Update 12/22/19: Rate lowered to 1.87%.
Offer at a glance
- Interest Rate: 2.01% APY
- Minimum Balance: $100 to open
- Maximum Balance: None listed
- Availability: Nationwide. However, you must be a U.S. citizen with a valid social security number
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding:
Yes, unknown limit. Can fund at least $2,000No longer allowing funding with a credit card - Monthly fees: $5
- Insured: FDIC
The Offer
- VirtualBank is offering a 2.01% APY rate for the first year on the eMoney Market account.
The Fine Print
- A fixed, 1 year introductory APY is available to clients opening a new VirtualBank eMoney Market account with new money not currently held by VirtualBank. Accounts opened and initially funded with money transferred from an existing VirtualBank account are not eligible for the 1-year introductory period APY
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
This account comes with a $5 monthly fee, this is waived with a minimum daily balance of $100. There is also a $15 charge for excessive withdrawals (more than six per month).
Our Verdict
VirtualBank is a division of IBERIABANK. 2.01% APY is the new rate leader for basic savings account rates. That being said I don’t think this account is as good as the 2% APY currently being offered by Popular Bank. Here’s why
- This is really a teaser rate, I imagine the APY after twelve months will drop significantly. Even if the rate is locked for 12 months and they plan to continue to offer a high rate that’s probably not a good thing as interest rates are expected to continue rising (having locked rates for 12 months would be better in a market with falling rates).
- This is only 0.01% better. I hate products that offer a tiny increase over the rate leader just to be advertised as the #1 option. If you want to be the #1 option, at least give an increase of 0.05%.
Personally I think most people are best off with a rewards checking account/card offering up to 5% APY such as the Insight card anyway.
Hat tip to reader Eduardo Baez
The APY is now 0.70%
PSA: for those who still have this account, be aware that they drop interest rates without announcement. It’s currently 1.25% (substantially lower than several alternatives).
Please remove the one-year guarantee from the article title since it was dropped from the offer long time ago.
12/22/19 update: Rate is now 1.85%
I’ll update
Rate is up to 2.36% now and they removed the 1 year guarantee.
More accurately, it’s no longer an introductory rate. At this moment, it’s actually a very competitive regular savings interest rate. DoC should update the title to reflect this change. ☺
what is there fee in order to get receive a statement in the mail?
Per the website FAQ: Q: How do I view my bank statements?
A: Your account statements and check images are provided to you online each monthly statement cycle with no service fee. Paper statements and check copies are available for mail delivery for a fee.
However, nowhere can I find a fee schedule that says anything about a paper statement fee, and it’s not listed online when logged into online banking. Looks like the parent bank Iberia changes $2/mo for some accounts, which is about the norm for some online banks, but I am not sure that is right. VirtualBank’s deposit account agreement say “Statements (paper copy/duplicate) $10 each”, but I would think that if you need official copies for legal proceedings from past months.
If you really want to know, I would call them. Maybe since this division of Iberia is fairly new and haven’t implemented the fee yet? Because it seems unfair & unreasonable to just have to guess what the fee is.
Weird external linking DPs for me:
– Tried using Ally to link to VB, trial deposits failed. Had to contact Ally customer service to have them change it to a money market savings acct., trial deposits failed again.
– Tried using trial deposits with CIT Bank. I picked Checking this time instead of Savings, because those were the only two choices at CIT. Worked fine.
– Same thing for TD Ameritrade brokerage. Only choices were checking or savings, I picked checking and it worked.
– Tried Ally trial deposits to VB again, this time said VB was checking, worked fine.
Statement cycled today and I got 2.01% APY so I definitely opened the right account at VB. Not sure if this weirdness will happen to everyone or all external accounts, but from my experience– just tell your external bank that VB is checking.
Strange since it has the limit of 6 withdrawals per month which is for savings accounts only.
They do the same thing at All America Bank/Redneck Bank on their Mega Money Accounts…call them checking accounts.
How do you find the account#? I can’t see it anymore on the online banking website. Any help is appreciated.
Don’t think there’s any way other than calling. It’s not on any of the opening docs, nor available online, nor on the monthly statement. I had to call (1-877-998-2265) and the rep sent me my acct. # via their secure messaging system.
Fortunately it seems to be easy to get a real person very quickly on the phone.
Just a heads up: for statement purposes your monthly cycle is NOT based on a calendar month. Your statement period begins on the day your account is opened. So if you open on the 12th you will see interest post after the 11th of the following month. The six withdrawals per cycle also follow this timetable.
do you know where to find the account#? I can;t see it on the online banking website. Thanks.
It’s now been 2 weeks since I tried to open an account. The pending charge on my credit card has fallen off and I’ve received nothing in the mail or via email from the bank. The only communication I have is the initial email with an application number.
This is pretty disappointing. I expected to hear something – good or bad – by now.
Took a few phone calls on the pending app but Citi Premier charge cleared two days ago and funds are in the VB account 👍 Nice batch of free points + a solid rate is 🔥.