The Best Ways to Shop for a Bank

Many Americans don’t so much choose a bank as they simply end up with one, either because there happens to be a branch nearby or because they haven’t bothered to change since they first opened an account.

If you haven’t shopped for a bank lately, now is a great time to do so. After years in a stagnant rate environment, interest rates are now rising fairly rapidly, and some banks are particularly keen to compete by offering high rates.

Beyond this dynamic rate environment, banks are also completely re-imagining their products and services as new technologies emerge.

Online banking has vastly increased the number of choices you have while making branch locations less relevant. Mobile apps and ATMs mean you can bank at your convenience rather than being limited to the hours your bank chooses to be open.

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How to Find a Better Bank

Changing banks may seem like a hassle, but the advantages are real, given how dramatically banking has changed. If it’s time to re-evaluate your banking relationship, the process outlined below is designed to help you identify the services you need and evaluate them using more relevant criteria.

1. Decide which banking services you need

Banks have different strengths and weaknesses, so start your search by deciding what your needs are. That way, you can focus your effort on the things that matter most to you. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What type of account do you want?

A bank with a great checking account won’t necessarily have the highest savings account rates. Focus your search on the characteristics of the type of account you need.

How will you use this account?

What sort of balance will you maintain? Will you need to visit a branch regularly? What about ATM usage? These are things that can impact what terms might be available to you and how convenient you’ll find a bank.

Which accounts need to be linked?

It may be helpful to have your savings and checking accounts at the same bank so you can easily transfer money between the two. However, since CDs are locked up for a specified period, it is less important to have them be at the same bank as other accounts. That makes it easier to have a CD at a different bank if it means getting a better rate.

Will you be over the limit?

If you want multiple accounts at the same bank, keep in mind that the $250,000 FDIC insurance limit (or $500,000 for joint accounts) applies to the total value of all the accounts you have at any one bank.

2. Apply general decision rules to find the right bank

Regardless of what type of account you want, here are some rules that apply in all cases:

Confirm FDIC insurance

The FDIC’s BankFind tool allows you to search for whether a given bank has FDIC deposit insurance. All FDIC-member banks must display the official FDIC sign at each teller window and on their websites.

Decide when location does – and doesn’t – matter

Location matters more for accounts that you intend to access frequently, as opposed to a multi-year CD that you are probably not going to touch until it matures. In any case, if you choose to bank online, branch locations won’t be very important to you, although ATM locations may be.

Consider online banking

Online banks often offer better terms than traditional, branch-based banks. Even some traditional banks with extensive branch networks may offer special terms if you agree to do your banking online.

Check the tech

If you like doing business via your computer or phone, be sure to see what the bank’s website or mobile app is like.

Weigh access and responsiveness

Customer care is another factor to consider when looking at a new bank. Are representatives available 24/7 or just during limited hours? When you call the bank, do you get a human response, or do you have to go through a tedious phone tree? Do they offer live online chat, and do you get a timely response when you initiate a chat?

3. Apply product-specific rules to find the best rates

Once you determine the general characteristics of the bank, you can focus on the product-specific terms of the type of account you need.

Shopping for savings accounts and money market accounts

Savings and money market accounts are interest-bearing accounts designed for immediate access but not for frequent transactions. From the customer’s point of view, savings, and money market accounts are fairly similar to each other, so the following guidelines apply to shopping for either type of account:

Rates need to be competitive, but not necessarily the highest

Some banks compete by offering higher rates, and finding one of these banks can make a big difference. The most recent MoneyRates America’s Best Rates survey found that the top ten savings accounts were all offering rates that were more than a full percentage point over the industry average.

While rates can change at any time, the list of banks that lead the quarterly America’s Best Rates surveys has been fairly consistent over time. The point is that once you find a top-performing bank, chances are it will be good enough to keep your rate near the top of the pack for some time to come, even if a few rates are slightly higher from time to time.

Watch out for “teaser rates”

Some banks offer special promotional rates that expire after a limited time, often somewhere between 30 and 90 days. When you compare rates, do so on the basis of the ongoing rate rather than any temporary teaser rate because, in the long run, earning a little extra interest for a couple of months is not going to make a big difference.

Pay attention to how rates change for larger account balances

Some banks offer different savings rates and money market rates depending on the size of your account. Make sure you check the rate for the account size you intend to open.

Shopping for CDs

If you don’t expect to need access to your money any time soon, you should be able to earn a higher rate by committing to a certificate of deposit. Since these deposit products typically lock in a rate for the specified term of the CD, shopping for them is a little different from shopping for a savings or money market account.

