PenFed Credit Union VS Quontic

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: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 4.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
Advertiser Disclosure
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Pros:

  • Competitive interest rates on accounts
  • Low opening required amounts
  • Good variety of accounts available
  • No monthly fees on accounts

Cons:

  • Accounts have tiered interest rates
  • Checking account rates have requirements
  • Limited CD terms available
  • No ATM fee reimbursement
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.

Quontic Review

Quontic accounts earn competitive interest rates. These account rates are competitive with other online accounts. The interest rates are much higher than typical bank interest rates.

The required opening amounts for Quontic accounts are low. The regular savings account requires $100 to open. The checking account and money market account requires $500 to open. Each of the CD terms require $1,000 to open.

There are a variety of accounts offered through Quontic. They offer personal savings, checking, and money market accounts. They also offer personal CDs and IRA CDs. Quontic offers business accounts. Those include business checking and savings accounts. Quontic offers personal and business lending options, including reverse mortgages.

The Quontic checking account does not have a monthly fee. The money market account only has a fee if you receive a paper statement. That fee is $5 per month. If you opt into paperless statements, there will not be a fee on the account. Most Quontic accounts do not have a minimum balance required to keep in the account to avoid the fees. The regular savings does have a $3 fee if your account balance falls below $100.

Quontic accounts have tiered interest rates. To earn competitive rates on accounts requires a high account balance. To earn the highest rate for the MMA requires a balance over $100,000. The regular savings account requires a balance of $250,000 to earn the most competitive rate. Amounts over $5,000 for the MMA earn competitive interest rates, just not the highest. The regular savings account requires a $50,000 balance to earn a competitive rate.

The Quontic checking account earns very competitive interest rates. To earn those rates, you must meet the requirements. You must have 15 point-of-sale debit transactions and one ACH transaction in or out of the account. You must meet these requirements each statement cycle. If you do not meet these requirements, you will not receive the competitive rates.

Quontic Bank has limited CD terms available. They do not offer a CD term shorter than 12-months. The longest CD term is a 60-month term. There are five total CD terms available with Quontic Bank. Each CD requires $1,000 to open. The CDs and IRA accounts are only for personal deposit accounts.

Quontic offers over 90,000 surcharge-free ATMs. If you use an ATM not in their network, Quontic will not reimburse you the ATM fee. The ATMs in their network include AllPoint, MoneyPass, and SUM. The ATMs at Citibank branches are also included.

Read the full Quontic review.

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Savings (Rate as of 12/21/2024)
APY 3.80%
Rate 3.73%
Min to Open $0
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook No
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Savings (Rate as of 12/21/2024)
APY 4.75%
Rate 4.65%
Min to Open $500
Min to Earn APY $500
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook No
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APY 3.80%
Rate 3.80%
Min to Open $0
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook No
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APY 4.40%
Rate 4.30%
Min to Open $0
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
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APY 4.46%
Rate 4.46%
Min to Open $500
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Min to Avoid Fee $0
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APY 4.35%
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Min to Open $0
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
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APY 4.35%
Rate 4.35%
Min to Open $100
Min to Earn APY $5,000
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook No
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APY 4.30%
Rate 4.21%
Min to Open $0
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Monthly Fee $0.00
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Checkbook No
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MMA (Rate as of 12/21/2024)
APY 4.10%
Rate 4.02%
Min to Open $0
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook Yes
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Savings (Rate as of 12/21/2024)
APY 4.10%
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Min to Open $0
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Monthly Fee $0.00
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APY 4.75%
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Min to Open $1,000
Min to Earn APY $1,000
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APY 4.75%
Rate 4.75%
Min to Open $10
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook No
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APY 4.10%
Rate 4.02%
Min to Open $0
Min to Earn APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Min to Avoid Fee $0
Checkbook No
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