-
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:
2.0
-
Customer Service:
5.0
-
Website Experience:
3.0
-
Bank Fees:
4.0
Pros:
- Free ATM transactions and fee refunds
- Variety of personal deposit accounts
- Low opening required amounts
- Bonus checking account offers good rates
Cons:
- Accounts have low interest rates
- Cannot open all accounts online
- Tiered interest rates on accounts
- Monthly fees for most accounts
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.
Customers Bank accounts offer free ATM transactions at PLUS and NYCE ATMs. The Convenience checking account offers ATM fee refunds. To qualify for the refunds, you must have at least $5,000 in Customers Bank accounts.
There are a variety of personal deposit and business accounts available. Those include:
- Convenience checking
- Free checking
- Bonus checking
- Money market account
- Reserve savings
- CDs from 3-60 months
- Loans and mortgages
- Business accounts and lending options
The personal deposit accounts with Customers Bank have low opening required amounts. Each of the checking and savings accounts only require $10 to open. The money market requires $50 to open. The CDs require $500 to open.
The Bonus checking account earns competitive interest rates if you meet the qualifications. That requires you to spend $500 a month using your debit card. Those rates are much higher than the standard rates and are competitive with other online checking accounts. To open the Bonus checking account, you must use new money. You cannot use money already in a Customers Bank account.
Most of the accounts with Customers Bank do not offer competitive interest rates. The accounts offer rates similar to traditional bank rates. Customers Bank used to offer accounts with competitive interest rates. Those accounts are no longer available.
Not all accounts at Customers Bank can be opened online. Some accounts require visiting a branch location to open. They have branch locations in eight states. Not all products are available at every location. Contact customer service to see which accounts are available near you.
Money market accounts at Customers Bank have tiered interest rates. To earn the most competitive rates requires $250,001. Even the most competitive rate is not competitive with other online money market accounts.
Some Customers Bank accounts have monthly fees. The Convenience checking account has a monthly fee of $29 if you do not meet the requirements. You must keep a $5,000 balance in Customers Bank accounts to waive the fee. The money market account has a $5 fee if your balance falls below $1,000. The retirement savings account has a $5 fee if your balance falls below $100.
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| Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024) | |
| APY | 4.00% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 3.92% |
| Min to Open | $0 |
| Min to Earn APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Min to Avoid Fee | $0 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
| Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024) | |
| APY | 4.75% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.64% |
| Min to Open | $0 |
| Min to Earn APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Min to Avoid Fee | $0 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC No monthly maintenance fee, $0 to open, easily grow your money | |
The rate information is obtained by Bankrate from the listed institutions. Bankrate cannot guarantee the accuracy or availability of any rates shown. Institutions may have different rates on their own websites than those posted on Bankrate.com. The listings that appear on this page are from companies from which this website receives compensation, which may impact how, where, and in what order products appear. This table does not include all companies or all available products.
All rates are subject to change without notice and may vary depending on location. These quotes are from banks, thrifts, and credit unions, some of whom have paid for a link to their own website where you can find additional information. Those with a paid link are our Advertisers. Those without a paid link are listings we obtain to improve the consumer shopping experience and are not Advertisers. To receive the Bankrate.com rate from an Advertiser, please identify yourself as a Bankrate customer. Bank and thrift deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Credit union deposits are insured by the National Credit Union Administration.
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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.