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Bangor Savings Bank VS Popular Direct

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Variety of Terms: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Required Opening Amount: 5.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Good variety of accounts available
  • Competitive interest rates on CDs
  • Low opening required amounts
  • Many ways to contact customer service

Cons:

  • Cannot open CD accounts online
  • CDs have tiered interest rates
  • Early withdrawal fee is half of interest
  • No ten-day interest rate guarantee
  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Variety of Terms: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Required Opening Amount: 3.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • All CD terms offer competitive rates
  • Good variety of terms available
  • Customer service available 24/7
  • Opening CDs is completely online

Cons:

  • High opening required amount
  • Early withdrawal penalties are high
  • Cannot withdraw interest without a fee
  • Only one way to fund CDs
Bangor Savings Bank CD Review

There is a good variety of CD terms available through Bangor Savings Bank. The terms range from three-months to 60-months. There are a total of nine different CD terms offered through Bangor Savings Bank.

Bangor Savings Bank CDs offer competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online CDs. Bangor Savings Bank CDs interest rates are slightly lower than other online CD terms. These CD rates are much higher than typical bank rates. Even the short-term CDs offer competitive interest rates.

The opening required amount is the same for each CD term. Each Bangor Savings Bank requires $500 to open. You must keep this balance in your CD to earn the competitive interest rates on these CDs.

There are a number of ways to contact customer service with Bangor Savings Bank. They have branch locations in Maine and New Hampshire. They offer live chat, email, mail, and phone options to contact customer service. You can also follow Bangor Savings Bank on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

You cannot open any of the Bangor Savings Bank CD accounts online. To open a CD with this bank you must visit a local branch location. Bangor Savings Bank has over 50 branch locations in Maine and New Hampshire.

The CDs available through Bangor Savings Bank have tiered interest rates. To earn the most competitive interest rates you must be a Benefits Plus Customer. To be a Benefits Plus Member you must meet certain requirements. Talk to customer service about those requirements when you open your CD.

If you withdraw money before your CD reaches the maturity date, Bangor charges a penalty. The penalty for most of the CD terms ends up being half of the earned interest of the CD term. For CDs with a term length of 12-months, the penalty is six-months of interest. For 36-month CDs, the penalty is 18-months of interest. The 48-month and 60-month CDs both have the penalty of 24-months of interest.

Bangor Savings Bank does not offer an interest rate guarantee. The interest rate you earn for the life of the CD term is the rate on the day you open the CD. If the rates increase shortly after you open your CD, your interest rate will not increase.

Read the full Bangor Savings Bank review.

Popular Direct CD Review

Each Popular Direct CD offers competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online accounts. The terms are shorter than 12-months offer competitive interest rates as well. Popular Direct interest rates are much higher than typical bank interest rates.

There are a good variety of CD terms offered through Popular Direct. The terms range in length from three-months to five-years. There are eight CD term lengths in all. You can open any of these CD terms online.

If you have a question and need to contact customer service, they are available anytime. Customers can reach a customer service representative every day, all day. Their customer service phone line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also contact customer service through email or mail.

The process of opening Popular Direct CD terms is entirely online. It takes around ten minutes to complete the application for a new CD account. Once you successfully open an account, everything for your account is online. Access your accounts from anywhere, anytime.

Popular Direct CDs have a high set amount required to open their CDs. The requirement is $10,000 to open each CD term. If you do not have at least the $10,000 balance, you cannot open a Popular Direct CD.

The fee for withdrawing money from Popular Direct CDs before the maturity date is high. For terms less than 91 days, the fee is 89 days of interest. For terms greater than 91 days, but shorter than 12-months, the fee is 120 days of interest. The fee for terms longer than 12-months, but shorter than 36-months, is 270 days of interest. For terms from 36-months to 60-months, the fee is 365 days of interest. Terms 60-months or longer has a fee of 730 days of interest.

Some CDs allow you to withdraw interest earned on CDs without paying an early withdrawal fee. Popular Direct does not. They do not allow for withdrawals of the CD principal or the interest earned without paying a fee. You can only make withdrawals without a fee during the grace period.

There is only one way to fund your Popular Direct CDs. Customers must link each CD to an external bank account. When you open a CD, you must make the deposit from a linked external account. This is part of the account opening process. Once the accounts are linked, you can make electronic transfers into your CD. To avoid a fee, only transfer money when you first open the account and during the grace period.

Read the full Popular Direct review.

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