Sallie Mae CD Rates – Now up to 0.70% APY!

editorial staff
September 17, 2021

[Update September 2021: Sallie Mae raised the rates on many of their CDs with terms of 12 months and greater. The biggest increases came with their 12 and 36 month CD which now yield 0.60% APY and 0.70% APY, respectively. They also raised their money market rate by 0.10% APY to the current 0.40% APY. See all of their current rates below.]

Sallie Mae has become a household name as the largest originator of student loans in the country.

Founded in 1972 as the Student Loan Marketing Association, Sallie Mae operated with government sponsorship by handling both federal and private sector loans.

Some may remember their Federal Stafford and Federal Perkins loans coming from Sallie Mae. However, Sallie Mae started the path of incorporation as a private company during the 90s and completed it in 2004, severing their operation from the government.

Today, their product suite covers a large range of financial services from private education loans and college savings programs to banking services and insurance programs.

In this review, we’ll focus on the savings side of Sallie Mae Bank. Sallie Mae is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and currently offers several types of FDIC-insured savings accounts for a variety of needs: the SmartyPig savings account, certificates of deposit, money market, and high-yield savings accounts are all on the menu with Sallie Mae.

Please note the SmartyPig savings account will not be covered here. Use the link above to read more about that account.

Sallie Mae CD Rates + Account Details

If you’re looking to lock-in an interest rate, a certificate of deposit may be the way to go.

Sallie Mae was named as one of the best banks for certificates for deposit in 2020 by GOBankingRates.

Although their CD rates have been more competitive in the past, they still feature returns that beat the national average(s) for their respective terms by decent margins.

Term	Minimum Deposit	APY
6 months	$2,500	0.30%
9 months	$2,500	0.30%
11 months	$2,500	0.30%
12 months	$2,500	0.60%
13 months	$2,500	0.45%
15 months	$2,500	0.45%
18 months	$2,500	0.65%
24 months	$2,500	0.60%
30 months	$2,500	0.60%
36 months	$2,500	0.70%
60 months	$2,500	0.45%

To put Sallie Mae’s CD rates (above) in perspective, the current national average for a 12 month CD sits at 0.14% APY and the current average for a 5 year CD sits at 0.24% APY according to recent FDIC data.

As you can see from the table, there is a wide range of terms to choose from but the current yields don’t vary much by term.

Grace Period

Upon the maturity of your Sallie Mae CD, you’ll have a 10 calendar day grace period during which you can withdraw funds from your CD account without penalty. If no action is taken within the 10 day grace period, the funds will automatically renew into the same CD with its current rate.

Locking-In CD Rates

The interest rate and APY will be determined on the date you fund the CD account, not the date you open the account. However, you will receive the higher interest rate of the date your account opened or was funded if the first deposit occurs within ten days from the opening date.

Once your interest rate is set and fixed, you will be paid this rate until maturity. Interest is compounded daily and credited to your account monthly.

The interest begins to accrue on the same business day if the deposit is received before 11:00 PM ET. If the deposit occurs after 11:00 PM ET on a business day or non-business day, the deposit is considered received on the next business day.

Early Withdrawal Penalties

If your CD account has a maturity of 12 months or less, the penalty is equal to 90 days of simple interest on the amount withdrawn. If the CD account has a maturity greater than 12 months, the penalty will equal 180 days of simple interest on the amount withdrawn.

In circumstances such as death or incompetence of the account holder, the law may permit an early withdrawal penalty waiver.

Sallie Mae Money Market Rates + Account Details

Sallie Mae’s money market account is similar to their SmartyPig account but with a few more features. For example, you can write checks from the money market account plus earn a slightly higher rate.

Unlike Sallie Mae’s CDs there are no minimum deposit requirements to open a money market account. The APY you receive applies to all balances as well, which is different than most money market accounts that tie yields to balances.

Sallie Mae Money Market Account Rates

Monthly Balance	Minimum Deposit	APY
$0	$0	0.50%

To put the APY (above) in perspective, the current national average for a money market account sits at roughly 0.11% APY. On top of the respectable yield, the lack of both minimum deposit and monthly balance requirements make this an attractive account. Keep in mind money market rates are variable and can change at any time without notice.

Transaction Limitations

You may deposit or withdraw money via:

Check,
EFT, or
Wire Transfer.

There is a maximum of 6 transfers or withdrawals (a combination of either) during any calendar month or statement cycle per Federal Regulation D. Please note that if using your Sallie Mae money market account to repay loans at Sallie Mae, there is no limit in the number of transfers you may make.

Sallie Mae Fee Schedule

Check Order Charge (for orders placed after account opening; orders placed at the time of account opening are free): $5
Stop Payment Charge: $15
Returned Check Fee: $5
Insufficient Funds (NSF) Fee: $19
Wire Fee: $20 (United States only). Please note that the receiving bank may charge a wire fee on their end. Sallie Mae will not allow international wire transfers.

Sallie Mae Money Market Promotional Offers

Sallie Mae may offer a bonus interest rate and APY from time to time for their money market account customers. The promotional period’s bonus rate will be paid regardless of your balance and discontinued after the promotional period has ended. Your interest rate and APY will then revert to Sallie Mae’s current interest rate and APY. Promotions are not valid with other offers or promotions unless otherwise stated.

Sallie Mae High Yield Savings Account Rates + Details

The high yield savings account is similar to the SmartyPig and money market account in that it has no minimum balance/deposit requirements or monthly maintenance fees.

The rate is slightly lower than the money market account, but still handily beats the current national average for FDIC-insured online savings accounts.

Sallie Mae High Yield Savings Account Rate

Monthly Balance	Minimum Deposit	APY
$0	$0	0.35%

Rates are compounded daily and credited to your account monthly. As with the money market account the APY is variable and subject to change at any time without notice.

Transaction Limitations

You may withdrawal or deposit money via:

Check,
EFT, or
Wire Transfer

The same 6 transaction limitation applies to the high yield savings account. This applies to both withdrawals and deposits (a combination of either) per federal regulation.

Fees

• Returned Check Fee: $5
• Wire Fee: $20 (United States only). Please note that the receiving bank may charge a wire fee on their end. Sallie Mae will not allow international wire transfers.

Banking Experience and Customer Sentiment

Sallie Mae has just one physical location in Utah, which is their headquarters. So if you value in-person banking this institution likely isn’t for you.

That said, if you value respectable rates and low maintenance accounts that can be managed 100 percent digitally than Sallie Mae deserves your consideration. Their rates are regularly among the top online offers available and their accounts have received a number of awards from third party sites.

According to user reviews on both Android and iOS apps, Sallie Mae’s app experience ranges from mediocre to comfortably above average (especially as far as banking apps go).

They receive just 3.6 starts on Android, but an impressive 4.6 stars on the App Store.

Sallie Mae’s SmartyPig account has a separate app and also receives high marks.

Final Thoughts

Sallie Mae has a variety of options in terms of deposit accounts. All of their variable rate products feature $0 minimum deposit and monthly balance requirements which make them available to pretty much anyone.

Their CDs feature above average rates, but better APYs can be locked-in through other online institutions or credit unions.

Capital One CD Rates – Now up to 0.80% APY!

editorial staff
September 13, 2021

[Update September 2021: Capital One made a bold move this summer by raising the rates on their 3 year and 5 year CDs by double what they were in just June of this year. Capital One’s 3 year and 5 year CDs now provide an APY of 0.60% and 0.80%, respectively — up from 0.30% and 0.40% APY in June. See all of Capital One 360’s current CD rates below.]

Capital One offers a number of online certificates of deposit as part of their 360 product suite. The terms come with standard lengths ranging from 6 months to 60 months and above average annual percentage yields.

Their CDs also come with more flexibility than most certificates offered by large national banks. Right now, all Capital One 360 CDs have no minimum deposit and can be opened with any dollar amount that is right for you.

That said, these products must be opened and managed online. But don’t worry, they make it exceptionally easy with their web (and mobile web) interface as well their highly rated apps for IOS and Andriod.

Below is our full review of their CD offerings. If you have experience opening a CD with Capital One, please feel free to share your experience in the comment section below.

Capital One 360 CD Rates + Account Details

Capital One 360 CDs are federally insured by the FDIC up to $250,000 per depositor or $500,000 on joint accounts. As mentioned there are no minimum deposit requirements, but you will need to deposit something in the account to open it.

Capital One 360 CD Rates

Term	APY
6 months	0.10%
9 months	0.10%
12 months	0.20%
18 months	0.25%
24 months	0.25%
30 months	0.25%
36 months	0.60%
48 months	0.65%
60 months	0.80%

To put these offers above in perspective the average yield on a 12 month CD and a 60 month CD sit at just 0.22% and 0.58% APY, respectively. That said, there are still a handful of credit unions and online banks offering slightly higher rates on the same terms.

