Sun Canyon Bank VS WaFd Bank

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 1.5 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 4.5 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 4.5 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 3.5 Star Icon
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Pros:

  • Higher rates than typical banks
  • Good variety of accounts online
  • Free ATM transactions
  • Digital Wallet

Cons:

  • Monthly fees for most accounts
  • High opening required amounts
  • Must wait for accounts to activate
  • Tiered interest rates on accounts
  • Financial Rates: 2.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 3.5 Star Icon
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Pros:

  • Good variety of accounts available
  • Low opening required amounts
  • Business accounts offered
  • Money market and CDs earn good rates

Cons:

  • Low interest rates on accounts
  • Tiered interest rates on some accounts
  • High rates require eligible checking
  • Accounts have monthly fees
Sun Canyon Bank Review

The interest rates for Sun Canyon are higher than typical bank rates, but lower than online accounts. The accounts do have tiered interest rates. But even the lowest tier rates are higher than typical bank rates.

Sun Canyon Bank offers online accounts. Those accounts include:

  • Checking account
  • Savings account
  • Money market account
  • Standard CDs in 6, 12, and 24-month terms

Sun Canyon allows for eight ATM transactions each month, or up to $25 per billing cycle, free of fees. The other banking institution may charge a fee. Sun Canyon will not charge a fee for those first ATM transactions.

Through the mobile app, you can make purchases and payments with Sun Canyon Digital Wallet. You load your debit card into the mobile app. You can then make purchases. Sun Canyon also supports Apple, Google, and Samsung Pay.

Most Sun Canyon accounts have fees. The money market fee is $10. To avoid fees, you must keep at least $2,500 in the account. The savings account has a fee of $5 per month. To avoid this fee, you must have a balance of at least $250. The checking account has a fee of $5 if you have less than $5,000 in your checking account. To waive the fees, you can also have set combined balances. The savings account requires $2,500 in combined accounts. The MMA requires $5,000, and the checking account requires $20,000 in combined accounts.

The opening required amounts for Sun Canyon accounts are high. The savings account requires $250 to open. The checking account requires $1,000 to open. The CDs all require $1,000 to open. The money market account requires $2,500. You must keep these amounts in the accounts to avoid the monthly fees.

Apply for an account with Sun Canyon by filling out an application online. Once your application is complete, customer service sends an email when the account activates. You can start using the account once you receive the email.

To earn the most competitive rates, you must have a high account balance. The checking account requires $50,000 for the best rates and the money market requires $100,000. The savings account requires $250,000. Balance over $250 for the savings account and over $2,500 for the MMA and checking accounts earn interest, just not the highest rate.

Read the full Sun Canyon Bank review.

WaFd Bank Review

WaFd Bank offers a good variety of accounts. Those include:

  • Savings account
  • Savings account for minors
  • Checking accounts
  • Money market accounts
  • CD terms from three-months to five-years
  • Retirement accounts
  • Lending options
  • Credit cards
  • Small business accounts
  • Commercial options

The opening required amounts for WaFd accounts are low. Most savings and checking accounts only require $25 to open. A savings account for minors requires $10 to open. The Stellar Plus checking account requires $100 to open. The money market accounts require $100 to open. All CD terms require $1,000 to open.

WaFd Bank offers business accounts along with personal accounts. Those accounts include small business checking and savings accounts. They also offer some commercial business accounts. To open those accounts, you need to contact a commercial banker.

The WaFd Gold Money Market account has competitive rates. These account rates are the most competitive rates offered at WaFd. They are lower than other online money market accounts but still competitive. The seven-month and 13-month special CDs also earn higher rates than other WaFd CDs.

WaFd accounts besides the Gold MMA and special CD terms have low interest rates. These rates are similar to other brick-and-mortar bank rates. They do not compare to other online-only accounts.

Some WaFd accounts have tiered interest rates. To receive the highest rate for the Stellar Plus checking account requires a $10,000 balance. The regular money market account requires $90,000 to earn the best rate. Even the highest interest rate for these accounts is low.

Specific WaFd accounts require you to open other eligible accounts. To earn the best rates on the special CD terms, you must have an eligible checking account. The rates are only 0.05% higher if you have the checking account.

Most WaFd Bank accounts have monthly fees. The checking account fees range from $0-8 per month. The savings accounts have monthly fees from $3-10 per month. There are ways to waive some of the monthly fees. Those include keeping a set account balance. That balance ranges from $100-$20,000, depending on the account.

Read the full WaFd Bank review.

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