Earn Bank VS VirtualBank

Which bank is better for you?

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

  • Competitive interest rates on accounts
  • Low opening required amount for MMA
  • No tiered interest rates on accounts
  • Accounts are entirely online

Cons:

  • CDs have high opening required amounts
  • MMA has monthly maintenance fees
  • Must link accounts to external account
  • Limited accounts offered
  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 4.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
Advertiser Disclosure
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Pros:

  • Low required opening deposit
  • Competitive interest rates on accounts
  • eMoney Market account offers high rates
  • Online and Mobile Banking

Cons:

  • Monthly fees on accounts
  • High-interest rates require large amounts
  • CDs require a large opening deposit
  • No checking accounts offered
Earn Bank Review

earn.bank accounts offer competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online accounts. Their interest rates are much higher than typical bank rates.

The money market account through earn.bank has a low opening required amount. To open this account only requires $100.

The earn.bank money market account does not have tiered interest rates. You do not have to have a set amount in the account to earn the most competitive interest rate.

All earn.bank accounts are entirely online. You can open their money market account or CD terms from anywhere. Because they are an online bank, the interest rates are much higher than typical bank rates. To open an account, you must have a social security number and a government issued ID. You must have the amount required to open the account. You can fund the initial amount with a credit card, or external savings or checking account.

To open a CD with earn.bank requires a large sum. Each of the CD terms require $25,000 to open. The CD terms available are a one-year and a two-year.

The money market account has a monthly maintenance fee of $10. To waive this fee requires an account balance of $10,000. This fee is not assessed for the first three months of opening the account. After that time, if you do not have a $10,000 balance, you will be charged $10 each month that the balance is below $10,000. There is also a $25 paper statement fee. Avoid this fee by signing up for electronic statements.

The easiest way to withdraw money from your MMA is to link the account to an external account. The linked account allows you to also deposit money easily into your earn.bank accounts. You can withdraw money through a wire transfer by calling customer service.

earn.bank does not offer a wide variety of accounts. They only offer one personal deposit money market account and two CD terms. The CD terms offered are a one-year and two-year term. They do not offer checking accounts, savings accounts, or business accounts.

Read the full Earn Bank review.

VirtualBank Review

VirtualBank money market accounts have a low required opening deposit. The required amount is only $100. That opening deposit is for the eMoney Market and the Jumbo eMoney Market.

The interest rates on VirtualBank accounts are competitive with other online-only accounts. You only need one penny in the eMoney Market account to earn interest. To earn the highest interest on the Jumbo eMoney Market, you must keep at least $250,000 in the account. Anything over $0.01 earns interest, just not the highest rates.

The eMoney Market account offers a competitive introductory rate. New customers to VirtualBank receive a higher interest rate for the first year of the account being open. After the first year, the rate drops considerably. The lower rate is still much higher than your typical brick and mortar bank rates. Money already in a VirtualBank account does not qualify for the higher rate.

All VirtualBank accounts come with online and mobile banking. With online banking, you can see account balances, transfer funds, and receive e-Statements. Everything that can be done online can be done through mobile banking. You can also deposit checks through the app.

The eMoney Market and the Jumbo eMoney Market account have a monthly fee. The fee is $5. To waive the monthly fee, you must keep $100 in the account.

The Jumbo eMoney Market requires $250,000 to earn the highest interest rate. You still earn interest on any amount less than $250,000. To earn the highest amount, you must have that balance. This account only requires $100 to open. The eMoney Market account earns the same amount of interest not matter how much you have in the account.

VirtualBank CDs require $10,000 to open. The CDs range from a one-month term to a five-year term. There are 11 different CDs between those term lengths. The interest rates for each different term are competitive. The longer the term, the higher the interest rates.

VirtualBank does not offer checking accounts. They used to offer an eChecking account, but it no longer available. Because no checking accounts are offered, there are no ATM or debit cards. Bill pay is not available. You can have money directly deposited into VirtualBank money market accounts.

Read the full VirtualBank review.

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