The required amounts to open Comenity Direct accounts are low. The Comenity Direct savings account requires $100 to open. Each of the CDs offered through Comenity Direct require $1,500 to open.

The interest rates for Comenity Direct accounts are competitive. Their rates are much higher than typical bank rates. They are competitive with other online accounts. To earn interest on CDs, you must keep $1,500 in the CD. The high-yield savings account only requires $1.00 to earn interest.

Comenity Direct accounts do not have monthly maintenance fees. There are not set account balances required to avoid the monthly fees. Their accounts are free. The CDs have a fee if you withdraw the money before the maturity date, but no monthly fee.

All Comenity Direct accounts can be opened online. You do not need to visit a branch location or mail in part of the application. The entire account opening process is online. You must be at least 18 years old and have a social security number. You must be a resident of the United States with an address. You cannot open an account with a P.O. Box.

Comenity Direct offers limited accounts. They offer a high-yield savings account and CDs. The CD terms range from one to five-years. There are no CD terms shorter than one year. Comenity Direct does not offer checking or money market accounts.

Comenity Direct accounts require a linked external account. You can link an account with your current bank. Once you link the two accounts, you can transfer money electronically. You can also have money directly deposited into your Comenity Direct account.

The Comenity Direct high-yield savings account does not offer checks or debit cards. Federal law allows for six withdrawals each billing statement from a savings account. Make withdrawals through electronic transfers into the linked external bank account.

Comenity Direct offers CD terms from one to five-years. The early withdrawal fees for these CDs are high compared to other online CDs. For terms from 12-months to three-years, the fee is 180 days of interest. For terms four-years or longer, the fee is 365 days of interest.

Read the full Comenity Direct review.

Barclays offers extremely high-interest rates. Their rates are higher than other banks and even other online banks. Their high yield savings account and CDs earn great interest rates. Even their short-term CDs earn higher interest rates than most other banks.

Barclays offers a Savings Assistant tool. First, input your goal. Next, decide how much you want to save and how much you have saved already. Finally, decide how much you can contribute to the account each month. With one click, the Savings Assistant tells you how long it will take you to reach your goal.

There is not a set amount to open a savings or CD account with Barclays. Their accounts do not have monthly maintenance fees. There is also not a set amount you are required to keep in the different accounts.

You have the choice of how to receive the money earned on interest. You can choose to have the money kept in the CD or transferred into your Barclays savings account. You can choose to have the money transferred to a verified external account. To set up different interest options log in to your account.

Barclays only offers one high yield savings account and CDs. They do not offer a checking account. Barclays used to offer accounts for minors but stopped in June of 2017. Even though they only offer one savings account, you can open up to 25 different accounts if needed.

Your money is not available immediately. Transfers into your Barclays account take five business days. Electronic transfers from your Barclays account to your external account take 2-3 business days. Money transferred between Barclays accounts are immediate.

There isn’t an app for the Tiered Savings account and the CD accounts. You can access your accounts and do whatever you need to do online, but not through an app.

Customer service is not available all the time. You can reach customer service through the mail or by the phone. They are open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.

Read the full Barclays review.