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Popular Direct VS Giantbank.com

Which bank is better for you?

  • 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
  • Financial Rates: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 2.0 Star Icon
  • Variety of Terms: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Required Opening Amount: 4.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Most accounts offer competitive rates
  • Good variety of CD terms offered
  • Can apply through mail or online
  • Opening required amount is low

Cons:

  • Short-term CDs have low rates
  • Limited ways to fund CDs
  • Customer service has limited hours
  • Transfer interest to internal accounts
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.

Giantbank.com CD Review

Most giantbank.com CDs offer competitive interest rates. The rates for some CDs are competitive with other online accounts. All of the CD rates are higher than typical bank rates. The CD terms that are 12-months and longer offer the most competitive interest rates.

There are a good variety of giantbank.com CD terms available. The terms range from 91-days to 60-month CDs. There are seven different terms offered through giantbank.com. You can apply for any of these CD terms online.

There are two options on how to open a CD with giantbank.com. You can apply for the CD online or fill out an application and send the application back through the mail. If you open the CD online there is a maximum opening amount of $50,000.

The opening required amount for giantbank.com CDs are low. Each of the CD terms requires $2,500 to open. You must keep a balance of at least $2,500 in the giantbank.com CDs to earn interest. Any amount over the required balance earns a competitive interest rate. The interest rates are not tiered.

The short-term CDs do not offer as competitive interest rates as the longer-term CDs. The 91-day, six-month, and nine-month CDs do not offer as competitive rates. These rates are still competitive. The rates are just not as competitive as the other giantbank.com terms.

giantbank.com limits the ways you can initially deposit money into CD accounts. Those ways include mailing in a check or a wire transfer. You can also transfer money from another giantbank.com account. The website does not say you can make the initial transfer from an external bank into a giantbank.com CD.

giantbank.com is an online bank. You can contact customer service through email, mail, phone, or fax. Customer service does have limited hours they are open. They are available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST.

Customers can transfer the interest earned on giantbank.com CDs to other accounts. But, the money can only be transferred to other giantbank.com accounts. Those accounts include giantbank.com checking or money market accounts.

Read the full Giantbank.com review.

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