Interest is compounded monthly on Capital One 360 CDs and credited to your account either monthly, yearly or upon maturity. You can have these funds deposited into a separate account or returned to the CD for further compounding.

Capital One 360 CDs come with a standard 10 day grace period. You’ll also want to note that Capital One CDs automatically renew, so if you plan on adding or withdrawing funds to your CD this 10-day period is the only time you can do so penalty free.

Early Withdrawal Penalties

If you withdraw funds from a CD you opened with a term of 12 months or less, you’ll have to pay three months’ interest as a penalty.

If you withdraw funds from a CD you opened with a term of greater than 12 months, you’ll have to pay six months’ interest.

Please note that it is possible to incur a penalty that dips into your principal if the withdraw happens early enough.

How to Open a Capital One 360 CD?

If you decide you want to open a Capital One 360 CD, first navigate to their online CDs page here.

On this page you can take another look at any of the terms, conditions, or features one last time before you open the account.

Once you’re ready to open a deposit, click on the green “Open Account” button at the top of the page. This button remains static at the top of this page as you scroll.

It will look something like this (below):

Look for the green “Open Account” button that sticks to the top of your browser as you scroll the page.

Once you click on that green button, the process takes about 5 minutes to complete. They’ll first ask you whether or not you already have a Capital One login. If you’ve opened a checking, savings or even credit card with them (either online or in a branch) then you likely have a login already. If you do, this should expedite the process.

If you do not, and this is your first account with Capital One, then you’ll need the following:

Full legal name
Current address
telephone number
employment status (and job title)
social security number
date of birth

Capital One will then use your personal data to confirm your identity. If you are looking to open a joint account, you must first go through this process individually then you can add another account holder online.

Once your identity is confirmed and the account is opened, you will be provided with your account number and the routing number. You then have the option to add funds immediately to your CD. Your rates are locked in the moment you open the deposit until maturity.

Capital One 360 CD Reviews and Customer Sentiment

The Capital One 360 product suite receives high marks across the board from third party review sites. Their savings products in particular – both the variable rate online savings account and the fixed rate online CDs – receive above average marks for consistently higher than average yields and flexible terms. Most notably the lack of minimum deposit or balance requirements to earn the advertised interest.

You can manage your money easily either online or through one of their native apps. Their IOS and Android apps both receive high marks (especially as far as banking apps go). Their IOS app currently has 4.8 stars out of 5, while their Android app has 4.6 stars out of 5.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a solid bank with good rates and a great reputation then Capital One, and more specifically Capital One 360, deserves your consideration.

Their rates consistently beat the national average by considerable margins and come with user-friendly technology that make your accounts both secure and easy to manage/navigate.

20+ Best Debit Cards for Kids & Teens for September 2021

Lauren Graves
September 10, 2021

Full disclosure: We may receive financial compensation when you click on links and are approved for products from our advertising partners. Opinions and product recommendations on APYGUY are those of our writers and have not been influenced, reviewed or approved by any advertiser. Learn more about how we make money.

Although most banks and credit unions won’t let kids or teens open an account until they’re at least 18 years old without a parent or guardian attached to it, parents can set up a sub-account from their current checking that should provide a debit card for their kid(s).

That said, there are many debit cards for kids on the market today that offer extensive features that likely provide more value than the typical sub-account and debit card from your current bank or credit union.

The best debit cards for kids and teens today come with built in education tools and feature-rich tools that teach kids how to spend, save, and even invest responsibly – all with guardrails installed by the parents tied to the account.

When shopping around for the right debit card for your kid or teen you’re going to want to keep an eye out for several key features.

In a nutshell, you’ll want to look out for options that provide a joint prepaid debit card with your child or teen that allows you to manage money together – deciding on what the debit card can be used for, and what amount should be saved, invested or donated. Parents can then monitor activity and provide guidance if necessary. Many of the recent debit cards for kids hitting the market also come with a vast assortment of educational content, tools and quizzes.

Depending on the age of your kid(s), you may want additional features such as automatic bill pay, or mobile direct deposit. These are great to have if your teen has a part time job and may even have bills to pay on their own such as a cell phone, iTunes, Netflix, etc.

In compiling this list of the best debit cards for kids and teens, we’ve taken the following into consideration:

Which debit cards are best suited for households with multiple kids or teens?
What are the fees: monthly fees, ATM fees, reload fees, etc.?
Which provides the best educational experience: content, tools and quizzes?
Which provides the best security?
Which provides the best parental controls and guardrails?
Which comes with the best app and/or online experience?
Which debit cards feature the best card art?
Does the account pay an interest on the balance?
Which accounts offer investment services?

If you’re looking for the best debit card for your kid(s) or teen(s), continue reading our comprehensive review below.

Greenlight Kids’ Debit Card

The Greenlight debit card for kids is one of the most popular offers on the market and is perfect for teaching your children all the basics of earning, spending, and saving their money.

Quick Facts:

Target Age: 8 – 22
Cost: $4.99/month for debit cards for up to 5 kids. Free trial for 1 month.
For Parents: Chore management app, auto transfer allowance, allocate allowance to specific stores, pay interest on your child’s savings, send money instantly to kids account, real time transaction notifications, ATM parental controls, ability to switch card(s) on and off, retail and online store specific spending controls, open investment accounts for kids and approve every stock trade, and more.
For Kids: Set personal savings goals, prepaid interest on savings, save your change with Round Ups, educational financial literacy app, invest in stocks (with parental approval), add own funds via direct deposit (when employed), create custom card designs with photos, and more.

Greenlight is our best overall pick and certainly one of the most popular debit cards for kids out there. As of April of this year they have signed up more than 3 million parents and children according to TechCrunch.

Greenlight lets you create a chore list that your child can work through to earn money and other perks. You can also set automatic allowance deposits on a weekly or monthly basis in addition or if you prefer giving your children a set amount of money each week. And if you ever need to fund your child’s account in a matter of minutes, you can make an instant transfer through the app.

When your child spends money, you’ll receive a notification that their card was used moments after they’ve used it. You’ll be kept in the loop and you’ll have a say in where your child is allowed to use their money, but your kids will be doing valuable learning themselves as they track their spending and saving and build money management skills. Kids with Greenlight cards can use their funds to make purchases anywhere Mastercard is accepted or even to buy stock.

You can learn more at about the Greenlight Debit card for kids on their website.

Current Debit Card for Teens

Quick Facts:

Target Age: 13 – 22
Cost: $36.00/year per teen. Current premium accounts cost an extra $4.99/month.
For Parents: Receive notifications for all purchases, set spending limits, set chores, ability to block specific merchants.
For Kids: No overdraft fees up to $100 with Current premium, receive paychecks up to 2 days early with Current premium, earn up to 15x points at over 14k locations across the US which are redeemable for cash in your Current account.

You and your child will both love the Current debit card for teens. They will love the freedom to make purchases just about anywhere and save more effectively with round ups and savings goals, and you will love being able to keep them safe wherever they are using their card.

This card lets you set spending limits, assign chores, pay allowance, and transfer money to your teen with ease. You are immediately notified whenever your child uses their card. The Current app is user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it perfect for teaching your teen about banking without the stresses of a complicated interface. You also have the ability to block your child from using this card at certain merchants.

The price is $36 per teen annually. There is no minimum monthly balance fee, overdraft fee, or transfer fee. This card can be used online or anywhere Visa is accepted.

You can learn more by reading our comprehensive review of Current.

FamZoo Prepaid Debit Card

Quick Facts:

Target Age: 6 – 22
Cost: $5.99/month for up to 4 debit cards, or pay in advance for a year for $30. 1 month free trial available.
For Parents: Receive notifications for all purchases, set spending limits, move money between family members, IOU accounts to track how much you owe each kid, automated bookkeeping for allowance and chores, ability to add loans to your kid(s).
For Kids: Financial literacy tools.

The FamZoo Family Pack of Prepaid Cards gives parents control over how and what their children spend and kids opportunities to learn how to manage their money. FamZoo accounts use private family banking systems to give children hands-on learning experiences that are parent-directed.

With FamZoo, parents are “bankers” and their children are account holders. Parents can establish a payroll for their kids, loan money, set up automatic allowances, and even pay interest on savings.

This virtual family bank is great for families of all sizes and can be customized to meet your children’s specific needs. FamZoo is easy to use from both the parent and child perspective and the prepaid cards can be used safely anywhere where Mastercard is accepted.

As noted, the first four debit cards for your kids are free and each card beyond that costs $2.

We go into further detail in our FamZoo review found here.

BusyKid Visa Prepaid Spend Card

Quick Facts:

Target Age: 12 – 18
Cost: $19.99/year for 1 card. $7.99/year for each additional card.
For Parents: Chore management app that comes pre-loaded with chores based on your child’s age (which can be customized), link checking account and release funds once chore(s) completed, match savings in child’s saving account
For Kids: receive funds in 3 buckets – save, spend, share. Parents can match savings in your ‘save’ bucket, invest in actual stocks, support charities from the ‘share’ bucket.

