Marcus by Goldman Sachs VS LendingClub

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: 5.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • No required balance or account fees
  • High account interest rates
  • Variety of terms lengths of CDs
  • Personal loans available

Cons:

  • Only savings account and CDs offered
  • Must link accounts to another bank
  • No ATM or debit card offered
  • Opening balance for CDs is $500
  • Financial Rates: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 4.0 Star Icon
5.00%APY
Savings/MMA
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Pros:

  • Competitive interest rates
  • Free Rewards checking account
  • Checking account cash back option
  • No fees and low opening required amounts

Cons:

  • Required account balance for high rates
  • Specific stipulation for cash back benefit
  • High monthly fee for two checking accounts
  • Other accounts have low rates
Marcus by Goldman Sachs Review

There is no required amount to open the account or to keep in the account. Marcus does not have monthly maintenance fees. You start earning interest on anything over $1 in the high yield savings account.

Marcus offers very competitive interest rates on their savings account and CD accounts. The interest rates are competitive with other online-only accounts. They are much higher than your typical bank rates.

Many different term lengths of CDs are available. Marcus offers nine different CD term lengths from six months to six years. The longer the term, the higher interest rate you earn. All the CD interest rates are very competitive with other online-only banks.

The personal loans offered through Marcus do not have fees. The loans are a fixed-rate interest loan. You can borrow up to $40,000. These loans can be to consolidate debt or for home improvement projects. The loans range in length from 36 to 72 months.

Marcus only offers deposit accounts of CDs and a high yield savings account. Checking accounts, money market accounts, and business accounts are not offered.

Since Marcus does not offer checking accounts, you cannot transfer money between Marcus checking and savings accounts. The easiest way to deposit money into your Marcus savings account is to link to an external bank account. You can also send a wire or check. Marcus does not charge a fee to send or receive a wire transfer, but the external bank might.

Marcus does not offer an ATM or debit card for the high yield savings account. To access your money, you must transfer the money back into your external bank account. You can also request a wire transfer.

To open any CD with Marcus, $500 is required. That amount opens the CD and is the amount needed to start earning interest. The interest rates vary depending on the term length of the CD. The longer the CD term, the higher the interest rates.

Read the full Marcus by Goldman Sachs review.

LendingClub Review

The accounts offered through LendingClub offer competitive interest rates. The high-yield savings account offers rates up to 0.60%. Their checking account earns a lower rate than the savings account, but does offer some interest earning at 0.15%.

LendingClub offers a Rewards checking account. This account does not have monthly maintenance fees. This checking account earns cash back, and interest, if you meet the requirements. It requires $100 to open the account. After you open the account, there are no monthly fees or required amounts to avoid the fees, but a set balance amount to earn the rewards.

With the Rewards checking account, customers can earn up to one percent back on their debit card purchases. The debit card is linked to your Rewards checking account. Purchases made online or in-store are eligible for the cash back option.

Most of the accounts at LendingClub do not have monthly maintenance fees. Once you open the high-yield savings account with $100, there is not a monthly fee or minimum requirement to keep in the account to avoid a monthly fee. The opening required amounts for most accounts are low. The high-yield checking account only requires $100 to open.

The interest rates for the high-yield account is high, but in order to earn that amount, you must keep a set amount in the account. This account requires a balance of $2,500 to be in the account to earn the highest interest amount. Balances that fall below $2,500 will receive a much lower interest rate of 0.05%.

In order to earn the cash back, you must have your account open for 30 days and have $2,500 in the account from direct deposits or another source of income. The credit comes from purchases made online or in the store using your debit card signature option. To earn the cash back option, you MUST choose the credit option instead of the debit option when making your purchase. Transactions made with your PIN are not eligible for the cash back. The money you earn will be credited into your account at the end of each earning period.

The Essential Checking account has a monthly fee of $9. You can waive this fee by keeping a set amount in the account, but this amount is high as well. To waive the monthly fee, you must have at least $5,000 in the checking account at all times. If the account balance falls below $5,000, you will be charged the fee. The Tailored checking account has a monthly fee of $10 if you do not have at least $5,000 in the account.

Not all accounts offer competitive interest rates. The CDs, money market account, and basic savings account do not offer competitive interest rates. Those rates are much lower than the high-yield savings account rates.

Read the full LendingClub review.

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American Express
Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024)
APY 4.30%
Rate 4.21%
For APY $1
Monthly Fee $0.00
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