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Colorado Federal Savings Bank VS Barclays

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 2.5 Star Icon
  • Variety of Terms: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Required Opening Amount: 3.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Competitive interest rates on CDs
  • Early withdrawal penalty low
  • Good variety of CD terms available
  • The bank is completely online

Cons:

  • Enrolling in online banking is required
  • High opening required amounts
  • Must link another account to CDs
  • Does not offer interest rate guarantee
  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Variety of Terms: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Required Opening Amount: 5.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Competitive interest rates on most CDs
  • Good variety of CD terms
  • No required amount to open CDs
  • Encourages CD laddering

Cons:

  • CDs under 12-months have low rates
  • Limited ways to fund CDs
  • Link external account to CDs
  • Rate guarantee not offered
Colorado Federal Savings Bank CD Review

The interest rates for Colorado Federal Savings Bank CDs are competitive. Their interest rates are competitive with other online CD rates. CFSB interest rates are much higher than typical bank rates. Each of the CD terms offers competitive interest rates.

The penalty for withdrawing money from your CFSB CD before the maturity date is low. Most CDs have a penalty for withdrawing money before the maturity date. Colorado Federal Savings Bank fees are much lower than other bank fees. For terms less than six months, the fee is one month of interest. Terms from six to twelve months require three months of interest. For terms longer than twelve months, the penalty is only six months of interest.

Colorado Federal Savings Bank offers a good variety of CD terms. The shortest terms available is a one-month CD. The longest term offered from CFSB is a five-year CD. They offer a total of nine different CD terms between these two CD lengths. These CDs are for consumer accounts.

Colorado Federal Savings Bank is an entirely online bank. There are no branch locations. You apply for an account online and access your accounts online. They offer consumer CDs as well as an online savings account. CFSB also offers some lending options. Each of these services is online. You must open accounts online. You cannot apply for an account through the mail or in person.

Because CFSB is an entirely online bank, to open an account, you must enroll in online banking. This is how you will access all CFSB accounts. With online banking, you can see your account balances and account history. You can transfer money between CFSB accounts and to external bank accounts. You must receive your statements online.

The amount required to open any of the Colorado Federal Savings Bank CDs is high. Each CD term requires $5,000 to open. You must keep at least $5,000 in the account to earn interest on the CDs. If your balance drops below the $5,000, CFSB may close your account.

You must link your Colorado Federal Savings Bank CD to an external bank account. When you decide to close your account, CFSB will not send you a check for the amount from the account. To receive your money from the closed CD, CFSB transfers the money back into your linked account.

The CDs with Colorado Federal Savings Bank does not offer an interest rate guarantee. They offer competitive interest rates, but the rates you receive when you open the CD is the rate for the CD term. If the interest rates increase shortly after you open the CD, you will not receive a higher rate.

Read the full Colorado Federal Savings Bank review.

Barclays CD Review

The interest rates for Barclays CDs are competitive for most terms. For terms longer than 12-months, the rates are competitive with other online CDs. The interest rates for all CD accounts are much higher than typical bank rates. Barclays CDs interest rates are not tiered. Any balance in the CD earns the competitive interest rate.

Barclays offers a good variety of CD terms. The shortest term offered is a three-month term. The longest term is a 60-month term. Barclays offers a total of nine different CD terms. All the terms are entirely online CDs. Each CD term is available to open online.

There is not a set amount required to open Barclays CDs. Open any of the nine CD terms with any amount. There is not a set amount required to earn the most competitive interest rates. The only balance requirement is that you have enough money in your CD to earn $0.01 in interest.

Barclays encourages CD laddering. This means customers can earn the most competitive interest rates but with more flexibility. CD laddering is investing money in CDs varying in term length. Customers invest in multiple long term CDs. By doing this, one CD will mature each year. This gives customers more access to their money while earning competitive rates. The Barclays website offers a CD ladder calculator. This allows customers to see how to build a successful CD ladder.

The Barclays short term CDs do not offer competitive interest rates. The three, six, and nine-month CDs offer interest rates that are lower than other online banks. These rates are higher than typical bank CD rates of the same term. They are not competitive with other online CDs of the same term length.

Barclays only offers two ways to fund their CDs. Customers can fund the account through an electronic transfer or mailing in a check. If you plan to transfer the money electronically, you must link the CD with an external bank account. Barclays does not accept cash or money orders to deposit into CDs.

The easiest way to make electronic transfers into a Barclays CD is to link it to an external account. You can link up to three external accounts to your Barclays CDs. The linked accounts must be with another bank that is chartered in the United States. You can link accounts when you initially fund your CD or at a later date.

Barclays does not offer an interest rate guarantee. The interest rate you earn on your Barclays CD is the rate on the day you open your account. The interest rates on CDs are competitive with other online accounts. But, if the rates increase shortly after you open your account, Barclays does not increase the interest rate for your CD.

Read the full Barclays review.

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