-
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:
5.0
-
Customer Service:
3.0
-
Website Experience:
5.0
-
Bank Fees:
5.0
Pros:
- No monthly fees or required amounts
- Accounts offer competitive rates
- Low opening balance
- Any amount earns highest interest rate
Cons:
- No business accounts available
- Interest rates for CDs low
- Limited personal deposit accounts
- Savings account must be linked
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 accounts offered through FNBO Direct do not have a monthly fee. There is not an amount required to keep in the account. There are no fees for not having that amount in the account each month.
FNBO Direct savings and checking accounts offer competitive interest rates. Those rates are competitive with other online-only accounts. They are much higher than your typical brick and mortar bank rates.
The amounts required to open FNBO Direct accounts is low. The savings and checking account only require $1 to open. The different CD terms all only require $500 to open. There is no set amount to keep in FNBO Direct accounts.
Any amount deposited in FNBO Direct accounts earns the highest interest rates offered. The interest is not adjusted based on the account balance. The minimum amount to open a savings and checking account is $1. Any amount over $0.01 earns the highest interest rate offered. The CD requires $500 to open.
There are no business accounts available through FNBO Direct. The only accounts offered are personal deposit accounts. There is a saving and checking account and different term lengths of CDs. The terms range from a six-month CD to a five-year CD.
The interest rates offered on the FNBO Direct CDs are lower than other online banks. They are not as competitive as FNBO Direct rates for their savings and checking accounts. Other online bank accounts offer more competitive interest rates for CDs.
There is a limited option of personal deposit accounts available through FNBO Direct. There is only one savings account, one checking account, and CDs. There are eight different CD term lengths. The terms range from six-month terms to a five-year term. There is no money market account offered.
The FNBO Direct savings account must be linked to a checking account. You must link an external account to transfer money electronically. You can link up to three external accounts.
Sponsored Offers
| Savings (Rate as of 4/24/2024) | |
| 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 4/24/2024) | |
| APY | 4.25% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.25% |
| For APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC It only takes about 5 minutes to open a fee-free account. | |
| Savings (Rate as of 4/24/2024) | |
| APY | 5.15% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 5.02% |
| For APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
| Savings (Rate as of 4/24/2024) | |
| 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 4/24/2024) | |
| 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 4/24/2024) | |
| APY | 4.35% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.35% |
| For APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
| MMA (Rate as of 4/24/2024) | |
| APY | 4.65% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.54% |
| For APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Checkbook | Yes |
| Member FDIC | |
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.
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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.