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Colorado Federal Savings Bank VS Citizens Access

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: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Variety of Terms: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Required Opening Amount: 3.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon Star Icon

Pros:

  • Competitive interest rates on CDs
  • CD Rate Pledge guarantee
  • Good variety of CD terms offered
  • Encourages CD laddering

Cons:

  • High opening required amounts
  • Limited ways to fund your CD
  • Customer service sets up maturity plan
  • Only two ways to receive CD interest
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.

Citizens Access CD Review

Citizens Access CDs offer competitive interest rates. The rates are much higher than typical bank rates. Each of the CD terms offers interest rates competitive with other online CDs. The interest rates are not tiered. Any balance above $5,000 earns the most competitive interest rate offered.

Each Citizens Access CD comes with the CD Pledge Rate guarantee. Once you fund your CD, Citizens Access watches interest rates for ten days. The Rate Pledge guarantees you lock in the highest interest rate during that time. Once you lock in the highest interest rate, the rate stays the same for the entire term.

Citizens Access offers a good variety of CD terms. Those terms range from a six-month term to a five-year term. In all, Citizens Access offers seven CD term lengths.

Citizens Access encourages CD laddering. This means dividing up your investment between different term CDs. Dividing up your money can earn more interest. You can invest your money into short-term or long-term CDs. The Citizens Access website offers tools to help you understand CD laddering better.

The Citizens Access CDs have high opening required amounts. Each of the CD terms require $5,000 to open. The savings account also requires $5,000 to open.

There are limited ways to open and fund Citizens Access CDs. You cannot deposit cash or make a wire transfer into the CD. You can link an external bank account or deposit a check to fund the account. Make changes to the account during the 10-day grace period or once the CD reaches maturity.

To set up a maturity plan for your Citizens Access CD you need to call customer service. They can help you figure out what happens to your CD once it reaches maturity. Customer service has set hours they are available. Find the hours listed below.

Citizens Access offers two ways for customers to receive the interest earned on their CDs. You can choose to have the money added to the CD principal or transfer the money to another account. Those are the only two options for how to receive the interest earned.

Read the full Citizens Access review.

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