SmartyPig accounts do not have monthly maintenance fees. There is not a required amount to keep in the account. The first initial deposit to open the account is $25.

This savings account offers tiered interest rates. This means the more money you have in the account, the more interest you will earn. The interest rates do not vary much between tiers. The difference from a low amount to the higher amount is around 0.05%.

With this SmartyPig account, you can set up different savings goals. The savings accounts can be long-term, like saving for a college education. They can also be short term, like saving for a mountain bike or birthday party. You can transfer money from your SmartyPig primary account to different savings goals.

The best way to save money is to set up direct withdrawals. You set up when you want the money to come out of your account and how much to withdraw. Then, SmartyPig does the rest. Once the money is deposited into your account, you can transfer it into different savings goal. The withdrawals can be set up to occur monthly or biweekly.

SmartyPig has only one account offered: a high yield savings account. They do not offer checking accounts, CDs, money market accounts, or business accounts. The interest rate on this savings account is considerably higher than other banks savings accounts.

The website says you can withdraw money anytime, but federal regulation only allows six withdrawals per billing cycle. This includes transfers between your SmartyPig primary account and your different savings goals. The transfer or withdrawal will not take place if you have made more than six in a billing cycle. If you repeatedly try to make more than six, your account will be closed. Once you reach your goal, you cannot withdraw part of your money back to your external funding source. You must withdraw it all, or transfer the money between other savings goals.

This account is not meant for high account balances. There is a maximum account balance of $250,000. If your account has $250,000, you will earn interest on the money in the account, but you cannot add to the account.

Each SmartyPig account is only allowed to have one external funding source set up for it. That means you can only have one bank account connected to each SmartyPig account. You can change your external funding source if you want, but never have more than one.

Read the full SmartyPig review.

giantbank.com accounts are free. The checking and money market accounts do not have a monthly maintenance fee. There is no required amount to keep in either of the accounts. CDs only have a fee if you withdraw the money before the maturity date.

The giantbank.com checking account earns interest. You can have money directly deposited into the checking account. There is not a monthly fee. The required amount to open the checking account is only $100.

The accounts at giantbank.com earn competitive interest rates. The rates are slightly lower than other online-only accounts. However, they are much higher than other brick and mortar bank rates. The interest rates for the accounts are tiered. The more money you have in the account, the higher the interest rates you earn.

giantbank.com has a variety of ATMs in network that customers are not charged a fee for using. If a different financial institution charges a fee, giantbank.com will refund the fee.

To earn the highest interest rates, giantbank.com requires a large account balance. The money market account requires a $100,000 balance to earn the highest rates. MMA balances over $1,000 earn interest, just a slightly lower rate. The checking account requires $10,000 in the account to earn the highest interest rates. The CDs require $2,500 to open and earn interest.

giantbank.com only offers personal deposit accounts. There are no business accounts available. The personal deposit accounts include checking and money market accounts, and CDs. There is only one checking and money market account to choose from. The CDs range in terms from 91-days to 5-years.

The amount required to open a giantbank.com money market account or CDs is high. The money market account requires $1,000 to open. Each of the different CD terms require $2,500 to open. There is no monthly fee for the money market account.

giantbank.com accounts offer person to person payment through PayPal. There is a fee for each transaction. The fee is $0.50 per transaction made. You can upload bank information into Quicken or QuickBooks for a fee.

Read the full giantbank.com review.