-
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:
4.0
-
Customer Service:
5.0
-
Website Experience:
5.0
-
Bank Fees:
4.0
Pros:
- Competitive interest rates
- Free Rewards checking account
- Checking account cash back option
- No fees and low opening required amounts
Cons:
- Required account balance for high rates
- Specific stipulation for cash back benefit
- High monthly fee for two checking accounts
- Other accounts have low 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.
The accounts offered through LendingClub offer competitive interest rates. The high-yield savings account offers rates up to 0.60%. Their checking account earns a lower rate than the savings account, but does offer some interest earning at 0.15%.
LendingClub offers a Rewards checking account. This account does not have monthly maintenance fees. This checking account earns cash back, and interest, if you meet the requirements. It requires $100 to open the account. After you open the account, there are no monthly fees or required amounts to avoid the fees, but a set balance amount to earn the rewards.
With the Rewards checking account, customers can earn up to one percent back on their debit card purchases. The debit card is linked to your Rewards checking account. Purchases made online or in-store are eligible for the cash back option.
Most of the accounts at LendingClub do not have monthly maintenance fees. Once you open the high-yield savings account with $100, there is not a monthly fee or minimum requirement to keep in the account to avoid a monthly fee. The opening required amounts for most accounts are low. The high-yield checking account only requires $100 to open.
The interest rates for the high-yield account is high, but in order to earn that amount, you must keep a set amount in the account. This account requires a balance of $2,500 to be in the account to earn the highest interest amount. Balances that fall below $2,500 will receive a much lower interest rate of 0.05%.
In order to earn the cash back, you must have your account open for 30 days and have $2,500 in the account from direct deposits or another source of income. The credit comes from purchases made online or in the store using your debit card signature option. To earn the cash back option, you MUST choose the credit option instead of the debit option when making your purchase. Transactions made with your PIN are not eligible for the cash back. The money you earn will be credited into your account at the end of each earning period.
The Essential Checking account has a monthly fee of $9. You can waive this fee by keeping a set amount in the account, but this amount is high as well. To waive the monthly fee, you must have at least $5,000 in the checking account at all times. If the account balance falls below $5,000, you will be charged the fee. The Tailored checking account has a monthly fee of $10 if you do not have at least $5,000 in the account.
Not all accounts offer competitive interest rates. The CDs, money market account, and basic savings account do not offer competitive interest rates. Those rates are much lower than the high-yield savings account rates.
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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.