WaFd Bank VS giantbank.com

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
No Rate Information
Advertiser Disclosure
Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon

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: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 5.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
Advertiser Disclosure
Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon

Pros:

  • No monthly fees for accounts
  • Checking account earns interest
  • Accounts earn competitive interest rates
  • Reimbursement of ATM fees

Cons:

  • Highest rate requires a large sum
  • Limited variety of accounts offered
  • MMA and CDs have high opening amount
  • Person to person payment has a fee
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.

giantbank.com 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.

Sponsored Offers

Advertiser Disclosure
Featured Offers
American Express
Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024)
APY 4.30%
Rate 4.21%
For APY $1
Monthly Fee $0.00
Checkbook No
Member FDIC
Next >
LendingClub
Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024)
APY 5.00%
Rate 5.00%
For APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Checkbook No
Member FDIC Plus, no monthly fees and unlimited free external transfers
Next >
Barclays
Savings (Rate as of 4/18/2024)
APY 4.35%
Rate 4.35%
For APY $0
Monthly Fee $0.00
Checkbook No
Member FDIC
Next >