5Star Bank VS Earn Bank

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 4.5 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 3.5 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 3.5 Star Icon
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Pros:

  • Variety of personal accounts offered
  • Low opening required amounts
  • Reimbursement for ATM fees
  • Savings account offers good rates

Cons:

  • Money market account has tiered rates
  • Accounts have monthly fees
  • Daily debit card limits
  • Cannot open accounts completely online
  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 4.0 Star Icon
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Pros:

  • Competitive interest rates on accounts
  • Low opening required amount for MMA
  • No tiered interest rates on accounts
  • Accounts are entirely online

Cons:

  • CDs have high opening required amounts
  • MMA has monthly maintenance fees
  • Must link accounts to external account
  • Limited accounts offered
5Star Bank Review

5Star Bank offers a variety of accounts. They offer personal deposit and business accounts. These include:

  • 5Star checking account
  • E-Checking account
  • Basic savings account
  • Money market account
  • CD terms from six-months to five-years
  • IRA CDs from 18-months to five-years
  • Lending options
  • Credit cards
  • Business checking and money market accounts
  • Business CDs from six-months to five-years
  • Business lending and credit options

5Star Bank has low amounts required to open their accounts. The E-Checking requires $50. The 5Star checking and the basic savings account require $100 to open. Both the money market account and the different CD terms require $1,000 to open.

The 5Star checking account refunds up to five ATM transactions fees per month. You must keep at least $1,000 in the checking account to have ATM transactions refunded. The E-Checking account does not offer ATM reimbursement.

The basic 5Star savings account offers competitive rates. The rates are higher than typical brick-and-mortar rates. This account only requires $100 to open and keep in the account to waive the monthly fee. Any amount in the account earns the competitive rate. These rates are not tiered.

To earn the most competitive rates for the money market account requires an account balance over $1 million. Any balance over $1,000 does earn interest but a lower rate. The rates gradually increase the more money you have in the account.

Most 5Star Bank accounts have monthly maintenance fees. The savings account fee is $2. The money market fee is $5, and the checking account fee is $7. Waive each of these fees by keeping a set amount in the accounts. Those balances range from $100 to $1,000, depending on the account.

5Star has daily limits for your debit card. The limit for point of sale purchases is $1,000 per day. The daily limit for ATM withdrawals is $300.

Accounts through 5Star Bank are not available to open entirely online. To open the accounts, you need to visit a branch location. You may be able to open the accounts through the mail. Contact customer service for more information.

Read the full 5Star Bank review.

Earn Bank Review

earn.bank accounts offer competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online accounts. Their interest rates are much higher than typical bank rates.

The money market account through earn.bank has a low opening required amount. To open this account only requires $100.

The earn.bank money market account does not have tiered interest rates. You do not have to have a set amount in the account to earn the most competitive interest rate.

All earn.bank accounts are entirely online. You can open their money market account or CD terms from anywhere. Because they are an online bank, the interest rates are much higher than typical bank rates. To open an account, you must have a social security number and a government issued ID. You must have the amount required to open the account. You can fund the initial amount with a credit card, or external savings or checking account.

To open a CD with earn.bank requires a large sum. Each of the CD terms require $25,000 to open. The CD terms available are a one-year and a two-year.

The money market account has a monthly maintenance fee of $10. To waive this fee requires an account balance of $10,000. This fee is not assessed for the first three months of opening the account. After that time, if you do not have a $10,000 balance, you will be charged $10 each month that the balance is below $10,000. There is also a $25 paper statement fee. Avoid this fee by signing up for electronic statements.

The easiest way to withdraw money from your MMA is to link the account to an external account. The linked account allows you to also deposit money easily into your earn.bank accounts. You can withdraw money through a wire transfer by calling customer service.

earn.bank does not offer a wide variety of accounts. They only offer one personal deposit money market account and two CD terms. The CD terms offered are a one-year and two-year term. They do not offer checking accounts, savings accounts, or business accounts.

Read the full Earn Bank review.

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American Express
Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024)
APY 4.00%
Rate 3.92%
Min to Open $0
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook No
Member FDIC
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EverBank
Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024)
APY 4.75%
Rate 4.64%
Min to Open $0
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook No
Member FDIC No monthly maintenance fee, $0 to open, easily grow your money
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