-
Financial Rates:
4.0
-
Customer Service:
5.0
-
Website Experience:
3.5
-
Bank Fees:
3.0
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
-
Financial Rates:
4.0
-
Customer Service:
2.5
-
Website Experience:
5.0
-
Bank Fees:
5.0
Pros:
- Low opening required amounts
- No monthly maintenance fees
- Competitive interest rates on accounts
- No set balance to earn highest rates
Cons:
- Limited deposit accounts offered
- Customer service not always available
- Must link another bank account
- No debit card offered for MMA
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.
The ableBanking accounts have low opening required amounts. The money market account only requires $250 to open. The different CD terms each require $1,000 to open.
There are no monthly maintenance fees for the ableBanking money market account. The CDs have a fee if you withdraw money before the CD reaches maturity. Federal regulations allow six withdrawals from a money market account per month. There is a fee if you make more than six withdrawals.
The interest rates for ableBanking accounts are high. They are competitive with other online-only accounts. ableBanking interest rates are much higher than your typical brick and mortar rates.
Any balance in ableBanking accounts earns the highest interest rates offered. There is not a set amount required to keep in the account to earn the highest rates. There is not a required balance to keep in the accounts to avoid monthly fees.
ableBanking has limited personal deposit accounts available. The only accounts offered are a money market account and CDs. There are five different CD terms available. The terms range from a 6-month CD to a four-year CD. ableBanking does not offer checking accounts or business accounts.
ableBanking accounts are entirely online. There are no branch locations. Customer service has specific hours they are open. They are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. On Saturday, they are open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST.
When you open an account with ableBanking, you must link an external bank account. You fund your ableBanking account from the external account. You cannot change the external account for the first 60 days. After that time, you may link a different account to the ableBanking money market account. You can only have one external account linked to your ableBanking account at a time.
The ableBanking money market account does not offer an ATM card. They do not have ATM locations where you can access your money. To withdraw money, you must make an electronic transfer into a linked account.
Sponsored Offers
| Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024) | |
| APY | 5.25% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 5.25% |
| For APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC. No fees. Easy deposits and quick withdrawals. | |
| Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024) | |
| APY | 4.30% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.21% |
| For APY | $1 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
| Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024) | |
| APY | 5.15% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 5.02% |
| For APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
| Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024) | |
| APY | 5.00% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 5.00% |
| For APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC Plus, no monthly fees and unlimited free external transfers | |
| Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024) | |
| APY | 5.05% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.93% |
| For APY | $5,000 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC CIT Bank, a division of First Citizens, 125+ years of experience. | |
| Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024) | |
| APY | 4.35% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.35% |
| For APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
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1 APY stands for Annual Percent Yield. It's different from Rate because it takes into account compounding interest for the year.
2 MMA stands for Money Market Account. It's a savings and checking hybrid, allowing you to earn interest and use checks 6 times a month.