E*TRADE VS Chime

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 1.0 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:

  • No minimum opening deposits
  • Interest rates not tiered
  • ATM fee reimbursement
  • Can open accounts online

Cons:

  • Max-Rate checking account has a fee
  • Limited personal accounts offered
  • Low interest rates on accounts
  • Business accounts limited
  • 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
E*TRADE Review

E*TRADE accounts do not have set amounts required to open accounts. You can open the Premium savings, Max-Rate checking, and E*TRADE checking with any amount. To avoid a monthly fee may require a set balance, but not to open the account.

The interest rates for E*TRADE Bank accounts are not tiered. Any balance earns the most competitive interest rate. The highest rates are not competitive with other online-only accounts. But any balance earns the best rate.

E*TRADE Bank accounts offer unlimited ATM fee reimbursement. There are no ATM fees for money withdrawn from ATMs across the nation. To get a refund, you must meet certain qualifications. If you qualify for the refund, the money should be in your account by the end of the day of the ATM transaction. Not all accounts offer ATM fee refunds.

You can open E*TRADE accounts online. They are available for anyone to open across the United States. You can transfer money from external bank accounts into your E*TRADE account.

The E*TRADE Max-Rate checking account has a monthly fee. The fee is $15 a month. Waive the fee by keeping a set account balance in one account or an average in multiple accounts. Having a direct deposit over $200 waives the fee. Making a set amount of trades can also help waive the fees.

The types of personal accounts offered through E*TRADE Bank are limited to new customers. Those accounts include a savings account and two checking accounts. More accounts may be available once you become a customer.

The E*TRADE Bank accounts earn interest, but the rates are low. The interest rates are not competitive with other online accounts. Any account balance earns the most competitive rate. Even the highest rates are not competitive with other online accounts.

E*TRADE offers limited accounts for small businesses. They do not offer traditional accounts for small or commercial businesses. The accounts offered to small businesses include retirement accounts.

Read the full E*TRADE review.

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.

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