn that back. IM- I hope you’ll give us a shot. We aren’t perfect but I can assure we have many customers who love us. And I don’t know many other banks that have their COO writing a lengthy reply to an irate customer on a Saturday because he genuinely cares about making banking better.

Any customer or potential customer can contact me directly if they have questions or suggestions: jhenrichs -at- perkstreet.com

(1) They have a limit of $1500 on incoming online transfers in an entire *month*! They don’t tell you about this anywhere except when you actually try to move money into your account. When I called them about it, they said that they have this restriction for new customers and I was still in my first month. After a couple more calls, I realized that they will increase this limit to $2500 after six months.

Stated reason: Security.
Suspected motive: To limit the amount of money you can spend to get cashback.

(2) They have a limit of $500 on outgoing online transfers. So, say you move $5000 into your account to get 2% cashback. You are stuck with that money with them for the rest of the month (unless you adopt a slower paper check route).

(3) They have a limit of $1500 on daily expenses and explicitly say on their website that it can be waived simply by making a phone call. I had to book two one-way international flight tickets that cost a total of over $1500. I booked these and called them to waive the limit. They refused to do so because I was still in my first month. There is no notice about waivers not being allowed in the first month anywhere. As a result, I have to now spend much more money re-booking that ticket just because PerkStreet does not allow me to spend my own money.

Stated reason: Security for new customers. They claim that all banks have spending limits on debit cards. Really? Bank of America did not.

Suspected motive: Limiting spending => limiting cashback.

(4) When I tried to circumvent the limitation in (1) above to move more money into my account using FedEx, there was another surprise! The first FedEx check takes not 1 day as stated, but about 9 days for some reason. Again, some vague security reason that is incomprehensible to rational beings is given as an explanation.

Bottomline: It is not easy to get much cashback because of their restrictive policies on what you can do with your money. And they make it harder to move money out of the account while not giving any interest on it.

I also miss any other services – savings, overdraft prot, etc. It is really basic.

Make a transfer from your credit card to your account without incurring cash advance fees.

Initial deposits are limited to $500 and can be completed when you use the online application or log in to your account for the first time.

There are 2 ways to add additional funds by credit card,

1. Use our online E-Money Mover service; or
2. Call customer service at 866.792.2834 and ask to fund your account with a credit card. Please have the following information available:
* Your Credit Card with your account number, CVV number, and the expiration date on the card
* The Cardholder Name
* The Billing Address

At this time we accept the following cards: VISA® and MasterCard®.

Firstly, I must correct myself. I initiated the transfer on Tuesday, not Monday. By yesterday morning, it still was shown as “processing,” but it was queued for last night’s batch and is in my account today.

The lady I spoke to yesterday explained that incoming ACH transfers are actually batched at the end of a business day, so the processing time didn’t actually start until Wednesday. Okay, I understand batch processing, so I can accept that. So it actually took three days (Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday) for the deposit to be processed. It was available late Friday night.

Had I initiated the transfer on Wednesday, my understanding is that it wouldn’t have been available until Monday at the earliest, as Saturday and Sunday are not business days.

The question that was not answered was why does PerkStreet’s customer site say that using a card is the fastest way to add money to an account? It’s not. And the fact that there’s a fee associated with the card transfer means you’re paying for nothing. An ACH would take exactly as long and would be free.

The lady explained that transferring from a card makes sense for people who can’t push an ACH (for example, if they’re transferring money from a credit card, rather than a debit card associated with a checking account). Fine, I said, then that’s what the site should say, not that it’s any faster than any pther method. But obviously, the CSR has nothing to do with what the site says.

I should mention that the CSRs at PerkStreet are pleasant, knowledgeable, and helpful, and that there’s almost no wait time to talk to them.

Back to the ACH processing lag, in fairness, a three-day ACH processing time is not unheard of. My credit union is much faster (usually one day), but they’re exceptional. The brick-and-mortar bank I used to deal with also took three days.

So I dunno. The cash back from PerkStreet is generous, and I guess I can deal with the three-day processing time as long as I know about it. The misleading language on the site bothers me, but that also could be inadvertent. I’m a Web designer, and sometimes things are written based on policies that wind up changing later, but no one tells the designer.

So for the time being, I’ll keep the account, knowing that ACH transfers will be slow and planning accordingly. And again, PerkStreet is no slower than most other banks. They all like to hold your money for as long as they can before making it available to you. Finally, the rewards are generous, and the customer service is very good. So all in all, they’re no worse than other banks, and probably better than most.

But if fast processing of your ACH transfers is important for you, then look elsewhere.

-Richard

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/business/15credit.html?hp