Dime Community Bank VS SmartyPig

Which bank is better for you?

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

  • Low opening required balances
  • Some CDs offer competitive rates
  • Variety of different types of accounts
  • Business accounts are available

Cons:

  • Cannot open all accounts online
  • Most account rates are not competitive
  • Accounts have monthly fees
  • Branch locations only in New York
  • 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
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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
Dime Community Bank Review

Most Dime accounts have a low required opening amount. All the checking accounts only require $25 to open. The money market account requires $1,000, and CDs require $500. The club savings accounts only require $5 to open.

Some Dime CD terms offer competitive interest rates. The rates with the most competitive terms are the 4, 24, 36, 48, and 80-month CDs. The rates for these accounts are competitive with other online CDs. Dime CDs can be opened in a branch location.

Dime offers a variety of personal accounts. The accounts include:

  • Statement savings account
  • Student savings account
  • Money market savings account
  • Club savings accounts
  • Personal checking
  • Fabulous 50 Interest checking
  • Direct Interest checking
  • Prime Dime Interest checking
  • CDs from three months to 84-months
  • Retirement accounts
  • Personal mortgage and lending options

Dime offers many business accounts. Savings, checking, and money market accounts are available for businesses. CDs and lines of credit are available. Business account holders have access to different money management options. Online and mobile banking are also available for business accounts.

You cannot open Dime accounts online. To open a CD and savings account, you must visit a branch location. To open a checking account, you can call customer service or visit a local branch. Dime has branch locations in New York.

Most of the interest rates offered on Dime accounts are not competitive. The interest rates are similar to typical brick-and mortar-rates. Only a few CDs offer interest rates competitive with online-only accounts.

Some Dime accounts have monthly fees. The fees range from $4 to $10 a month. Waive the fees by keeping a set account balance. Those balances range from $500 to $1,500, depending on the account.

All Dime branch locations are in New York. If you do not live close to a branch, you are not able to open those accounts. You must visit a branch location to open Dime accounts. They have 28 branch locations around New York.

Read the full Dime Community 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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