Ally Bank VS VirtualBank

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 3.5 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 5.0 Star Icon
4.00%APY
Savings/MMA
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Pros:

  • Competitive interest rates on accounts
  • No required opening amounts or fees
  • Good variety of accounts available
  • Ten-day Best Rate Guarantee

Cons:

  • Accounts have tiered interest rates
  • Limited ways to fund your accounts
  • Link external accounts to Ally accounts
  • Transfers can take days to fund
  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 4.0 Star Icon
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Pros:

  • Low required opening deposit
  • Competitive interest rates on accounts
  • eMoney Market account offers high rates
  • Online and Mobile Banking

Cons:

  • Monthly fees on accounts
  • High-interest rates require large amounts
  • CDs require a large opening deposit
  • No checking accounts offered
Ally Bank Review

Ally accounts offer competitive interest rates. The interest rates for the Ally savings account is 2.20% for all balances. The checking account earns 0.60% on balances over $15,000. The money market account and CDs also earn competitive rates.

Ally accounts do not have required opening amounts. You can open their accounts with any amount. There are no monthly fees for Ally accounts. They do not have set amounts required to keep in the account to avoid a monthly fee. The CDs have a fee if you withdraw money before the maturity date.

There are a good variety of personal accounts offered through Ally. These accounts include:

  • Savings and money market account
  • Interest checking account
  • High yield CD
  • Raise Your Rate CD
  • No Penalty CD
  • IRA CDs

When you open a CD with Ally, they offer a ten-day Best Rate Guarantee. For the first ten-days after opening your CD, Ally will watch the interest rates. If the rates increase during that time, the interest rate for your CD will increase. This guarantee is for new CDs as well as CD renewals.

Some Ally accounts have tiered interest rates. To earn the highest rates requires high account balances. The money market account requires $25,000 to earn the most competitive rates. The checking account requires $15,000.

There are limited ways to fund your Ally accounts. The easiest way to fund your account is through electronic transfers. Once your account is open, you can set up direct deposit with your employer. You can mail in a check or deposit a check through Ally eCheck Deposits. You cannot deposit cash into Ally accounts.

To make electronic transfers, Ally suggests linking an external account. You can then transfer money electronically between the linked account and Ally accounts. You can transfer money electronically between Ally accounts.

The standard time to transfer money from Ally to an external account is three business days. This time does not include weekends or holidays. If you need the money the next day, you must request the transfer before 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Transfers between Ally accounts are immediate.

Read the full Ally Bank review.

VirtualBank Review

VirtualBank money market accounts have a low required opening deposit. The required amount is only $100. That opening deposit is for the eMoney Market and the Jumbo eMoney Market.

The interest rates on VirtualBank accounts are competitive with other online-only accounts. You only need one penny in the eMoney Market account to earn interest. To earn the highest interest on the Jumbo eMoney Market, you must keep at least $250,000 in the account. Anything over $0.01 earns interest, just not the highest rates.

The eMoney Market account offers a competitive introductory rate. New customers to VirtualBank receive a higher interest rate for the first year of the account being open. After the first year, the rate drops considerably. The lower rate is still much higher than your typical brick and mortar bank rates. Money already in a VirtualBank account does not qualify for the higher rate.

All VirtualBank accounts come with online and mobile banking. With online banking, you can see account balances, transfer funds, and receive e-Statements. Everything that can be done online can be done through mobile banking. You can also deposit checks through the app.

The eMoney Market and the Jumbo eMoney Market account have a monthly fee. The fee is $5. To waive the monthly fee, you must keep $100 in the account.

The Jumbo eMoney Market requires $250,000 to earn the highest interest rate. You still earn interest on any amount less than $250,000. To earn the highest amount, you must have that balance. This account only requires $100 to open. The eMoney Market account earns the same amount of interest not matter how much you have in the account.

VirtualBank CDs require $10,000 to open. The CDs range from a one-month term to a five-year term. There are 11 different CDs between those term lengths. The interest rates for each different term are competitive. The longer the term, the higher the interest rates.

VirtualBank does not offer checking accounts. They used to offer an eChecking account, but it no longer available. Because no checking accounts are offered, there are no ATM or debit cards. Bill pay is not available. You can have money directly deposited into VirtualBank money market accounts.

Read the full VirtualBank review.

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