Customers Bank VS SmartyPig

Which bank is better for you?

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

  • Free ATM transactions and fee refunds
  • Variety of personal deposit accounts
  • Low opening required amounts
  • Bonus checking account offers good rates

Cons:

  • Accounts have low interest rates
  • Cannot open all accounts online
  • Tiered interest rates on accounts
  • Monthly fees for most accounts
  • 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
Advertiser Disclosure
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Pros:

  • Free savings account
  • Tiered Interest Rates
  • Set up multiple goals
  • Direct withdrawals

Cons:

  • Only offer one type of account
  • Six withdrawals allowed per month
  • Maximum account balance
  • One external funding source allowed
Customers Bank Review

Customers Bank accounts offer free ATM transactions at PLUS and NYCE ATMs. The Convenience checking account offers ATM fee refunds. To qualify for the refunds, you must have at least $5,000 in Customers Bank accounts.

There are a variety of personal deposit and business accounts available. Those include:

  • Convenience checking
  • Free checking
  • Bonus checking
  • Money market account
  • Reserve savings
  • CDs from 3-60 months
  • Loans and mortgages
  • Business accounts and lending options

The personal deposit accounts with Customers Bank have low opening required amounts. Each of the checking and savings accounts only require $10 to open. The money market requires $50 to open. The CDs require $500 to open.

The Bonus checking account earns competitive interest rates if you meet the qualifications. That requires you to spend $500 a month using your debit card. Those rates are much higher than the standard rates and are competitive with other online checking accounts. To open the Bonus checking account, you must use new money. You cannot use money already in a Customers Bank account.

Most of the accounts with Customers Bank do not offer competitive interest rates. The accounts offer rates similar to traditional bank rates. Customers Bank used to offer accounts with competitive interest rates. Those accounts are no longer available.

Not all accounts at Customers Bank can be opened online. Some accounts require visiting a branch location to open. They have branch locations in eight states. Not all products are available at every location. Contact customer service to see which accounts are available near you.

Money market accounts at Customers Bank have tiered interest rates. To earn the most competitive rates requires $250,001. Even the most competitive rate is not competitive with other online money market accounts.

Some Customers Bank accounts have monthly fees. The Convenience checking account has a monthly fee of $29 if you do not meet the requirements. You must keep a $5,000 balance in Customers Bank accounts to waive the fee. The money market account has a $5 fee if your balance falls below $1,000. The retirement savings account has a $5 fee if your balance falls below $100.

Read the full Customers Bank review.

SmartyPig Review

SmartyPig accounts do not have monthly maintenance fees. There is not a required amount to keep in the account. The first initial deposit to open the account is $25.

This savings account offers tiered interest rates. This means the more money you have in the account, the more interest you will earn. The interest rates do not vary much between tiers. The difference from a low amount to the higher amount is around 0.05%.

With this SmartyPig account, you can set up different savings goals. The savings accounts can be long-term, like saving for a college education. They can also be short term, like saving for a mountain bike or birthday party. You can transfer money from your SmartyPig primary account to different savings goals.

The best way to save money is to set up direct withdrawals. You set up when you want the money to come out of your account and how much to withdraw. Then, SmartyPig does the rest. Once the money is deposited into your account, you can transfer it into different savings goal. The withdrawals can be set up to occur monthly or biweekly.

SmartyPig has only one account offered: a high yield savings account. They do not offer checking accounts, CDs, money market accounts, or business accounts. The interest rate on this savings account is considerably higher than other banks savings accounts.

The website says you can withdraw money anytime, but federal regulation only allows six withdrawals per billing cycle. This includes transfers between your SmartyPig primary account and your different savings goals. The transfer or withdrawal will not take place if you have made more than six in a billing cycle. If you repeatedly try to make more than six, your account will be closed. Once you reach your goal, you cannot withdraw part of your money back to your external funding source. You must withdraw it all, or transfer the money between other savings goals.

This account is not meant for high account balances. There is a maximum account balance of $250,000. If your account has $250,000, you will earn interest on the money in the account, but you cannot add to the account.

Each SmartyPig account is only allowed to have one external funding source set up for it. That means you can only have one bank account connected to each SmartyPig account. You can change your external funding source if you want, but never have more than one.

Read the full SmartyPig review.

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