-
Financial Rates:
2.0
-
Customer Service:
5.0
-
Website Experience:
4.0
-
Bank Fees:
3.5
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
-
Customer Service:
5.0
-
Website Experience:
4.0
-
Bank Fees:
3.0
Pros:
- Checking account for 55 and older
- Anywhere Accounts
- Business accounts offered
- Variety of personal products offered
Cons:
- Accounts have fees
- Online banking is not free
- Accounts not offered everywhere
- Low-interest rates
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.
FirstBank offers a checking account for anyone over 55 years old. This account earns interest. There is no minimum balance to earn interest or required to keep in the account. This account does not have any fees, and direct deposit is not required.
The Anywhere Accounts are a savings and checking account. Both of these accounts do not have monthly fees. There is no minimum balance required to keep in the account. You can sign up to have money from transactions rounded up to the nearest dollar. The difference is deposited into your Anywhere eSave Savings account. Those transactions include debit transactions, bill pay, or other electronic transfers.
FirstBank offers accounts for businesses. Checking and money market accounts are available. There is a checking account offered specifically for nonprofits. There are no fees for the nonprofit checking and the basic business checking. The other accounts have a monthly fee.
Not just personal deposit accounts are available at FirstBank. Personal credit cards, home equity loans, and personal construction loans are available. Health Savings Accounts and accounts to help save for college are also offered.
Most FirstBank accounts have a monthly fee. The fees range from $5 to $20. The debit card has a yearly fee of $10. You are only allowed 25 deposits into the eSave Savings account per month. You are charged $0.10 for each item over 25.
Account interest rates at FirstBank are not competitive with other online banks. The interest rates are similar to your typical bank rates.
FirstBank offers products and accounts in Arizona, California, and Colorado. They have over 115 branch locations in these three states with over 200 ATMs. To open an account, you must live in one of these three states.
Online banking with FirstBank is only free if you sign up to receive electronic statements. The fee is $3 each month if you do not sign up. The money will be automatically withdrawn from your checking account on the first day of each month. If you want to receive paper statements, you must keep $10,000 in FirstBank accounts to waive the monthly fee.
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| Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024) | |
| APY | 4.00% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 3.92% |
| Min to Open | $0 |
| Min to Earn APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Min to Avoid Fee | $0 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
| Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024) | |
| APY | 4.75% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.64% |
| Min to Open | $0 |
| Min to Earn APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Min to Avoid Fee | $0 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC No monthly maintenance fee, $0 to open, easily grow your money | |
The rate information is obtained by Bankrate from the listed institutions. Bankrate cannot guarantee the accuracy or availability of any rates shown. Institutions may have different rates on their own websites than those posted on Bankrate.com. The listings that appear on this page are from companies from which this website receives compensation, which may impact how, where, and in what order products appear. This table does not include all companies or all available products.
All rates are subject to change without notice and may vary depending on location. These quotes are from banks, thrifts, and credit unions, some of whom have paid for a link to their own website where you can find additional information. Those with a paid link are our Advertisers. Those without a paid link are listings we obtain to improve the consumer shopping experience and are not Advertisers. To receive the Bankrate.com rate from an Advertiser, please identify yourself as a Bankrate customer. Bank and thrift deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Credit union deposits are insured by the National Credit Union Administration.
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1 APY stands for Annual Percent Yield. It's different from Rate because it takes into account compounding interest for the year.
2 MMA stands for Money Market Account. It's a savings and checking hybrid, allowing you to earn interest and use checks 6 times a month.