Bank Account and Savings Rates

When you shop for a bank, you want to get the best rates and features available for a bank account in your community. Should you choose a national or international bank, a local savings bank or a regional bank? The choice will be different depending on your needs and the type of account you plan to open.

If you are a business owner, you have to choose the best rate for business loans and the bank with the most available funds to loan. If you are opening a personal savings account, the savings account rate will not be very high today. Banks don’t have much to offer in the way of interest on savings. Look at the interest rate offered by your savings bank and the amount you have to deposit.  

You may get a better bank rate by putting your money in a CD (certificate of deposit). You will not have access to your funds for a period of three to six months and perhaps even a year but if you can afford the investment, the interest rate will be the highest rate you can achieve right now. 

If you have a significant amount of money to invest, you might want to look at your bank’s money market accounts. You do have some flexibility with these accounts, so you can get the money rate you need and the ability to withdraw a certain percentage of your funds if you need access to the money.

Always look for a bank that offers free checking and the best rate for ATM fees, if you have to pay them at all. Ideally, your bank will not charge an ATM fee for withdrawals but if they do, be sure to check the fees for withdrawing money through an ATM owned by another bank.  

Whether you are new to the town or you just want to look at the other banks in your community to be sure you are getting the highest rate on your money and the best deal in terms of bank fees, there is good reason to periodically compare your bank to other community banks.  

Over a period of a year, banks can move into the community or be acquired and services and fees can change. Protect yourself and your money be shopping for the best money rate and bank rate once a year. You will be happy you did.