If you have a child between the ages of five and 16, you may be interested in the BusyKid Visa Prepaid Spend Card.

BusyKid uses a chores-based system to allocate money for your child so that they can see exactly where their money is coming from and where it is going. Many debit cards for kids now offer a chore based app to go along with the card.

You can set rates for different chores and your children can mark them complete and see when they will be paid. Parents who use BusyKid appreciate that this system instills a sense of responsibility and ownership over spending and saving in their children.

Once your children have been paid for their chores, they can choose to spend, donate, or invest their money. Investments can be made into real companies like Netflix and Nike through Stockpile and kids can donate a percentage of their earnings into the charities of their choice. All purchases and spending is approved by parents before it goes through.

BusyKid prepaid debit cards can be used online and anywhere Visa is accepted. A BusyKid annual subscription costs $19.99 including a free card. Each additional card costs $7.99 a year.

This breaks down to a monthly cost of just $1.67 for one child or $2.33/month for two.

You can read our review here if you’d like to learn more.

Copper Debit Card

Quick Facts:

Target Age: 18 – 22
Cost: free
For Parents: Free debit card for kids and teens with digital checking account, monitor debit card activity in real time, set up recurring deposits, request and send funds between linked accounts.
For Kids: Fun financial literacy quizzes built into the app, receive interest on your savings (albeit just 0.001% APY currently).

Copper debit cards are specifically designed to help your teenager learn good money habits, without being overly restrictive or charging fees for mistakes like overdrafts. Copper debit cards can be used online and in person anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

With Copper, your child is given the tools they need to make smart financial decisions for themselves and control over their own accounts to practice what they’re learning. They can also take quizzes to test their knowledge and they’ll have access to expert advice whenever they need it.

The Copper app provides a straightforward, comprehensive look at your teen’s spending and saving, lets them set savings goals, and makes it easy to manage their finances in one place. And as their parent, you can set up automatic payments into your child’s account and not have to worry about transferring money.

Copper requires no minimum deposit to open and does not charge an annual fee, overdraft fees or maintenance fees which makes it one of the best free debit cards for kids on the market.

[Update April 2021: Copper has seen consistent growth since their inception in 2020. Their CEO and founder announced that they surpassed 130,000 members as of April 2, 2021.]

Copper CEO/Founder announcement on April 2, 2021 via LinkedIn.

Copper also has a promotion running where you can send $3.00 to each of your friends (which copper will pay for) plus you’ll receive $3.00 when/if they sign up.

You can learn more in our review here.

Akimbo Prepaid Mastercard

An Akimbo prepaid Mastercard offers a safe way for your older children to learn the nuances of banking in a low-risk environment. This card lets your teens have total control over their money but gives you the final say in what they can and can’t spend. Your child’s card account will be a sub account within your own, so you can decide how much money you allocate to your teen’s card.

Akimbo doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of some of the kids cards and apps talked about in this list, but it is as close as you can get to giving your child a bonafide debit card without surrendering your ability to see what they’re doing and help them. You’ll be notified when they spend their money and, as the account manager, what they spend it on. This is great for parents that want to play a role in teaching their children financial literacy lessons.

Each Akimbo account may have up to four prepaid cards. There is no monthly fee. However, reloading your card costs up to $5 each time and ATM withdrawals are around $2 each.

Gohenry Debit Card

The Gohenry debit card is designed for kids between the ages of six and 18 years old, but it’s best for parents that want to start teaching their children young about the importance of smart budgeting.

The Gohenry app lets you set up an automatic weekly allowance for your child and you can also add chores and set a price for these to let them earn more. Then, you set limits on how much your child can spend in a given week or trip and change these as needed. Your child can save, spend, or donate their money to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. They can set as many savings goals as they want for larger purchases.

A Gohenry account costs $3.99 per month per child. This card is a little pricier than some of the others on this list because fees are charged per child, but it’s good for small families. These cards can be used online or anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Gohenry, a UK-based company with US operations, was one of the first companies with a specific focus on debit cards for kids when they launched in 2007. You can read our full review for more information.

Capital One MONEY Teen Checking

A MONEY teen checking account with Capital One is a great choice for kids and teens that have already learned the basics of money management and are ready for more independence with their cash. Kids eight years old or older qualify for this account.

The Capital One MONEY app lets your child track their earning and spending as well as set savings goals in different categories. If you choose to, you can reward them for reaching these goals with bonuses. And in cases of emergency, you can lock your child’s card instantly.

There are no monthly fees or account minimums with this account. Parents do not need to have a Capital One account to enroll their child in MONEY. This account earns an APY of 0.10% on any balance.

American Express Serve Prepaid Debit Cards

The American Express Serve FREE Reloads prepaid debit card, while not marketed as a teen product, is great for teaching your teen financial literacy.

A FREE Reloads debit card requires no minimum monthly balance and is free to use/reload at over 45,000 ATM and store locations. By giving your teen a certain amount of money and allowing them to decide when and how to spend it, this card encourages independence and offers all of the perks and protections of a true debit card.

This account charges a monthly fee of $6.95, which cannot be waived. As far as debit cards for kids go, this is a bit steep. Also, a card is free to purchase online but may cost up to $3.95 if you go to a retail location. These can be used online or anywhere American Express is accepted. To avoid transfer fees, your teen will need their own American Express bank account, and many parents choose to link this to their own.

Alliant Credit Union Free Teen Checking

You might want to look into getting an Alliant Credit Union free teen checking account if you’re a fan of the popular credit union, fee-free banking, or easy-to-use platforms. Teens between the ages of 13 and 17 are eligible to open an account.

This checking account is one of the best options out there for giving your teen a comprehensive banking experience that is safe and helpful. Teens can set their own budgets and even earn interest up to 0.25% APY when they save (you will need to enroll in eStatements and make one deposit per month into their account to access this feature); and parents can set ATM and spending limits for their teens and transfer money between accounts at no cost. On top of that, the Alliant mobile app is consistently rated at five stars.

If you’re looking for even more interest, they also have a kids savings account that features an APY of 0.55%. To put this in perspective, the current national average sits at just 0.07% APY.

There is no minimum monthly balance requirement or monthly fee with this account. Just a few of the perks offered include access to over 80,000 free ATMs, up to $20/month in ATM rebates, and the ability to make contactless Visa purchases.

Step Banking for Teens

Step is an app and debit card for kids that is backed by founders with experience at Google and Square. Much like the other debit cards and associated apps on this list, Step allows parents to monitor their child’s spending as well as send them money on the go.

Step’s banking services are provided by their partner-bank, Evolve Bank & Trust, which also allows Step to leverage their FDIC coverage.

Step accounts are protected by bank-grade encryption and authentication and because the debit card is a Visa it benefits from fraud protection and zero-liability guarantee. You can read our full review to learn more.

Family Money by Verizon

On June 15, 2021 Verizon announced the launch of Family Money, an app for kids to learn about personal finance. Verizon worked with fintech firm Galileo to develop the family-centric financial product and it comes with a “spending account,” a “savings vault” and a prepaid debit card for kids issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank. Parents can monitor their child’s spending activity from the app, set limits and stop or freeze the card if it gets lost or stolen.

Families that are not Verizon customers are still eligible for this product. It can be downloaded from the Google Play and Apple App Store. You’ll just need to create a Verizon Family Money account and link a verified bank account after you download it. Once you’ve done that, you’ll get a 30 day trial period.

At the end of the 30-day trial period, the service auto-renews for $5.99 per month (so be sure to set a reminder if you don’t plan on paying for it!).

The $5.99 fee, which includes up to 5 kids, will be debited from the parent’s Wallet in the app, not charged to your Verizon account (if currently a customer). You must be 18 years or older to create a parent profile in the app and Verizon states that kids accounts are designed for children ages 8-17.

Jassby Virtual Debit Card

The Jassby virtual debit card for kids offers all of the safety and convenience that a kids’ card should, with the added security of being fully digital. This card is best for families with multiple children because parents are in complete control of when the card is activated and for who. The card can only be used when active.

The Jassby virtual debit card for kids is unique in that it is on your child’s phone, so you don’t have to worry about them losing a card, but they can still use it anywhere. You can use the Jassby Family Finance app to pay your child an allowance and for chores instantly without incurring fees.

There is no monthly fee for this account for the first six months and as long as the card is used once per month after this (otherwise the monthly charge is $2.99). This card can be used online or anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Mango Prepaid Debit Card

A Mango prepaid debit card is a stand-out option because it offers the opportunity to link a high-interest savings account to your card.

