PenFed Credit Union VS Presidential Bank

Which bank is better for you?

  • 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
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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
  • Financial Rates: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 4.0 Star Icon
0.25%APY
Savings/MMA
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Pros:

  • Variety of personal deposit accounts
  • Some accounts offer competitive rates
  • Business accounts and services offered
  • Low opening required amounts

Cons:

  • Must meet requirements to earn interest
  • High required amounts for MMA
  • Cannot open all accounts online
  • Accounts have monthly fees
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.

Presidential Bank Review

Presidential Bank offers a wide variety of personal deposit accounts. They offer seven checking accounts, two savings accounts, and a variety of CDs. Each account has requirements to open the account and to earn interest. Find the one that works best for you.

The Presidential Bank Checkless Checking account and the Money Market Plus Checking account offer competitive interest rates. Most of the CDs also offer competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online accounts. They are much higher than other brick and mortar bank rates.

Presidential Bank offers a variety of business accounts. Those accounts include checking, savings, and money market accounts, and CDs. They also offer a variety of lending options for businesses. Those include real estate lending, equipment lending, and working capital lines of credit.

Most Presidential Bank accounts have low opening required amounts. Most checking accounts require either $100 or $500 to open. One savings account only requires $100 to open. All the CD terms require $1,000 to open. Some accounts do have higher required amounts.

The Checkless Checking account has the most competitive rates. You must meet account requirements to earn the most competitive interest rates. Those requirements include having a direct deposit into the account each month. You must also make a set amount of electronic withdrawals per month. Other requirements may apply.

The Presidential Bank Money Market Plus Checking account offers competitive interest rates. To earn the most competitive rate requires a high balance. That account must have $100,000 to open and earn interest. The interest rates are considerably lower if your account balance falls below $100,000.

Not all Presidential Bank accounts can open online. Some accounts require opening in a branch location. Those accounts include checking accounts. Most other Presidential Bank accounts can be opened online.

Checking, savings, and money market accounts with Presidential Bank all have monthly fees. Those fees range from $2 to $5 a month, depending on the account. Waive those fees each month by keeping your account balance above a certain amount. The amount changes based on the accounts.

Read the full Presidential Bank review.

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