Chase Bank VS WaFd Bank

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 1.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 2.5 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Chase Pay
  • Chase Liquid
  • Credit Journey
  • Chase QuickDeposit

Cons:

  • Products Not Offered Everywhere
  • Accounts Have Fees
  • High Opening Amount
  • High Daily Balances
  • Financial Rates: 2.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 3.5 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Good variety of accounts available
  • Low opening required amounts
  • Business accounts offered
  • Money market and CDs earn good rates

Cons:

  • Low interest rates on accounts
  • Tiered interest rates on some accounts
  • High rates require eligible checking
  • Accounts have monthly fees
Chase Bank Review

Chase Pay is a digital wallet. It makes purchases easy. Pay for gas without getting out of the car. Pay without transferring your card number to websites and apps with the Chase Pay logo. You can use the QR code at stores. Coupons are automatically added to your favorite stores.

Chase Pay lets you use your Chase Ultimate Reward points to make purchases. This keeps your information secure and up to date. Thousands of places accept Chase Pay including Walmart and Best Buy. You still earn reward points when you use Chase Pay. This cannot be used with subscriptions like Netflix or Amazon Prime or outside the U.S.

Chase Liquid is a reloadable card. Opening deposit is $25. Money is directly deposited on the card. Money can be deposited through Chase QuickDeposit, direct deposits, or you can transfer money from other accounts to the cards. With the Chase Liquid card, you can make purchases, withdraw cash, pay bills, and use Zelle. It offers zero liability protection for unauthorized transactions. There is a $4.95 monthly fee to use Chase Liquid.

Chase Credit Journey helps get your credit under control. This is free to anyone, not just Chase customers. Get email alerts about changes to your credit. Check your credit score anytime for free, without hurting your score. Credit Journey shows how credit is affected when debts are paid off, or new accounts opened. Using this tool helps prevent fraud.

Deposits are easy with Chase QuickDeposit in the Chase Mobile App. Snap a picture of your check and follow the instructions. Make a deposit anytime, anywhere from a mobile phone or tablet. Step-by-step instructions are on their website.

Not all Chase products and features are offered in all areas. Input your zip code to learn what products are available in your area.

All Chase accounts, except CDs, have fees. Savings and checking accounts have a monthly maintenance fee. The fees range from $5 to $25. Waive fees by having a minimum balance in the account, or by linking a checking and savings account together. Direct deposits or automatic payments waive the monthly fees as well.

Every account with Chase needs a minimum of $25 to open. Some accounts require $100 as the opening balance.

Savings and checking accounts require a daily balance to avoid fees. The daily balances range from $1,500 to $100,000. If you cannot maintain this amount, you will have to use one of the other ways to have your fees waived.

Read the full Chase Bank review.

WaFd Bank Review

WaFd Bank offers a good variety of accounts. Those include:

  • Savings account
  • Savings account for minors
  • Checking accounts
  • Money market accounts
  • CD terms from three-months to five-years
  • Retirement accounts
  • Lending options
  • Credit cards
  • Small business accounts
  • Commercial options

The opening required amounts for WaFd accounts are low. Most savings and checking accounts only require $25 to open. A savings account for minors requires $10 to open. The Stellar Plus checking account requires $100 to open. The money market accounts require $100 to open. All CD terms require $1,000 to open.

WaFd Bank offers business accounts along with personal accounts. Those accounts include small business checking and savings accounts. They also offer some commercial business accounts. To open those accounts, you need to contact a commercial banker.

The WaFd Gold Money Market account has competitive rates. These account rates are the most competitive rates offered at WaFd. They are lower than other online money market accounts but still competitive. The seven-month and 13-month special CDs also earn higher rates than other WaFd CDs.

WaFd accounts besides the Gold MMA and special CD terms have low interest rates. These rates are similar to other brick-and-mortar bank rates. They do not compare to other online-only accounts.

Some WaFd accounts have tiered interest rates. To receive the highest rate for the Stellar Plus checking account requires a $10,000 balance. The regular money market account requires $90,000 to earn the best rate. Even the highest interest rate for these accounts is low.

Specific WaFd accounts require you to open other eligible accounts. To earn the best rates on the special CD terms, you must have an eligible checking account. The rates are only 0.05% higher if you have the checking account.

Most WaFd Bank accounts have monthly fees. The checking account fees range from $0-8 per month. The savings accounts have monthly fees from $3-10 per month. There are ways to waive some of the monthly fees. Those include keeping a set account balance. That balance ranges from $100-$20,000, depending on the account.

Read the full WaFd Bank review.

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