This account has a lot going for it, including the fact that it can be opened even if your teen doesn’t have a checking account of their own. Your teen can open a linked Mango savings account with a deposit of just $25 and earn up to 6% APY (to qualify for this rate, your teen needs to make signature purchases totaling $1,500 after opening the account and maintain a minimum monthly balance of $25 after).

You can add funds to your teen’s debit card from your own checking account or load money onto it from a participating retailer like Walmart or Walgreens.

There is no activation fee, but there is a monthly charge of $5 and a $3 ATM withdrawal fee. This card can be used online or anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Mango can also be used virtually from your phone when you enable this from the app.

Till Financial

Till Financial is another new one on the list. This collaborative family banking platform is a savings and budgeting product first, but does come with a debit card that is attached to the child’s “Spend Balance” which is why we included it in our list of debit cards for kids.

Till was named the Best App for Teaching Teens to Budget in 2021 by U.S. News & World Report.

You can learn more about Till in our full review.

Visa Buxx Card

The Visa Buxx Card is a fairly basic debit card for kids and teens offered through Navy Federal Credit Union or TD Bank. For NFCU, you must first be a member of the credit union to open the Visa Buxx Card, but membership is available nationwide. Both debit cards for kids offer parents the ability to reload their child’s card from their phone as well as monitor spending. The Navy Federal Credit Union Buxx Card also has a few different designs to choose from whereas the TD Bank Buxx card does not.

Fidelity Youth Account

The Fidelity Youth Account was just launched in May of 2021 by the reputable financial services firm. It comes with a free debit card – issued by PNC bank – and the ability to both save and invest. Kids and teens are limited to the type of securities they can invest in and the product comes with solid parental controls and features. You can learn more in our full review.

Chase First Banking

Chase First Banking is also one of the newer offers on the list and is only available to current Chase customers. This product launched in 2020 in collaboration with Greenlight and is intended for kids between the ages of 6 and 17.

And although kids are eligible up to the age of 17, the product does not allow for direct deposit, so if your high school kid(s) are earning their own income, Chase First Banking won’t be a great fit.

That said, the product has a number of helpful parental controls and functions (most or all of which are powered by Greenlight). You can read more about them in our Chase First Banking review.

Kachinga Prepaid Debit Card + Chore App

Much like the other offers on this list, the Kachinga prepaid debit card comes with a chore app where parents can track chore progress, set alerts and spending limits as well as teach kids general financial literacy.

The app + debit card costs $36 per year per child which is a little bit pricier than other options on this list with a larger feature set.

Mazoola Virtual Debit Card

The Mazoola Virtual Mastercard debit card for kids is managed by parents and comes with a flat subscription fee of $9.99/month for the whole family. They also have a 1% purchase fee and charge $0.11 as a loading fee which can make it a more costly product to use than the other options. You can read more about their fees in our full review.

As a parent you can activate a virtual and secure debit card for each child and create flexible and individual spending controls. You can also assign & track chores and the rewards for completing them and set up automatic allowance payments. You can also provide them with financial literacy resources, but you can not require them to read before unlocking allowance. Wouldn’t that be neat. For kids, you can use Apple Pay, set savings goals, manage chores and shop online (with restrictions). You can also make p2p payments to friends and family.

Wingocard Prepaid Visa Card

The Wingocard just launched in May of 2021 and is gaining traction quickly with over 75,000 users on the platform so far.

They only have a mobile app on IOS at the moment however, but are looking to launch the android version soon.

Read more about this up-and-comer in our full review.

Goalsetter: Family Banking

Goalsetter and the Cashola debit card is an education based banking solution for the family. It comes with a savings account and different styles of debit cards for kids to choose from. It also has some fun quizzes that can be tied to cash rewards and are mapped to financial literacy standards. “Learn before you burn” allows your tween to take quizzes before they get to use their debit card.

USAA Youth Spending Account

This one may not have all the bells and whistles like chore apps, allowance features, financial literacy tools and quizzes, or the like, but it is a simple and free debit card for kids that gets the job done if you’re just looking for basics.

It’s geared towards kids and teens ages 13 – 18, comes with a free Visa debit card and has absolutely no maintenance fees or monthly fees of any kind. You’ll also get free ATM usage both in network and out of network, although 3rd party ATMs may charge you up to $2 per withdrawal. You can learn more about the USAA Youth Spending Account in our review.

Axos Bank First Checking Account + Debit Card

Like the USAA Youth Spending account, the Axos Bank First Checking account is a free checking account and debit card that keeps things simple and leaves most of the bells and whistles behind.

There are no chore apps, allowance distribution features, financial literacy tools and even limited parental controls.

That said, parents can still receive notifications of all of their child’s purchases and can turn the card off and on from the dashboard. Parents can not toggle with withdrawal limits as these are set by Axos bank and parents can not restrict certain merchants. For more information read our full review.

Movo Digital Cash Card

Although this is more of a general prepaid debit card than one specifically geared towards kids and teens, we put it on the list because of a unique feature for those who hold cryptocurrency and would like to convert it to cash.

MOVO Chain is a proprietary technology that allows you to convert your cryptocurrency to cash which can then be loaded onto your Movo prepaid digital cash card.

You must be at least 18 years old to get the card and use the crypto-to-cash feature, but kids and teens can be added as authorized users to a parent’s card. Learn more in our full review here.

At What Age Can Your Child Get a Debit Card?

There is no perfect age at which all kids become ready for a debit card of their own. This is for parents and guardians to decide and really depends on when a kid has shown that they’re responsible enough for a card.

Many experts advise waiting until a kid is earning money to give them a debit card. The idea behind this is that if a child is earning their own money rather than just using their parents’, they’ll feel more motivated to spend it wisely and save as much of it as possible. They’ll have ownership over their finances.

Can you Get Debit Cards for Kids Under 13 Years Old?

Debit cards for kids under 13 are perfectly legal for banks and companies to issue, and ultimately up to the parents to decide.

It doesn’t matter whether a kid is getting money from an allowance, saving money they’ve received for birthdays or holidays, or earning an income from a job. It is common for kids to start earning money at around 10 or 12 years old, so this may be a good time to start thinking about kid-friendly debit cards.

Some financial products geared toward kids, such as the BusyKids Visa Prepaid Spend Card, permit users as young as 5 to join. More common, however, is a minimum age of 8 years old. There are also several cards designed specifically for teens that do not permit users under the age of 13 to create an account.

It may also be a good idea to wait until your child has had some experience handling cash to give them a debit card. This way, they will be more comfortable keeping track of a debit card and spending money in the real world.

Many debit cards for kids build in protections to keep kids safe from everything from overdrafting to making purchases that could be dangerous. In many ways, prepaid debit cards are safer for kids to carry than cash, which is easily lost. On top of this, these products allow parents to be more proactive about educating their kids and helping them learn to manage their money. Rather than handing over cash and hoping their kid makes smart choices, parents can keep a close eye on their activity and identify learning opportunities in real-time.

Checking Account for Kids vs Debit Cards for Kids. Do You Need Both?

Most debit cards for kids are prepaid debit cards that are not attached to checking accounts. Users with prepaid debit cards can spend freely online and at most establishments but must add money to their card before they are able to use it. However, although prepaid debit cards do not come with bank accounts, they are usually protected by maximum FDIC coverage through partner financial institutions.

Prepaid debit cards are typically thought to be much safer than checking accounts and traditional debit cards. This is because prepaid cards do not allow users to spend more money than they already have on their cards, whereas standard debit cards and checking accounts can be overdrafted if a person isn’t careful. Overdrafting almost always incurs a fee, sometimes as high as $30 per occurrence.

However, prepaid debit cards for kids can come with a number of fees as well. ATM fees, subscription fees, reload fees, maintenance fees, and transfer fees are a few to watch out for. Few accounts or cards are truly free, so keep this in mind when considering your options.

You really don’t need both a checking account and a debit card for your kid, especially when they’re first learning the basics of money management. These products are comparable but prepaid debit cards tend to be more kid-friendly overall and allow for more collaboration between kids and their parents.

Additional Features You May Want to Consider for Your Child

Think about exactly what you want for your child or teen when you’re choosing a debit card for them.

There are a lot of options already available and more launching just about monthly, but not every kid-friendly debit card will have all of the features you’re looking for. Prioritize by considering how much experience your child has and what you most want them to learn. Even better, have this conversation with your child.

Take a look at the top features to consider.

Savings Account / Features

Many debit cards for kids allow users to save and spend their money all under one account. They may do this by allowing users to choose how much of their money to put into savings and how much of their money to load to their prepaid card. In such cases, the saved money does not go into a separate savings account and remains accessible at any time, but it can’t be immediately spent with the card.

This is the most basic way that a product may create savings opportunities, but there are a number of other additional savings features out there. For example, some debit card platforms give users the option of creating distinct savings goals and show them their progress.

