When you think of exclusive banks and referral only, you probably visualize a secret society of the ultra-wealthy or a villain from a Bond movie. Alternatively, you might be more grounded in reality, and believe private banking is for individuals with a net worth or savings above a certain dollar threshold. Well, HMBradley is neither! It allows members to join via referral; however, each member only has a limited number of referrals.

HMBradley, partnered with Hatch Bank, is an online-only, FDIC-insured checking account that encourages saving by rewarding users with up to 3% APY. This innovative bank uses a tiered savings structure to encourage individuals to save a percentage of every direct deposit that they connect with HMBradley. The more you save the higher your APY is on your entire balance.

Your personalized APY system has three steps: (1) connect your direct deposit; (2) save at least 5% of your direct deposit each quarter; and (3) earn your savings tier (up to 3% APY) for the next three months.

To provide some perspective on these APYs, according to the FDIC’s National Rates, even Tier 4 with 0.5% APY is nearly 10X higher than the national average of 0.06%. Yotta, an enjoyable app, only averages out to be around 1.8% APY on the first $10,000. Although Yotta still has it uses, the 3% APY Tier 1 is enough to pull some of my funds into HMBradley. That 3% APY is 50X higher than the national average.

So the requirements to earn 3% APY are fairly simple: (1) have a direct deposit and (2) save 20% of that direct deposit. Here’s the trick, if your employer allows you to have multiple banks for your direct deposit, then, for example, you can set aside around $100 to direct deposit in HMBradley. If you do not touch this $100 direct deposit, then your account will earn 3% APY on the entire balance of the account – up to $100,000! That is a huge difference compared to other 3% APY banks like Porte, which only allows up to $15,000, and beginning in January, will also come with many strings attached, such as transaction requirements.

Additionally, HMBradley offers other features as well, including mobile check deposits, savings goal features, a 3-2-1 Cashback Rewards credit card, which allows you to spend without affecting your savings tier, and easy borrowing solutions (coming soon).

My personal recommendation is to use a combination of Yotta and HMBradley. Yotta’s game-like nature encourages good savings habits with a lottery-based APY system. This can be a good place to hold money while getting your HMBradley APY Tier set up or if your Tier falls to Tier 3 or Tier 4.

Please let me know in the comments what you think of HMBradley – the most exclusive checking account.

Referral link: https://hmb.to/ThinkingIsCool – courtesy of Thinking Is Cool podcast sponsored by HMBradley. This link currently has unlimited referrals.