Capital One 360 Review: Should you get Capital One Checking and Capital One Savings?
At first, all I really knew about Capital One’s savings and checking accounts were that they had those ridiculously strange commercials about being able to get coffee at their bank branch, something called a Capital One Café. The Capital One Café felt like a super strange way to connect with “millennials”.
But as I looked into it, I found out that the Capital One savings account is actually pretty decent. The Capital One checking account, however, is really lacking.
i’ll jump right into the Capital One Savings account.
Capital One 360 Savings is the main draw of the two accounts. The Capital One savings account, on its own, is pretty decent.
First, Capital One 360 Savings account comes with a 1.80% interest rate, which compares favorably among most bank accounts, especially Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citi, all of which have rates near zero percent. However, there are slightly higher savings account rates out there such as through Varo Bank, but overall, Capital One savings has a top-tier rate. Furthermore, this account is FDIC insured.
Just note that this 1.80% rate will change (up or down) depending on what the Federal Reserve does, but that is the same for all FDIC-insured savings accounts.
Second, this account has no fees to open or maintain, which is in line with other online banks like SoFi, Ally, Discover, Varo, Wealthfront, Robinhood, and Marcus by Goldman Sachs.
However, you are limited in the Capital One savings account to transferring money more than 6 times per month, otherwise you will owe a fee. This compares negatively to SoFi Money and Robinhood Cash Management, both of which do not have this restriction.
Also, you cannot withdraw money from this account via an ATM. You must transfer money into another account, either at Capital One checking or elsewhere, in order to withdraw the money.
Also, you can only make deposits into the Capital One savings account via another bank account. You can, however, withdraw or deposit money from a Capital One bank branch.
A few other noteworthy features of this account include:
– The ability to set savings goals
– Automated savings transfers into the account from another source
– Mobile check deposit
– A customer support number
So, should you get the Capital One savings account? I see the Capital One 360 Savings account as best used for an emergency fund and not much else. It has very little functionality or extra perks that make it worthwhile, but it is FDIC insured and has a good interest rate with no fees.
Now, the Capital One 360 Checking account is not worth getting in my opinion, though it is decent. There are much better checking accounts out there like SoFi Money.
First, there are again no major fees or minimum deposits required on this FDIC insured account. This is a major plus especially when compared to the big banks, but it is really not too special when compared to all of the new fintech firms out there today.
However, Capital One 360 checking is not completely free. They do charge between $7-11 for ordering checks, which is an annoyance (though your first checkbook is free). Firms like SoFi Money do not charge for ordering checks.
Second, Capital One 360 checking does pay interest of between 0.20% and 0.75%. There are still banks out there like Robinhood and SoFi Money that pay much better interest on the equivalent of a checking account.
Third, Capital One gives you fee free access to all Capital One ATMs and all AllPoint Network ATMs, which are around 39,000 in total.
The BEST FEATURE of Capital One 360 checking is the fact that you can deposit cash at some ATMs. But it is very limited. You can use the Capital One 360 online tool to find out which ATMs will accept cash near you.
Nearly all other online banks do not allow you to make cash deposits, so this is a huge benefit to Capital One 360 checking and might be worth the tradeoff of the slightly lower interest rate for some people who get paid in cash.
So overall, I would get the Capital One 360 checking is you need to deposit cash often; otherwise, I would recommend another firm like Robinhood or SoFi for an all-in-one no fee high yield checking/ savings hybrid account.
SoFi Money is my favorite account. It’s free, has a great interest rate, and has a💰 $25 signup bonus link: https://bit.ly/390TLFp (this is my wife Sam’s link, mine’s not working right now)
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: Some of the links on this webpage are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through and sign up. However, this does not impact my opinions and comparisons.
#bestsavingsaccounts