Some products even let parents or account holders award bonuses when a user contributes to a goal they created, pay interest on savings balances, or pay their child directly into their savings themselves (bypassing the spend card). And if you want your child earning interest on their savings but would prefer not to pay it yourself, you may want to think about an interest-bearing product like the Mango Prepaid Debit Card.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, some products do not make room for saving at all or separate money that can be spent from money being saved. With such platforms, if a child wants to save, they have to do so by refraining from spending. This may be much more challenging for your child to do, especially if they are inexperienced with money management.

If encouraging your kids to hold onto their money and save it for larger purchases and goals is a priority, then a debit card and platform that encourages saving in a variety of ways is probably best.

Allowance and Budgeting Features

How important is it to you to be able to pay your child an allowance and pay them for chores all in one place?

Chores are the focal point of many kids’ money management apps; parents can assign chores for their kids to encourage them to take charge of their finances and kids can earn money for themselves and start to understand the importance of budgeting and restraint.

All this to say that financial products for kids, especially for young users between the ages of 6 and 13, commonly feature chores management capabilities. These vary in complexity. Here are some questions to consider as you review the choices:

Do you want to be able to require your kids to complete certain chores or give them a list of options to choose from?
Do you want to set fixed prices for every chore or create recurring chores that cost the same every time?
Do you want to approve chores as your child completes them or arrange for your child to be paid instantly when they mark a chore as complete?

You may also pay your kids a fixed allowance each week instead of or in addition to paying them for individual chores. This ability is not guaranteed with all apps, so choose wisely.

And if you don’t want your child spending all the money they’ve earned in one place, you probably want a product with budgeting features. You may feel that setting spending limits for your child is the best way to set them up for success in the real world. After all, no one knows better than you what is best for your child, and a lot of kids’ financial platforms agree.

Parental Controls

If monitoring your child’s activity and creating custom controls for their spending and saving is important to you, be sure to look for a product that lets you easily do this.

You should also think about how involved you’d like to be. Start with the following questions:

Do you want to approve your child’s purchases and transfers or would you rather trust them to make good decisions?
Do you want to allow them to set their own budgets or create spending limits for them?
Do you want the ability to automate payments into your child’s account or do you want to initiate transfers each time?
Do you want to receive real-time push notifications of their activity?

Beyond just parental controls to help your kids grow into prepared and knowledgeable spenders, consider parental responsibilities too.

Most kids’ financial products require parents or guardians to fund their child’s account. Often, this means funding their own account, the main account, and transferring money into their children’s accounts from there.

This means you should also think about what funding options are most convenient for you. Read the fine print on every product. If you’re looking for a particular funding option, be sure that it is actually available (you may be surprised by how many accounts don’t allow cash reloads or direct deposit transfers). Some products are extremely limiting when it comes to funding and may only permit ACH transfers or card transactions.

Also look into how many account managers a product allows. If you and your co-parent want equal access to your child’s account, it is important to find a product that can give you this. Some have strict one-parent policies but others are more generous when it comes to adding more adult users and may even allow for the inclusion of other members of the family.

Introduction to Stocks and Investments

There aren’t a lot of financial products for kids that allow users to invest their money in real companies, but looking for only those that do can help you filter through the ever-growing list of options.

The Fidelity Youth Account and the BusyKid Visa Prepaid Spend Card made this list for a lot of reasons, but one of these was the ability to invest. Giving kids the opportunity to make investments can show them that there is more to money management than spending and saving. You can help them choose their investments or give them free reign of their options.

You may also like the idea of your child donating their money to charity. Apps that allow kids to donate typically do so by pre-selecting a number of reputable organizations and giving users the option of giving charitably to these. Users may then donate a percentage of their entire balance or make donations of fixed amounts.

Parents can decide to take it one step further by awarding account bonuses when a child makes the decision to donate to charity for themselves. Some apps even let kids set up donation goals just as they would savings goals.

Financial Literacy Tools

If you want to get your child a debit card of their own for the purposes of teaching them good habits, you should make financial literacy resources a priority.

Financial platforms for kids and teens often come with financial literacy resources such as blog posts and free resource libraries, but some go above and beyond. For example, several have curated quizzes designed to test a user’s understanding of various topics. Some, such as the Goalsetter Debit Card, even let parents hold their children accountable by requiring them to complete and pass quizzes before they can use their spend card.

As a parent, it’s up to you to decide how you’d like to support your children in learning money management skills. You may want to play an active role in your child’s learning by working with them to explore topics, create budgets, and form good habits, or you may prefer a hands-off approach that gives your children the tools they need to become financially independent and the opportunities to practice.

Certain kids’ debit cards promote parental involvement more than others. Resources should be easy for your kids to access and age-appropriate, and interesting enough to keep their attention. Look for a platform with an abundance of no cost tools that works with your bottom line.

Ally Bank CD Rates – Still up to 0.80% APY!

editorial staff
September 10, 2021

[Update September 2021: Ally Bank’s CD rates remain largely unchanged throughout the summer and 2021 in general. The only APY change comes from their 3 month CD which had its rate lowered from 0.20% APY to 0.15% APY. You can see all of Ally Bank’s current CD rates further below in this article.]

Ally Bank is an acclaimed digital bank that offers a suite of competitive FDIC-insured online savings products including CDs, savings accounts, interest checking and money market accounts.

[You can read a review of Ally Bank’s money market account and its current APY here.]

In this review we’ll focus on Ally Bank’s fixed-rate, certificates of deposit. They have seven standard term CDs ranging from 3 months to 5 years that can be opened as standard CDs or IRA CDs. They also have two promotional CDs – the “Raise Your Rate CD” and the “No Penalty CD.”

The Raise Your Rate CD is beneficial in an ascending interest rate environment. This product gives you the opportunity to increase your rate once over a 2-year term or twice over a 4-year term if their rate for your term and balance tier goes up while your CD is active.

The No Penalty CD, as the name implies, allows you to withdraw any amount at any time after the first six days of funding the account. You can keep the interest earned with no penalties.

For those that may not remember, Ally Bank is the rebrand of GMAC – the financial arm of General Motors. Following the financial collapse of 2008, GMAC fully rebranded to Ally Bank in 2009. Since then they’ve been recognized for numerous awards for online banking innovation, customer service, and their commitment to giving back to local communities.

Ally Bank CD Rates + Account Details

As mentioned, Ally Bank has seven standard term certificates of deposit that come with no minimum opening deposit requirements. The terms range from 3 months to 5 years and come with annual percentage yields that beat the current national average by considerable margins and regularly place among the top rates for online banks nationwide.

Ally Bank CDs are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per depositor or $500,000 for joint accounts.

Ally Bank CD Rates

Term	APY
3 months	0.15%
6 months	0.25%
9 months	0.30%
12 months	0.55%
18 months	0.60%
3 years	0.65%
5 years	0.80%

To give the yields above some context, the current national average for 12 month CDs and 5 year CDs sits at just 0.14% and 0.27% APY, respectively, according to the most recent FDIC data.

Ally Ten Day Best Rate Guarantee

All of Ally Bank’s CDs come with a “ten day best rate guarantee.” This means that if you fund your account within 10 days of opening it and rates go up during this time, you will get Ally’s best rate for that term and your balance tier during that time. This also applies with CD renewals.

Interest is compounded daily which gives your overall APY (annual percentage yield) a boost over bank deposits that compound less frequently like monthly or quarterly.

Tiered rates by deposit amount do exist in more favorable savings rate environments; however, Ally Bank CDs pay the same APY for each term regardless of your deposit amount currently.

Early Withdrawal Penalties

Early withdrawal penalties at Ally Bank vary by CD term. They are as follows:

CD terms of 24 months or less will incur an early withdrawal penalty of 60 days’ interest.
CD terms of 25 – 36 months will incur an early withdrawal penalty of 90 days’ interest.
CD terms of 37 – 48 months will incur an early withdrawal penalty of 120 days’ interest.
CD terms of 48 months or longer will incur an early withdrawal penalty of 150 days’ interest.

Grace Period

Ally Bank has a standard grace period of 10 days where you can withdraw, add or transfer funds without incurring a fee. If nothing is done during this period, the CD will renew under the same terms at the current APY.

Ally Bank Loyalty Rewards for CD Account Holders

Ally Bank has a little-known loyalty program for those that continue to open and/or renew certificates of deposit with them. Currently, they are giving a 0.05% APY bump when you renew any CD with them. Be sure to check back 30 days before your CD matures to see what the reward is at that time.

Ally Bank “Raise Your Rate CD” Rates + Details

The Raise Your Rate CD offered by Ally Bank is going to be best suited for a climbing interest rate environment. Given the fact that CD rates are generally fixed throughout their duration, an opportunity to give your CD rate a bump when interest rates are on the rise, can be a huge benefit. And one that many other banks do not offer.

