WaFd Bank VS Citibank

Which bank is better for you?

  • 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
  • Financial Rates: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 4.5 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 2.5 Star Icon
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Pros:

  • Good rates with Citi Accelerate Savings
  • Variety of accounts available
  • Low opening required amounts
  • ATM fee reimbursement for some accounts

Cons:

  • Regular account rates not competitive
  • Competitive rates have requirements
  • Accounts have monthly fees
  • Competitive CD rates require a high amount
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.

Citibank Review

The Citi Accelerate Savings accounts offer competitive interest rates. These accounts are opened as packages. There are five packages to choose. The Citi Accelerate Savings account offers competitive interest rates. Those rates are competitive with other online accounts. This account is only offered to people who apply online. You can apply through Citibank online, CitiMobile, or Citiphone Banking.

Citi offers a good variety of bank accounts. They offer checking and savings accounts. They offer a wide variety of CD terms, with 16 different term options. Citi offers a variety of account packages that fit your banking needs. The packages vary depending on your account balance amounts.

There is not a required amount to open Citi Accelerate Savings accounts. The checking accounts do not have an opening required amount. But, to waive the monthly fees, you must have a set account balance. The minimum opening balance for CDs varies between markets. To earn the most competitive rates for some CDs requires a balance of over $25,000.

The Citigold account package offers ATM reimbursement. To qualify to be a Citigold member, you must have combined Citi account balances over $200,000. Once you qualify, Citi will reimburse you for any ATM fees charged by other banks or ATM providers. This is only for consumer accounts.

Most other account interest rates with Citi are not competitive. The Citi Accelerate Savings account offers rates competitive with other online accounts. There are also a few CD terms that offer competitive rates. Most other Citi account rates compare to typical bank rates.

To earn the most competitive rates with the Citi Accelerate Savings account, you must meet set requirements. These requirements help to waive the monthly fees. All the Citi Accelerate Savings accounts must be opened in a package. That means opening other Citi accounts that link to the Accelerate Savings account.

Each account has a monthly fee. The savings and checking account fees range from $10 to $30. There are ways to waive the monthly fees for each account. Having a set amount of direct deposit into the account can waive the fees. Having a set account balance can also waive the monthly fee. The balances required to waive the fees are high. It can range from $1,500 to $200,000 depending on the account.

Most Citi CD terms do not offer competitive interest rates. Only the six, 12, and 18-month CDs offer rates competitive with other online CDs. To earn the most competitive rates for the 12 and 18-month CDs requires a balance of $25,000. All the other CD rates are not competitive with other online CD accounts.

Read the full Citibank review.

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