Pacific National Bank VS PenFed Credit Union

Which bank is better for you?

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

  • Specific online-only accounts
  • Variety of other accounts offered
  • CDs have low required opening amounts
  • Online accounts offer competitive rates

Cons:

  • Large sums required to earn interest
  • High required initial deposit
  • In-branch accounts have tiered rates
  • Accounts have monthly fees
  • Financial Rates: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 3.5 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 3.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
Advertiser Disclosure
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Pros:

  • CDs have competitive interest rates
  • Low opening required amount
  • CDs offered to save for education
  • Low monthly fee for checking account

Cons:

  • High opening balances for CDs
  • Low-interest rates
  • Best rates require large balances
  • Do not offer a variety of accounts
Pacific National Bank Review

Pacific National Bank offers specific online-only accounts. These accounts include a money market account and 12- month and 17-month CDs. The interest rates are competitive. These account rates are much higher than regular bank rates. The minimum amount required to open the money market account is $5,000. This is also the required balance to avoid a monthly fee. The CDs require $1,000 to open.

Along with online accounts, Pacific National Bank offers a variety of in-branch accounts. That includes personal deposit accounts and business accounts. Savings, checking, and money market accounts are available for personal and business accounts. CDs and lending options are also available.

Pacific National Bank CDs have low opening required amounts. Each of the CDs require $1,000 to open, including the online CDs. The only fee for CDs is withdrawing money before the maturity date.

The Pacific National Bank online accounts offer competitive interest rates. These account rates are competitive with other online-only accounts. These rates are much higher than the in-branch account rates. Online accounts are only offered to new customers to Pacific National Bank.

To earn the most competitive interest rates requires a large average balance. The in-branch and online MMA require $10,000 to earn the competitive interest rate. The checking account requires $2,500 to earn interest.

Accounts with Pacific National Bank have high opening required amounts. The interest earning checking account requires $2,500 to open. International customers require $7,000 to open the account. The money market account requires $5,000 for domestic customers. International customers must have $10,000 to open money market accounts.

Pacific National Bank accounts have tiered interest rates. To earn the most competitive rates requires a large balance in the accounts. The savings account requires a $50,000 balance to earn the most competitive rate. The money market accounts and the SuperNow checking require $1,000,000 for the highest rate. Amounts under these balances still earn interest, just not the most competitive rates.

Pacific National Bank accounts have monthly fees. The fees range from $10 to $25 each month. Waive the monthly fees by keeping a set amount in the accounts. Those amounts range from $500 to $5,000 depending on the account.

Read the full Pacific National Bank review.

PenFed Credit Union Review

PenFed CDs have competitive interest rates. The rates on CDs are competitive with online-only accounts. The longer you can invest the money in the CD the higher the interest rates you will earn. CD terms range from six months to seven years.

All accounts, other than CDs, have a low opening balance of only $25. The more you invest in the money market account, the higher interest rates you will earn. However, you are only required to have $25 to open an account with PenFed.

PenFed offers CDs designed to save specifically for education costs. These CDs only require $500 to open instead of $1,000. The education CDs range in term from one year to seven years. The interest rates earned on these CDs are competitive with other CD accounts.

Only the checking account has a monthly maintenance fee. The fee is low and is easy to waive. The fee is waived by having a daily balance of $500 in the account. Having a direct deposit into the account of more than $500 each month will also waive the fee. The savings account and money market accounts do not have a monthly fee.

To open a CD, PenFed requires $1,000. The CD terms vary in length from six months to seven years. The longer you can invest your money in a PenFed CD the higher interest you will earn over the CD term. The interest rates on these CDs are competitive with other online-only CDs.

The interest rates for PenFed savings, checking, and money market accounts are not competitive. The rates are low. Those interest rates are competitive to your typical bank rates. Online only accounts offer much higher interest rates for these accounts.

To earn the highest interest on the PenFed checking account, a daily balance of $20,000 to $50,000 is required. If you do not have at least $20,000, you will earn much lower interest rates. Any amount earns interest. To get the highest rates, your daily balance must meet the requirements.

PenFed only offers one checking account, savings account, and money market account. This does not allow you to find the account that best fits your needs.

Read the full PenFed Credit Union review.

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