Chime VS Third Federal

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 1.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 3.5 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 5.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • No monthly maintenance fees
  • Pay friends through the mobile app
  • Chime Automatic Savings
  • No credit check to open accounts

Cons:

  • Limited accounts with low interest rates
  • Does not offer ATM fee reimbursement
  • No overdraft protection
  • Daily withdrawal and spending limits
  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 4.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Low opening required amounts
  • Variety of accounts offered
  • Online Savings Plus account
  • Competitive interest rates

Cons:

  • Tiered interest rates on accounts
  • CD early withdrawal penalty high
  • Checking account has monthly fees
  • Cannot open all accounts online
Chime Review

Chime accounts do not have monthly maintenance fees. The Spending and Saving account are completely free. There is not an overdraft fee or a monthly maintenance fee. There is no minimum balance required to keep in the account.

On the Chime app is a Pay Friends feature. You can send money to others instantly. You must have the person’s name, phone number, or email to transfer money. The intended person must have a Chime account or be approved for a Chime Spending account. You can only send up to $2,000 each month with this feature.

Chime offers an Automatic Savings tool. Each time you use your Chime debit card the amount rounds up to the nearest dollar. The extra amount is automatically transferred to your Chime Savings account. With direct deposit, you can have ten percent of your check automatically deposited into your savings account.

When you open a Chime account, they do not check your credit score or ChexSystems. If you have bad credit or no credit you can still be approved for a Chime account. Applying for a Chime account will not hurt your credit score.

Chime only offers a Spending account and a Savings account. The savings account with Chime does not earn a competitive interest rate. It does earn a small percentage of interest, but the rate is lower than traditional bank rates. The rate is not competitive with online or traditional bank interest rates. The checking account does not earn interest.

Chime offers 38,000 fee-free ATMs. If you use an ATM not included in the Chime network, you are charged a fee of $2.50 per ATM transaction. There is also a $2.50 fee for over the counter cash withdrawals. Chime does not reimburse these fees.

Most banks offer some type of overdraft protection. Chime does not. There is not a fee for over-drafting your account. But, if you do not have sufficient funds to cover the purchase, the transaction will not go through. You must have enough money in your account to cover transactions.

Chime limits the amount you can withdraw and spend with their Visa debit card each day. You are only allowed to withdraw $500 each day from an ATM, cash back during a point of sale transactions, or by an over-the-counter withdrawal. You are only allowed to make $2,500 in purchases with the debit card per 24 hours. The 24-hour period starts once the transaction is complete. Each of these different ways applies to the $2,500 allowed each day. No matter how you spend or withdraw the money, it cannot exceed $2,500 per 24 hours. Payments from the Chime Checkbook cannot exceed $10,000 in one month. You cannot make a check payment over $5,000.

Read the full Chime review.

Third Federal Review

Third Federal accounts have low opening required amounts. The high yield checking account requires $10 to open. CDs only require $500 to open. Third Federal money market account requires a high amount. That account requires $5,000 to open.

Third Federal offers a variety of accounts. Those accounts include personal deposit and business accounts. Those accounts include checking, savings, and money market accounts. The CDs range in terms from 30-days to 10-years. Lending and credit cards are also offered through Third Federal.

The Third Federal Online Savings Plus account is an entirely online account. This account requires $5,000 to open and to earn interest. There are no monthly fees and no limit on monthly transactions.

Interest rates for Third Federal accounts are competitive. They are higher than other brick and mortar bank accounts. The interest rates are competitive with other online accounts.

Third Federal accounts have tiered interest rates. The money market and savings account require a balance of $100,000 to earn the best interest rates. The checking account requires a $25,000 balance to earn the best rate. Balances under these amounts earn interest, just not the most competitive rate.

Third Federal CDs have high penalties for withdrawing money before the maturity date. CDs from one to three years require six months’ worth of interest. CD terms over four years require 18 months’ worth of earned interest.

The Third Federal checking account has a monthly fee. The fee is $7 a month. Waive that fee by keeping an average daily balance of $1,500 in the account. That average balance can come from all Third Federal accounts or just your checking account.

Not all Third Federal account can be opened online. To open a money market or checking account must be in a branch location. You can open a savings account and CDs longer than 6-month terms online.

Read the full Third Federal review.

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