-
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:
5.0
-
Website Experience:
5.0
-
Bank Fees:
4.0
Pros:
- No required amount to open account
- Most accounts do not have fees
- MMA and CDs offer competitive rates
- ATM fee reimbursement
Cons:
- Must become a member to open accounts
- Most accounts do not have competitive rates
- Tiered interest rates on accounts
- No business accounts available
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.
Quorum does not have a set amount required to open their HighQ savings account. The basic savings account only requires $5 to open, which Quorum will pay for you. The checking accounts offered through Quorum do not have a set amount required to open.
Most Quorum accounts do not have monthly fees. If the accounts do have a fee, that fee is easy to waive. Electronic statements waive the fee for the basic savings account. Waive the checking account fees by having a set amount in direct deposits or a set account balance. You must also sign up for electronic statements.
The HighQ savings account and some CDs offer the most competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online-only accounts. There is no required amount to open the HighQ account and no monthly fees. This account can be opened online. The CDs require $1,000 to open.
The QChoice checking account offers ATM reimbursement. There are a variety of ATMs that are free of charge to Quorum customers. However, if you use an ATM that charges a fee, Quorum will reimburse that fee up to $15 per month. The fee reimbursement will deposit automatically into your account on the second business day of the following month.
To open an account with Quorum, you must become a member of the credit union. To open an account online, you must be over 18. If you are under 18, you must mail in the application. To establish your membership, you must open a basic savings account. The required amount is $5, but Quorum will fund that amount.
Most Quorum accounts do not offer competitive interest rates. Most account rates are competitive with typical brick and mortar bank rates. The HighQ savings account offers the most competitive rate. That account offers interest that is competitive with other online accounts.
Most Quorum account interest rates are tiered. The checking account requires a $20,000 balance to earn the most competitive rate. The money management account requires $250,000 to receive the best rate.
The only accounts offered through Quorum are personal deposit accounts. No specific business accounts are available. Those personal deposit accounts include checking and savings accounts, and CDs. The CDs range from three-months to five-year terms.