-
Financial Rates:
1.0
-
Customer Service:
3.5
-
Website Experience:
2.5
-
Bank Fees:
3.0
Pros:
- Reimbursement of ATM fees
- Competitive interest rates on accounts
- Interest rates are not tiered
- Free first order of checks with checking
Cons:
- Not a wide variety of accounts
- High opening required amounts
- Accounts have monthly fees
- Not all CDs offer competitive rates
-
Financial Rates:
4.0
-
Customer Service:
3.0
-
Website Experience:
5.0
-
Bank Fees:
5.0
Pros:
- No monthly fees for accounts
- Checking account earns interest
- Accounts earn competitive interest rates
- Reimbursement of ATM fees
Cons:
- Highest rate requires a large sum
- Limited variety of accounts offered
- MMA and CDs have high opening amount
- Person to person payment has a fee
You can withdraw money from any ATMs with the specific “Plus” logo. If you withdraw money from another ATM, you are reimbursed for the fees charged. CalFirst will reimburse up to $6.00 each statement cycle in ATM fees.
Most CalFirst accounts offer competitive interest rates. The interest rates are not tiered, so you earn the highest rates offered on any balance in the account. Interest is paid monthly on the actual daily balance.
The interest rates for CalFirst accounts are not tiered. Any amount you have in their accounts earns the competitive interest rates. You do not have to have a certain amount in the account to earn the most competitive rates.
The first order of checks is free when you open an interest checking account. You get an ATM card when you open an interest checking account. Free online bill pay comes with each CalFirst checking account opened.
CalFirst does not have a wide variety of accounts. No business accounts are available, only personal deposit accounts. One money market account and savings account are available. There is an interest checking and one regular checking account. CalFirst only offers five different CD terms.
CalFirst accounts have high opening amounts. The money market account and CDs require $5,000 to open. The interest checking account requires $2,500 to open. The savings account and regular checking account both require $1,000 to open.
The accounts at CalFirst all have a monthly fee. The fees range from $10 to $20 a month, depending on the account you open. Waive the fee by keeping a set amount in CalFirst accounts. You can also have a combined balance between a variety of CalFirst accounts.
Not all the CD terms offer competitive rates. The most competitive rates are the three-month, six-month, and the one-year terms. The two-year and three-year terms have interest rates much lower than the other terms. Regular CDs require $5,000 to open. The IRA CDs require $2,000 to open. The only fees are if you withdraw the money before the maturity date.
giantbank.com accounts are free. The checking and money market accounts do not have a monthly maintenance fee. There is no required amount to keep in either of the accounts. CDs only have a fee if you withdraw the money before the maturity date.
The giantbank.com checking account earns interest. You can have money directly deposited into the checking account. There is not a monthly fee. The required amount to open the checking account is only $100.
The accounts at giantbank.com earn competitive interest rates. The rates are slightly lower than other online-only accounts. However, they are much higher than other brick and mortar bank rates. The interest rates for the accounts are tiered. The more money you have in the account, the higher the interest rates you earn.
giantbank.com has a variety of ATMs in network that customers are not charged a fee for using. If a different financial institution charges a fee, giantbank.com will refund the fee.
To earn the highest interest rates, giantbank.com requires a large account balance. The money market account requires a $100,000 balance to earn the highest rates. MMA balances over $1,000 earn interest, just a slightly lower rate. The checking account requires $10,000 in the account to earn the highest interest rates. The CDs require $2,500 to open and earn interest.
giantbank.com only offers personal deposit accounts. There are no business accounts available. The personal deposit accounts include checking and money market accounts, and CDs. There is only one checking and money market account to choose from. The CDs range in terms from 91-days to 5-years.
The amount required to open a giantbank.com money market account or CDs is high. The money market account requires $1,000 to open. Each of the different CD terms require $2,500 to open. There is no monthly fee for the money market account.
giantbank.com accounts offer person to person payment through PayPal. There is a fee for each transaction. The fee is $0.50 per transaction made. You can upload bank information into Quicken or QuickBooks for a fee.