I initially signed up for Northpointe Bank because I read about their Ultimate Rewards Checking, which offers 5% APR interest up to 10k as long as you have direct deposit and make 15 debt card transactions each month. The promotion ended a few days after I signed up in November 2017. They offered me the rate for about 4 months.
Definitely, there are hurdles and frustrations. Obviously the 5% interest was super enticing, but after 3 months, they sent a letter that they would no longer offer that rate to their current customers and I had a month to adjust to the changes. It's now at 0.01-0.05%. Many local banks around me offer a better rate. Gosh, even Capital One! (who have great customer service)
When you bank online (because I don't live in Michigan) , you definitely need patience.
Pro:
1. I certainly got my 5% APR, per month for the time I did get it. I didn't put too much money into the account (because I wasn't sure if it was a scam or not), but I certainly got enough interest for a cup of coffee each month.
2. It did function well as a bank. Such as, I used direct deposit from work, was able to use my debt card at stores, check balance online.
3. It did have an app for my smartphone ---it wasn't pretty, but it worked. I don't remember if it had fingerprint unlock function, but whatever.
4. I was able to pull cash from an ATM and got reimbursed for the transaction fee at the end of the month.
Con:
1. Customer service hours - It is a small bank, and customer service only operates on their local business hours. I live in CA, so it doesn't work for me, when I want to call them after work --- a slight annoyance (since it's 2 hour difference), but definitely gets annoying when you want to reach them timely. --I enjoy calling Capital one and Chase at 3 AM to reverse charges, at Northpointe, Ha! I waited 8 minutes for a bunch of "I'm sorry."
2. The debit card I received, is the worst quality I have ever gotten. I have gotten plenty of Hotel Key Cards that is thicker and better quality. Heck even, the sample credit cards from questionable creditors look better--- a slight annoyance, but it works, so whatever.
3. Obviously, having my interest rate dropped significantly is not nice. I definitely would preferred a slower phase out. Or definitely be more upfront with the conditions and sustainability of their promotions.
4. The process to closing the Account and obtaining remaining funds on Account was a hassle. I submitted the online request on March 12, 2017. I called customer service twice (about a week apart) where they told me the normal process would take 2-4 Business Days, but they were behind on the process (apparently many people are closing accounts). I use Mint to track my finances, and Mint suggested to me it wasn't able to access my account around March 26-27, 2017. I just received my remaining balance on April 2, 2017 as a check. The balance doesn't match to my last balance on Mint and I haven't used any funds since March 12. It's off by $4.92 (obviously not to my benefit), I reviewed the fee schedule, and I can't tell what fees would get me to $4.92 (tried to see if they charged me for the stamp to mail to me, but nope.) I'm not going to contact Northpointe about this because I don't think it's worth it. My last statement was not attached to the check and I can't check my statements online, because they locked my online account.
***Update***
I did get a statement, about two weeks after - I got $0.08 for interest, and charged $5 for them to mail a check to me.
I think reasonably, I should have gotten my funds in 10 business days from my request of cancellation. It's not like Chase bank where I can walk up to a teller, but I understand. If I wanted my funds quicker, I could have driven to Irvine or Michigan. Looking back, I should have withdrew majority of my funds from an ATM, with a remaining balance of $10, and reallocate it, instead of having it locked up with them for like 25 days.
Ultimately, I just want to write this review, so everyone who is thinking about banking with Northepointe has an idea of what they are getting themselves into. I tried online banking, and I'm not sure it's for me. Well, I'm not sure if it's Online Banking in General, or Northpointe's version of online banking. The extra interest, even if it's so enticing, doesn't seem to make sense.
My advice to Northpointe is understand your target market. Maybe I am naive to believe this product was for me. I signed up because of the great interest rate offer. When you got rid of it (within months), I was enticed to look for other competitive banking offers. I definitely wished closing my account could have been quicker. I am very fortunate that I don't live paycheck to paycheck, but I could imagine there are people that would be in trouble if they did not have faster access to their funds. From the reviews, it seems like your marketing strategy and offers change often --like a little too often. read more