Ally Raise Your Rate CDs

Term	APY
2 year	0.55%
4 year	0.55%

The 2 year Raise Your Rate CD will give you the opportunity to increase your rate once over the life of the deposit.

The 4 year Raise Your Rate CD will give you the opportunity to increase your rate twice over the life of the deposit.

Ally Bank “No Penalty CD” Rate + Details

Withdraw any amount fee-free after 6 days of funding the account.

The Ally Bank No Penalty CD comes with only one term at the moment. The term is 11 months. You can withdraw any or all of your money from this deposit at any time after six days from funding the account.

Ally Bank No Penalty CD Rate

Term	APY
11 months	0.50%

As with Ally Bank’s other certificate of deposit products this APY is the same regardless of your deposit amount. In the past Ally Bank has rewarded larger deposits with higher yields; however, rates today are the same across the board for all amounts.

Final Thoughts

Ally Bank keeps their CDs simple and rewarding with no monthly maintenance fees, no opening deposit requirements and even the opportunity to open a “no penalty CD” with fee-free access to your deposited funds.

The APYs on their IRA CDs and regular CDs beat the current national average(s) handily, but pay the same yields on all terms regardless of deposit amount. There are also no differences in rates whether the CD is opened in an IRA or not.

Ally Bank’s digital interface – both online and through their IOS and android apps – are very intuitive and allow for easy deposits and account monitoring as well.

Alliant Credit Union Teen Checking Account with Debit Card

Lauren Graves
September 9, 2021

Alliant Credit Union is a name you’ve heard before. A lot of our readers are Alliant customers and we’ve had the opportunity to review several products from this institution in the past. Today, we’re reviewing an account just for teens.

The Alliant Teen Checking Account With Debit Card is an interest-bearing joint checking account for families with teens. It is a free account geared toward young adults that lets users deposit their own money, make payments and transfers, and earn interest on whatever they don’t spend. You’ll have a better idea of whether or not this is the right account for your teen after reading this article.

[Related: See how the Alliant Teen Checking Account and debit card compare to the best debit cards for kids and teens in 2021!]

Who’s It For

Target age: Teens between the ages of 13 and 17

Good candidate: Teens who want to save money and will use their accounts regularly

Because this account earns interest, it makes the most sense for teens who want to start putting away money and growing their wealth. A teen shares ownership of this account with a parent or guardian but the teen is the primary account owner and the parent is the joint owner. There are certain permissions granted to either the joint or primary owner and certain permissions granted to both people on the account.

When a user turns 18, this checking account automatically converts to a standard Alliant Checking account. Both joint owners will remain on the account but the teen may remove their parent as an owner. Spending limits and rates will increase accordingly and a new debit card will be issued.

Features and Benefits

There are no minimum balance or opening deposit requirements for this account. Although a teen is the primary account owner, their parent has more control.

For Kids

A teen needs to be a member of Alliant in order to qualify for a checking account and debit card. They will automatically qualify for membership if their parent or guardian, or another immediate family member, is a member. Teens and parents must sign up for this account together.

💰 Earn: Teens who are employed can deposit paychecks through the mobile app or set up direct deposit transfers into their accounts.

This platform does not give teens the option to directly request money to be transferred from their parents and teens are not able to refer friends to earn cash. Teens may receive an allowance from their parent(s) in the form of a recurring payment, but that is one of the only ways to earn more money.

💸 Spend: Every Alliant Teen Checking Account includes a contactless Visa debit card that can be used almost anywhere Visa is accepted. This debit card can also be used to withdraw funds at more than 80,000 in-network ATMs. If a teen uses an out-of-network ATM and incurs fees doing so, they are eligible for up to $20 in rebates per month.

ATM withdrawals are limited to $100 cash per day and POS transactions are limited to $300 per day.

Teens can write checks using their accounts, but their parent(s) must be the one to order and reorder the checks.

Teens are not permitted to make ACH transfers, but there are many ways they can transfer money to friends. This account and debit card are compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay and can also be linked with digital P2P payment apps including Cash App, Venmo, and PayPal.

This platform does not have budgeting features such as the option to create buckets for different types of spending, but teens can analyze their spending habits using the monthly spending summary. They also cannot set aside money to be saved or set savings goals and track their progress.

💰 Save: The Alliant Teen Checking account pays an interest rate of 0.25% APY on all balances.

To qualify for this interest rate, a teen must make at least one electronic deposit per month and opt into digital eStatements and out of paper statements. Direct deposits, ACH transfers from external banks, mobile check deposits, and ATM deposits all qualify a user to receive interest. Interest payments are made on the last day of every month.

Before a parent can see all of their teen’s account information, the teen must grant them access to their account. They can do this by logging into the app and selecting “Account Details” from the sidebar. From there, they should click “Manage Joint Owners,” “Manage Online Access,” and choose their checking account. This will grant their parent(s) the ability to view activity on this account from their banking portal.

For Parents

Once a parent has been given permission to view their teen’s activity, they can monitor their spending by opting into transaction alerts. They can also view their teen’s monthly transaction summary to see how much money their teen has spent and where.

If a parent has a different checking or savings account with Alliant, they can link this account to fund their teen’s checking account. Alternatively, they can link external bank accounts and transfer money from this. They have the option to initiate one-time transfers or schedule recurring transfers from their funding account to their joint account. For recurring transfers, they can specify (and change at any time) frequencies, amounts, and dates.

Parents can also fund the account via ACH transfer from an external bank, direct deposit, check deposit, or credit or debit card transaction. Only the joint owner, the parent or guardian, may initiate standard outgoing ACH transfers.

As an adult joint account owner, the parent serves as the primary account contact and has account and management permissions that the teen does not. For example, the joint account owner is responsible for managing Overdraft Protection, meaning that they will need to decide whether to activate this feature. Though this feature is free for all account holders, it needs to be initiated to go into effect.

When Overdraft Protection is enabled, funds are automatically withdrawn from a linked savings account to cover transactions for which the checking account balance is not sufficient. When not enabled, overdrafting is not authorized and transactions are declined.

Likewise, only a parent can order checks for their teen’s account. The first box of checks is free when an account is opened. Both joint account owners and primary account owners (teens) can dispute transactions, but the joint account owner needs to sign off on any documentation and will be the main line of communication as Alliant works to resolve the dispute.

How Much Does the Alliant Teen Checking Account Cost

💸 Fees:

$0 monthly maintenance fee,
$0 low balance fee,
$0 for ACH transfers,
$1 per paper statement,
$10 inactivity fee,
$10 dormant account fee,
$0 for replacement debit card,
$0 for the first order of checks,
$25 non-sufficient funds fee,
$25 outgoing domestic wire transfer

Users are encouraged to opt out of receiving paper statements and into digital statements, which are also required to earn interest (along with monthly transactions). And as long as you’re making at least one transaction into or out of this account per month, you can also avoid the inactivity and dormant account fees.

As of August 2021, teens will not be required to pay non-sufficient funds fees when they overdraw their accounts. If an account is overdrawn to pay for a transaction and this results in a negative balance, a user may see a $25 fee charged to their account, but it will be automatically refunded in a day or two.

Benefits of Alliant VS Competitors

We recommend this product to families who want a free account, which can be achieved by making regular deposits or transfers and receiving electronic statements. Alliant doesn’t charge for much at all.

Another benefit of this product over others is transfer flexibility and cash access. Teen users can send money easily to their friends via most mobile payment apps and make cash withdrawals at thousands of in-network ATMs. Alliant even reimburses ATM fees.

Potential Drawbacks

But although teens can access and send their money no problem, other account features are rather limited. There are no budgeting or savings features built into the platform, and users can’t separate their money into saving and spending categories. To really get the most out of their first checking account, teens will need to work together with their parents to review their spending and create budgeting and saving strategies or even open a separate savings account. We’re sure most families would prefer doing all of this from one account.

Teen users may also find this account’s spending and withdrawal limits to be pretty restrictive because Alliant sets pretty low daily maximums on these activities. Customers can only withdraw up to $100 in cash per day, which could leave teens in a pinch when they probably got a checking account for spending freedom in the first place.

On the parents’ side, controls are also fairly limited. Parents cannot prevent their teens from making purchases at certain merchants by creating restrictions, changing overall spending limits, or setting caps for different spend categories. They also can’t reinforce good habits such as saving with incentives such as account bonuses, balance matching, etc.

Consumer Sentiment

Reviews from Alliant customers are mixed. Many users have had negative experiences with customer service representatives who did not know how to help solve problems or came across as unprofessional. Communicating issues to users also seems to be a fairly common problem for this institution, with numerous users saying that they’ve had their accounts locked, transfers canceled, etc. without warning.

On the flip side, just as many users and long-time Alliant members report positive experiences overall with the credit union and customer service interactions they’ve had.

