There are a variety of accounts available from GTE Financial. They offer personal savings, checking, and money market accounts. They offer personal CDs, loans, and credit cards. They also offer business accounts and accounts specifically for students.

GTE offers CDs and a checking account with competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with online accounts. These account interest rates are much higher than typical bank rates. To earn the most competitive rate on the checking account, you must meet set requirements. That includes receiving eStatements, having a direct deposit over $500, and 15 debit card transactions each month.

GTE accounts have low amounts required to open. The savings accounts only require $5 to open. To earn interest requires $100. Each of the CD terms require $500 to open. The checking accounts do not have a required amount to open.

GTE Financial CDs offer an Add-On Feature. This allows you to add money any time during the CD term. You must add at least $20 each time you add money to the CD. Sometimes there is a limit of $6,000 you can add to the CD. GTE Financial offers promotions where there is not a cap on the amount you can add to the CD.

Before you can open an account with GTE Financial, you must first become a member of the credit union. You are eligible to join if a family member is a member of the credit union or if you work for a specific company. Your business can join, and living in certain areas makes you eligible to join. If these don’t work, you can join CU Savers, a non-profit educational financial club. There is a one-time $10 fee to become a member.

GTE Financial has daily withdrawal limits. You can withdraw up to $500 per 24-hour period from an ATM. There is a $5,000 limit that you can transfer from another bank into a GTE Financial CD.

The money market account with GTE Financial has tiered interest rates. To earn the most competitive rate on your money requires a balance of $100,000. Balances below this amount earn interest, just not the most competitive rate.

Most GTE Financial accounts have monthly maintenance fees. The checking account fees range from $4.95 to $9.95 each month. The Go Premium checking account has a fee of $4.95. There is no way to waive this fee. You can pay the fee with Go Points, but you cannot waive the monthly fee. There are ways to waive the other checking account fees.

Read the full GTE Financial review.

AloStar CDs offer competitive interest rates. The interest rates are competitive with other online CDs. The rates are much higher than typical brick and mortar bank rates.

The CDs at AloStar have low required opening amounts. Each of the CDs require $1,000 to open. To earn the competitive interest rates, you must keep $1,000 in the account. There is not a fee if your balance falls below $1,000, but you will not earn interest on the balance.

CDs with AloStar are entirely online. You apply for the CDs online. Once you open an account, everything for the account is online. There are no branch locations. You can reach customer service by phone or email.

Usually with CDs, the longer the term the higher the interest rate. But, with AloStar some shorter terms offer more competitive rates. The 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month CD terms offer the most competitive rates.

There are limited accounts offered through AloStar. The only accounts offered are CDs. AloStar does not offer checking, savings, or money market accounts. The CD terms offered range from three-month to five-year terms.

AloStar customer service is not always available. You can contact customer service through email. Their hours are Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. On Saturday their hours are 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The AloStar CD accounts do not offer debit cards or checks. The only way to access your money is through electronic transfers. You can transfer money during the grace period or after the CD reaches maturity.

To fund your AloStar CDs you must link the accounts to an external bank account. Once the accounts are linked you can make electronic transfers between the accounts. To avoid a fee, make withdrawals or deposits during the grace period or after the CD reaches maturity.

Read the full AloStar review.