Goldwater Bank VS Citizens Access

Which bank is better for you?

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

  • Low required amount to earn interest
  • Business accounts offered
  • Personal and business loan options
  • Competitive interest rates on accounts

Cons:

  • CDs have high opening deposits
  • Cannot open account entirely online
  • High opening deposits on accounts
  • Accounts have tiered interest rates
  • Financial Rates: 4.5 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:

  • No monthly maintenance fees
  • Competitive interest rates
  • Any account balance earns interest
  • Good variety of CD terms

Cons:

  • High opening required amounts
  • Must link accounts to external bank
  • No ATM or debit cards or checks
  • Limited accounts offered
Goldwater Bank Review

Goldwater Bank has high amounts to open their accounts. Once you open an account, the amount required to keep in the account to earn interest is low. Goldwater Bank only requires $0.01 to be in the account to earn interest.

Business accounts are available through Goldwater Bank. There is a checking account for small and large businesses. There is a money market and savings account. CDs are available. Goldwater Bank offers cash management services for business accounts. This offers online banking, remote deposit, and card services. Business credit cards are available.

Goldwater Bank not only offers personal deposit accounts but lending options. They offer loans for building, remodeling, or home loans. Personal loans for vacations, cars, boats, or college tuition are available. They offer loans for business needs as well.

The interest rates for Goldwater Bank accounts are competitive. Their rates are much higher than the rates offered at brick and mortar banks. To earn the most competitive rates does require a large account balance. However, the lower balance rates are still much higher than other bank rates. They are competitive with online accounts. The business accounts also earn competitive interest rates.

The different CD accounts all require a high opening balance of $5,000. The CD terms range from 90-day terms to a 5-year term. The only fees associated with CDs is from withdrawing the money before the CD meets the maturity date.

Goldwater Bank accounts cannot be entirely opened online. To open a checking, savings, money market account, or a Visa check card you can fill out an application online. Then you must go to a branch location to finish the application and sign paperwork. Only CDs are available for out of state customers. Not all account information is on the website. A customer service representative can answer your questions.

The different accounts have high required amounts to open the accounts. The checking account requires $500 to open. Money market and saving accounts require $1,000 to $25,000 to open the accounts. Once the account is open, you are only required to keep $0.01 in the accounts to earn interest.

Interest rates for Goldwater Bank accounts are tiered. To earn the most competitive interest rates requires large balances in the accounts. The money market account requires $100,000 to earn the most competitive rates. The checking account requires $5,000.

Read the full Goldwater Bank review.

Citizens Access Review

Looking for Citizens Bank? Click here for our review on the local bank.

Citizens Access bank accounts do not have any fees. There are no monthly maintenance fees or fees to open the account. The Citizens Access savings account is completely free. The only fee with the CDs comes if you withdraw money before the maturity date.

The online savings account and each of the CD terms earn competitive interest rates. Citizens Access rates are much higher than your typical brick and mortar bank rates. They are competitive with other online accounts. To earn the most competitive rate requires a balance of $5,000 in each account.

Any account balance in the Citizens Access savings account earns interest. If the account balance falls below $5,000 the interest you earn is less, but you still earn interest. To earn the most competitive rate requires a $5,000 balance in the account.

Citizens Access offers a good variety of CD terms. Those terms range from six-month terms to five-years. Each of these CDs requires $5,000 to open. The interest rates are competitive on each term. The longer the CD term, the higher the interest rate.

To open an online savings account or CD with Citizen Access requires a large sum. Each of these accounts requires $5,000 to open the accounts. To earn the most competitive interest rate requires a balance of $5,000.

To transfer money in and out of your Citizens Access account you must link to an external bank account. That account can be a different banking institution. Once you link the accounts, you can transfer money electronically between the two accounts. To withdraw money, you could request a check.

Currently, Citizens Access does not offer ATM cards, debit cards, or checks for their online savings account. Access your money easiest through electronic transfers. You can call customer service to request a check.

Citizens Access has a limited variety of account. Only personal deposit savings account and CDs are available. No personal checking accounts or money market accounts are available. There are no business accounts offered.

Read the full Citizens Access review.

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