The Alliant mobile app has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Google Play and 4.7 out of 5 stars in the App Store. The app has been called glitchy, but the vast majority of users are satisfied. The app interface is pretty standard for a banking app and is sleek and easy to use.

You can call Alliant’s customer service line at 800-328-1935. Or, you can send a secure email by logging into your account or ping Alliant on Twitter with non-urgent inquiries.

Some customers choose to do certain parts of their banking over the phone. If you choose to do this, just be aware that Phone Banking can incur fees that online or mobile banking would not (for example, an ACH transfer initiated online is free but costs $10 to initiate over the phone).

Is It Safe

All Alliant Teen Checking accounts are insured up to $250,000 by the NCUA. Alliant also provides 24/7 fraud protection to all members, free of charge. Still, users are required to alert the credit union immediately when they notice suspicious activity to avoid paying for transactions they did not authorize.

How to Sign Up

To get started opening an Alliant Teen Checking account, you must first be a member of the credit union. You may be eligible if you are employed by a business that partners with Alliant, are married or related to another Alliant member, or work in a community surrounding Chicago such as Franklin Park, Elmhurst, or Prospect Heights.

If the above criteria doesn’t fit your circumstance, you can also join Alliant Credit Union by becoming a member of Foster Care to Success (FC2S). FC2S serves thousands of foster teens across the United States, focusing on those who are aging out of the foster care system. FC2S awards grants and scholarships for higher education and provides care packages, mentoring and internships. (Alliant will pay a $5 membership fee to FC2S on the member’s behalf.)

Once you’ve joined Alliant Credit Union, your teen will also need to become a member — either before you begin opening an account or when you start the application process.

You can then open an account on their behalf.

Final Thoughts

The Alliant Teen Checking account could be more collaborative and lacks some of the features you might be looking for, but it’s a fair option overall. If you’re looking for the most comprehensive platform with no shortage of educational resources and controls, keep looking. But if you want an account that will allow your teen to earn interest on the money they put away and give them the freedom to ditch cash, this might be the checking account and debit card for you.

12 Best Stock Picking Services, Subscriptions, Websites and Apps in 2021

Rachel Morey
September 9, 2021

Many investors choose to pay for a stock-picking subscription to help them research potential investments. There are plenty of newsletters, stock-picking subscriptions, and investment information sites designed to help people who want to buy individual stocks make good decisions.

Whether you are new to stock market investing or you just want to make more informed decisions without dedicating your free time to researching stocks, a subscription to a stock picking service or stock information website could provide the boost you need to build a profitable portfolio of growth stocks.

Why Subscribe To A Stock Picking Service?

Paying for advice about which stocks to pick can be a great time saver. It’s crucial that you trust your source of information, however. Subscribing to a stock picking service requires an investment, which can be tough to justify if the service doesn’t have a long and dependable track record of choosing up-and-coming companies.

To get your money’s worth, you’ll need to take the service’s advice and buy the stocks they recommend. Stock picking services make the most sense for investors who already have some money in the stock market and have the extra money and confidence it takes to buy individual stocks.

Even with a stock picking service, you’ll need to know enough about how the stock market works to determine whether a specific stock is a good fit for your portfolio. If you are new to buying stocks, it’s wise to spend time learning about how other investors research stocks. The Khan Academy offers a great deal of free and unbiased education about stocks and bonds in their Finance and Capital markets section.

What To Look For In A Stock Picking Subscription

🥇 Track record: The stock picking service should produce returns for subscribers that purchase recommended stocks. Look for how the service’s choices performed compared to a benchmark index. Growth stocks should perform over time.

💸 Price: Some stock picking services cost thousands of dollars each year. Look for a modestly priced service; not one that you couldn’t cover the cost of with gains from your portfolio.

📈 Results you can reproduce: Some of the best-performing investments aren’t available unless you are an institutional investor. They may be able to buy stocks at a lower price before it goes public. If you can’t reproduce the results in your portfolio, the service has no value to you.

📚 Education: A good stock picking service doesn’t just periodically send you the names of stocks to buy. You should gain knowledge when you read about how and why they chose a specific stock. The service should help you build the skills you need to evaluate recommendations based on your unique criteria, investment goals, and risk tolerance.

Top 12 Stock Picking Services, Subscriptions, and Websites of 2021

Below are the best stock picking services we’ve found and evaluated for 2021. The services vary based on the type of investing and/or trading you intend to do.

Best Stock Picking Service for Finding Undervalued Stocks: Motley Fool Rule Breakers

Motley Fool Rule Breakers is one of several subscription stock picking services provided by the financial media company. They recommend stocks in emerging industries that have a sustainable advantage along with competent management. Rule Breakers’ advisors look for companies with strong consumer appeal that are currently undervalued.

Rule Breakers Basics

Motley Fool Rule Breakers track record: Rule Breakers has a 15-year track record of beating the market.

Rule Breakers returns since inception vs S&P500

What you’ll get with Rule Breakers: Starter Stocks list to help establish a portfolio, five “Best Buys Now” stock recommendations per month, and two new stock pick recommendations per month.

Motley Fool Rule Breakers price: $99 per year after a 30-day trial period

Best for: Investors who want to consistently invest in growth stocks.

Motley Fool Rule Breakers may be a good fit for you if:

You prefer to buy and hold stocks
You have enough disposable income to invest in at least two new stocks each month
You are financially stable enough to invest and hold stocks for at least five years

Best Stock Picking Service for Buy and Hold Investors: Motley Fool Stock Advisor

Motley Fool Stock Advisor concentrates on well-established companies with the potential to create wealth inside a portfolio. In the past, they’ve recommended Disney and Netflix.

Stock Advisor track record: During the past 17 years, Stock Advisor has done five times better than the S&P 500.

Subscribers can see every recommendation offered by Stock Advisor throughout the entire history of the service.

What you’ll get with Stock Advisor: Access to the full history of Stock Advisor recommendations, “Starter Stocks” recommendations to help build a foundation of solid growth stocks in your portfolio, two new monthly stock picks, access to the service’s “10 Best Buys Now” list chosen from 300 stocks on the service’s watchlist, access to a community of like-minded investors.

Motley Fool Stock Advisor price: $99 per year after a 30-day trial period

Best for: Investors who want to buy stocks in established companies with the intention of holding those investments for at least five years

Motley Fool Stock Advisor may be a good fit for you if:

You prefer to buy and hold stocks
You want to invest in undervalued companies with a track record of success
You have money to invest at least $10,000 in the stock market and can continue to add new stocks to your portfolio each month

Best Stock Picking Service for Day Traders: Trade Ideas Premium Plan

The Trade Ideas Premium Plan uses an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant to help subscribers research potentially lucrative investments. The AI assistant runs more than one million simulated trades using over 70 proprietary algorithms each night before the markets open.

Scan results, curated by real people before they become official stock picks on the Trade Ideas platform, include the method used to choose the stock, why it may perform well and how to find similar stocks.

A live simulated reading room allows subscribers to see how the stock-picking service’s recommendations perform without risk. Users have access to real-time streaming ideas to facilitate skill-building.

What you’ll get with Trade Ideas Premium Plan: Price alerts, Trade of the Week newsletter, five new trade ideas each Sunday night, Rules-based virtual trading room for active traders and long-term investors, fully-functioning AI assistant (Holly) that you can connect to your separate brokerage account to execute trades automatically.

Trade Ideas Premium price: $2,268 per year or Standard for $1068.

Compare features below:

Best for: Long-term investors and day traders who want access to robust technology and also want to learn how to invest

Trade Ideas Premium Plan may be a good fit for you if:

You have an established portfolio and plan to purchase larger volumes of stocks
You want to learn how to invest and trade using a simulated trading platform
You are comfortable allowing technology to execute trades on your behalf
You are currently engaged in day trading or are interested in learning more about how to become a successful day trader

Best Stock Picking Service for Fundamental Investors: Zack’s Investment Research Premium Subscription

Based in Chicago, Zack’s Investment Research offers constant monitoring of stocks to help investors decide whether to buy, hold, or sell individual investments. You can access the investment research software on Zack’s Investment Research site for free. Bull and Bear of the Day provide insights about two stocks (one Bull and one Bear) to help investors decide which stocks to hold or buy and which to sell.

Zack’s rates stocks from one (strong buy) to five (strong sell) along with ratings for value and growth and momentum. Subscribers can enter their current stocks and funds to get up-to-date ratings 24/7.

What you’ll get with Zack’s Investment Research: Focus List including long-term stock recommendations, Equity Research reports, Custom Stock Screener, and The Zacks #1 Rank List.

Zack’s Investment Research Premium track record: Stocks rated as a #1 Strong Buy beat the S&P 500 by more than 14% (on average) for the past three decades. Stocks rated as a #5 Strong Sell underperformed the market by 8%.