Finding the highest CD rate is critical

As noted above, for savings and money market accounts, you only need to focus on getting a reasonably competitive rate because the absolute top rate is going to change from time to time. However, that is not the case for CDs, where you lock into a rate for a specified term. Finding the absolute top rate at the time you open your new CD account is the critical factor that pays benefits over the life of the CD.

Focus your search on the length you need

CD terms can be as little as one month or as long as several years, and different banks may be more competitive at different CD lengths. Focus your rate comparisons on the length of the term you need.

Find out about early withdrawal penalties

There is a penalty for accessing money in a CD before it matures, and you should compare these penalties when deciding which bank to choose. While a high rate is most important, the penalty might be the tiebreaker when choosing between two similar rates. After all, not only do unexpected needs for cash sometimes arise, but a rapidly rising rate environment might also make it worth paying the penalty to terminate your current CD in favor of opening a new one at a higher rate. This is easier to do if the penalty is relatively modest.

Following these steps should help you find a bank with competitive offerings that are well-suited to your needs. That’s a choice that can pay off for you every day for years to come.

Is there more to choosing a bank than just picking the best rate?

Comparing rates on CDs, savings accounts, and money market accounts is a great way to start when choosing a bank, but there is more to it than that. Consider the following issues:

• Deciding what type of account you want. Before you compare rates, you have to decide what your needs are. You can get the highest rates with a long-term CD, but that entails being willing to lock up your money. Also, money market rates are generally higher than savings account rates, but this is not always true at specific banks.
• Multiple account needs. If you want to add a checking account to your savings or money market account, then the decision is about more than just interest rates. Checking account fees and the availability of branches and ATMs become factors as well.
• The size of your deposit. Different banks have different rate offers at different deposit levels. So, you need to choose the best rate for the amount of money you intend to deposit, not simply the best of all rates out there.
• Rate consistency. After all, eye-catching rate offers may come and go, but unless you lock your rate in with a CD, you are going to want a bank that maintains consistently high rates.

How many bank accounts are too many?

If you find better CD rates, savings account rates, or money market rates somewhere else and open an account at the new bank, you might want to keep your old account open for a few months to make sure everything at the new bank is to your satisfaction.

Eventually, though, there are a couple of arguments in favor of consolidating your accounts, as long as it doesn’t put you over the FDIC insurance limit of $250,000.

For one thing, so-called “jumbo deposits” — those exceeding $100,000 — might be eligible for special interest rates. This is more true of money market accounts than savings accounts. On average, money market rates for jumbo accounts are 0.14% higher than for ordinary deposits. Splitting your deposits among different banks would make it more difficult to reach the $100,000 threshold.

Also, accumulating larger deposits might make you eligible for other benefits that banks offer to larger customers, such as free checking accounts and better credit card terms.

What you might want to do is track the market for several weeks to make sure you’ve identified the best savings account, money market account, or whatever account type you’re looking for. Then, when you’re sure of your decision, open an account with the goal of eventually consolidating as many of your deposit dollars there as possible within the boundaries of FDIC insurance limits.

What is most important in choosing a bank?

With banks adjusting their fee schedules these days to adapt to a changing financial and regulatory environment, knowing how to shop for a bank may be more important than ever. There is no shortage of information available, but how do you sift through it all and make the right decision?

The best way to begin is not by looking at the banks but by looking at yourself and how you use a bank. Here’s an example of some questions you should ask:

• Do you keep a large amount of money on deposit? If so, interest rates will be of paramount importance. You should shop for the best interest rates on savings accounts or money market accounts. If you tend to have long-term savings on deposit, then finding the best CD rates will be especially important.
• Do you have a relatively small checking account? In that case, you need to look for a bank still offering free checking. The number of these accounts has declined, but they have by no means disappeared. If you are a student or over age 50, you may find you qualify for special free checking accounts that cater to those groups.
• Do you tend to overdraft your account? If so, the best advice would be to opt out of the overdraft program altogether to cure yourself of this bad habit. If you can’t bring yourself to do that, then you should look for a bank with relatively low overdraft fees.
• Do you travel frequently? If so, look for a bank with widely distributed ATMs or policies for reimbursing out-of-network ATM fees.

More resources on minimizing bank fees

Need a break from rising checking account fees? See our latest Checking Account Fee Survey

More resources on finding the best rates

Best Savings Account Rates

Finding the Best Money Market Account

Read: 7 steps to finding the best CD rates on our Best CD Rates page