Bank of the West VS MemoryBank

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 2.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 3.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Business accounts are available
  • Direct deposit is not required
  • A variety of different lengths of CDs
  • Transfer money to others with PopMoney

Cons:

  • Low-interest rates on accounts
  • High initial required amounts for CDs
  • High required amounts for accounts
  • Products change based on states
  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 5.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Low opening amounts and no fees
  • Accounts are entirely online
  • Competitive interest rates
  • Interest rates are not tiered

Cons:

  • Limited personal deposit accounts offered
  • MMA does not offer checks or debit card
  • Customer service not available 24/7
  • Business accounts not offered
Bank of the West Review

Bank of the West offers checking, savings, CDs, and money market accounts for your business. Credit cards, loans, and lines of credit are also available. Bank of the West offers payroll services and payment processing options. Foreign exchange services for business accounts are also available. Interest rates for their different business accounts are not listed on the website.

Bank of the West does not require you to have direct deposit into their checking account. There is a monthly maintenance fee, but you can waive that fee by depositing money into your account each month. You can deposit any amount by an ATM, in-branch, direct, or mobile deposit to waive the fee.

Bank of the West offers Flexible-Term CDs, Premium Money Market CD, and a Relationship CD. Within these different CD types are a variety of term lengths, except the Relationship CD. That only has a 12-month term option. To apply for a CD and get the specific term lengths and rates you have to visit a branch. You cannot apply online.

With Popmoney you can send or receive money with only an email, text, or account number. You decide where the money is deposited. You will receive an alert when the transaction is complete. There is a fee to send money overnight, and not all customers qualify to use Popmoney.

Personal banking accounts of Bank of the West do not have competitive interest rates. The rates are much less than online-only banks but similar to typical bank interest rates.

To open a CD, you must have an opening balance of $1,000 for the Flexible-Term CDs and Premier Money Market CDs. To open a Relationship CD, you must have $2,500 and a checking account with Bank of the West.

To waive the Premier Checking account fee, you must have $25,000 in qualifying accounts. The Choice Money Market account requires $5,000. CD accounts require $1,000 to $2,500 to open. The Classic Savings account requires $300. There are other options for ways to have monthly fees waived. Know the options if you cannot keep the required amounts of money in the accounts.

Bank of the West accounts are not available in all states. To apply for an account, you must have an address in one of the states listed. Interest rates and products differ between states. The name of the bank may be slightly different as well depending on the area.

Read the full Bank of the West review.

MemoryBank Review

MemoryBank accounts only require $50 to open. Their accounts do not have monthly maintenances fees. There is no balance required to keep in the account to avoid the fees. The MemoryBank checking account and money market accounts are completely free.

The MemoryBank accounts are entirely online. You apply for the accounts online, and everything for your account is online. Any permanent resident of the U.S., over the age of 18, with an SSN or ITIN, are eligible to open a MemoryBank account.

Both MemoryBank accounts offer competitive interest rates. The checking and money market account rates are competitive with other online accounts. These interest rates are much higher than other brick and mortar bank rates.

MemoryBank interest rates are competitive, and they are not tiered. You do not have to have a large account balance to earn the most competitive interest rates. Any balance earns the most competitive rate offered.

MemoryBank offers limited personal deposit accounts. Those accounts include a checking account and a money market account. You can open as many of these two accounts as you would like, but only the two accounts are available.

The MemoryBank money market account does not offer checks or a debit card. To withdraw money from the money market account, you can make an electronic transfer from the MMA into your checking account. You can also request a check to withdraw money from the MMA.

MemoryBank is an entirely online bank. There are no branch locations. You can reach customer service through email, mail, phone, or through online chat. Customer service does have set hours. Those hours are Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

MemoryBank only offers personal deposit accounts. No business accounts are available at this time. The personal deposit accounts offered are a checking account and a money market account.

Read the full MemoryBank review.

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