Zack’s Investment Research Premium price: $249 per year after a 30-day trial

Best for: Fundamental investors

Zack’s Investment Research may be a good fit for you if:

You have an active portfolio and aren’t afraid to buy or sell stocks to maintain growth
Have the experience and knowledge needed to make independent decisions about your portfolio
Are willing to devote time and money to the pursuit of creating a profitable portfolio

Best Stock Picking Service App for Momentum Investors: Seeking Alpha App Premium Subscription

Seeking Alpha’s app provides comprehensive investment news along with the opinions of thousands of experienced traders. Subscribers to Seeking Alpha’s Premium Tier app can opt into push notifications, email alerts, and texts to stay on top of breaking news in the world of stock market investing.

Premium subscribers can create watch lists using the stock tracking portion of the app to get a custom feed.

Seeking Alpha Premium App track record: Quant performance beats the market by four-to-one, stocks rated as very bullish created a 1,369% return over the S&P 500 and had an average annualized return of 29%.

What you’ll get with Seeking Alpha Premium app subscription: Stock quant ratings, stock dividend grades, author ratings, author performance, unlimited access to all Premium content, watch list creation, news alerts, fewer ads than the free limited version of the app, and conference call transcripts.

Seeking Alpha Premium app price: $19.99 per month

Best for: Research-driven investors

Seeking Alpha Premium app may be a good fit for you if:

You want original stock news (not news-aggregator)
You want to interact with other investors about strategy
You base your investment decisions on ideas from other investors and original news

Read our full review of Seeking Alpha here.

Best Stock Picking Service For Comprehensive Investment Analysis: The Maley Report

The Maley Report offers no-frills information about stocks, including fundamental, macro, and technical analysis. Matt Maley has more than 35 years of experience trading on Wall Street and is now a market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. Subscribers to The Maley Report have access to his analysis of what’s happening in the stock market.

What you’ll get with The Maley Report: Aggregates of Matt Maley’s videos, blog posts, and trade alerts, educational resources to help investors learn Maley’s strategy, a regular email newsletter with an overall outlook on the market and discussion of what’s to come.

The Maley Report price: $49 per month or $490 per year with a 30-day money-back guarantee

Best for: Fundamental investors

The Maley Report may be a good fit for you if:

You want actionable stock insights based on a number of factors
You want information from an experienced investor willing to discuss his methods for choosing high-performing stocks

Best Stock Picking Service For Active Traders: Pilot Trading

Pilot Trading uses artificial intelligence to watch other day traders in real time and make predictions about how the market may change from one minute to the next. Subscribers can create a custom watchlist or choose a pre-made one in the app. Link to a brokerage account to use the stock research app and make trades through the app.

What you’ll get with Pilot Trading: Information about real-time trading activity, alerts when market sentiment shifts, and the ability to link brokerage accounts.

Pilot Trading price: $19.95 per month after a 14-day free trial

Best for: Forex, futures, crypto, and stock traders

Pilot Trading may be a good fit for you if:

You are an active trader interested in cryptocurrency investment, futures, or forex
You want in-app trading that connects to stock trading platforms

Best Stock Picking Service For Day Traders: Scanz

Scanz offers two ways to get information to inform day trading activity. The Scanz News Streamer offers SEC filing on NASDAQ, NYS, and AMEX alerts. It also provides two broker integrations and streaming charges. The Trade Scanner offers Level 1 and Level 2 data on NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ with unlimited watchlists, a montage window, streaming charges, and breakout alerts.

Subscribers can choose between the services or bundle them to get a discount.

What you’ll get with Scanz: Access to customized alerts for price changes, percentage changes, volume changes, and important company news.

Scanz price: $79 per month for news only, $99 per month for scanner only, $149 per month for news and scanner; seven-day free trial

Scanz may be a good fit for you if:

You are an active day trader who wants up-to-the-minute breaking news that’s curated to help you reach your goals
You want to filter stocks based on a predetermined set of criteria, including penny stocks

Best Stock Picking Service For Penny Stock Day Traders: Tim Alerts

Tim Alerts is a platform created by Tim Sykes. The successful penny stock investor started with just $12,000 and in about ten years became a multimillionaire. Skyes started Tim Alerts to help penny stock investors learn how to make money in the stock market by purchasing penny stocks. The platform provides finance services, training for retail investors, and educational content.

What you’ll get with Tim Alerts: Access to a chat room with a paired trading app, daily penny stock picks newsletter with stock watchlists, and customizable push notifications.

Tim Alerts price: $679 per year

Best for: Penny stock traders

Tim Alerts may be a good fit for you if:

You are curious about investing in penny stocks and want to learn from someone with documented and ongoing success
You want daily stock picks delivered to your inbox
You learn best by interacting with other investors

Best Stock Picking Service For Income Investing: AAII Dividend Investing

AAII Dividend Investing provides direction to investors who want to build a portfolio of dividend-paying stocks. The platform provides subscribers with research and information produced by its proprietary stock picking process. AAII searches for and highlights stocks providing a mix of asset and yield quality. It also looks closely at recommended company’s management teams to make sure that the stock is likely to pay out dividends for years to come.

What you’ll get with AAII Dividend Investing: Access to a target portfolio with a mix of Geographical Exposure and GISC Sector investments, weekly webinars, and access to weekly stock ideas and the lead analyst.

AAII Dividend Investing price: $2 for the first 30 days and then $199 per year or $359 for two years

Best for: Dividend investors

AAII Dividend Investing may be a good fit for you if:

You want reliable information about low-risk dividend-paying stocks
You want instant access to the information you need to build a portfolio with fully vetted dividend stocks

Best Stock Picking Service For Swing Trading: Mindful Trader

Mindful Trader helps swing traders make confident decisions about when to buy and sell stocks. Short-term movements in the stock market can be hard to follow, even for devoted traders. Mindful Trader offers up to 15 text or email alerts each week to help traders manage an active portfolio of investments.

What you’ll get with Mindful Trader: Stock trade alerts via text and email, between five and 15 trade alerts each week, clear guidance about when it may be smart to open or close positions, and historical data on every recommended trade since Mindful Trader’s inception.

Mindful Trader price: $47 per month; cancel anytime

Best for: Swing traders

Mindful Trader may be a good fit for you if:

You want an easy way to take advantage of quick movements in the market
You want access to live positions in a portfolio with historical data

Best Stock Picking Service For REIT Stocks: Millionacres Real Estate Winners

Investors involved in real estate investing and REITs may find that the valuable and condensed information included with a Millionacres Real Estate Winners subscription helps them level up their investing game.

Millionacres Real Estate Winners aims to help investors understand the complicated world of real estate investment with recommendations and stock picks to help you create a portfolio of money-making stocks.

What you’ll get with Millionacres Real Estate Winners: Investing ideas with guidance on how to get started in the real estate market, monthly new stock recommendations, updates on previously recommended stocks, “Top 10 Investment Alerts” quarterly, unlimited access to education resources on the Millionacres site.

Millionacres Real Estate Winners price: $149 per year

Best for: Buy and hold REIT investors and those curious about getting started with REITs

Millionacres Real Estate Winners may be a good fit for you if:

You are a beginning investor interested in making successful REIT trades
You are an experienced investor seeking bit-sized monthly investment alerts about real estate equities and REITs to support your current trading activity
You want to use real estate investments to create a portfolio that produces consistent and reliable results for years to come.

Bottom Line

Stock picking services should help you build the skills you need to make independent decisions about your portfolio. Even if you only subscribe to a single stock picking service, it’s wise to gather information from a number of sources before you decide to buy or sell any single stock. Many of the services listed here offer free information and resources. Always research stock picks on your own and make sure they are a good fit for your portfolio.

If you decide to try out a stock-picking service, take full advantage of the service during the free trial (if there is one) before you commit.

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Why Subscribe To A Stock Picking Service?

What To Look For In A Stock Picking Subscription

Top 12 Stock Picking Services, Subscriptions, and Websites of 2021

Best Stock Picking Service for Finding Undervalued Stocks: Motley Fool Rule Breakers

Best Stock Picking Service for Buy and Hold Investors: Motley Fool Stock Advisor

Best Stock Picking Service for Day Traders: Trade Ideas Premium Plan

Best Stock Picking Service for Fundamental Investors: Zack’s Investment Research Premium Subscription

Best Stock Picking Service App for Momentum Investors: Seeking Alpha App Premium Subscription

Best Stock Picking Service For Comprehensive Investment Analysis: The Maley Report

Best Stock Picking Service For Active Traders: Pilot Trading

Best Stock Picking Service For Day Traders: Scanz

Best Stock Picking Service For Penny Stock Day Traders: Tim Alerts

Best Stock Picking Service For Income Investing: AAII Dividend Investing

Best Stock Picking Service For Swing Trading: Mindful Trader

Best Stock Picking Service For REIT Stocks: Millionacres Real Estate Winners

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