WebBank is a small and relatively new industrial bank based out of Salt Lake City, Utah.
You’re probably unfamiliar with the name, but you may have indirectly conducted business with the bank without realizing it. WebBank works behind the scenes serving commercial partners such as Dell, Paypal and LendingClub with working capital, loans and/or branded credit cards.
On the consumer savings sider, WebBank offers a small suite of FDIC-insured deposit products – namely CDs and a savings accounts.
The savings account comes with a mediocre APY at the moment, but has been quite competitive in the past. Their CD rates are comfortably above the national average, but still less competitive than other offers found online.
In our review below we will take a look at the APY, features, and account details of WebBank’s savings products as well as general customer sentiment.
WebBank Savings Account Rate + Account Details
The WebBank savings account is the most competitive product in terms of APY in its suite of savings products. It requires a minimum balance of $1,000.
WebBank Savings Account APY
| Balance | APY |
| $1,000 + | 0.40% |
To put this offer above in perspective, the national average for a savings account sits a just 0.07% APY currently. That said, there are several online-only banks with better rates.
Interest is compounded daily and credited monthly. You may choose to withdraw this and have it transferred to another account, or you can allow it to default back into this account to compound further.
The online savings account comes with no fees and also no in-person banking options. They have no mobile banking apps to conduct online banking activities and no debit cards or check writing capabilities. It is simply a place to stash cash and have it earn interest.
Web Bank Fee Schedule
| Type | Fee |
| Monthly Maintenance | $0 |
| Electronic Funds Transfer (ACH) | Free |
| Outgoing Wire | $25 |
| Paper Statements | $5 |
You can easily transfer money to or from this account via preauthorized/automatic transactions with an external account. This can be in the form of ACH, internal, or wire transfers and can be initiated through the online banking platform or by calling Customer Support.
WebBank CD Rates + Account Details
At the moment, WebBank’s certificate of deposit products are nothing special compared to competing offers out there, but they do beat the national average quite handily. To put the offers below in perspective the current national average for a 12 month CD sits at roughly 0.28% APY.
| CD Term | APY |
| 6 month | 0.10% |
| 1 year | 0.25% |
| 2 year | 0.25% |
| 3 year | 0.25% |
| 5 year | 0.25% |
The minimum opening deposit for a WebBank CD is on the steep end at $2,500. Many of the other popular online banks set their minimum deposits on CD’s close to $1.
Interest is compounded daily and will be credited automatically back into the certificate account unless you elect to have it paid out instead, and this can be done whenever you choose—one-time, monthly, or periodic. It is all at your discretion.
Early withdrawal fees are charged as follows:
- pay 3 months’ simple interest when you make an early withdrawal from an account of less than 1 year,
- pay 6 months’ simple interest when you make an early withdrawal from an account of between 1 and 2 years,
- pay 9 months’ simple interest when you make an early withdrawal from an account of 3 years, and
- pay 1 year’s simple interest when you make an early withdrawal from an account of 5 years.
The maturity grace period is 10 days, so do your best to withdraw some or all of your money, change the terms, or renew your account within this time period when your account reaches its maturity date so that you’re not charged early withdrawal fees.
WebBank Banking Experience and Consumer Reviews
One major con of WebBank is its online platform. Your first impression of the WebBank site won’t be good and it likely won’t get better the more you explore. And not only is the website unattractive and dull, it also is not as comprehensive as it should be. There is very little information available on anything and the site is poorly organized. Even just finding the customer service phone number is a chore and, for some reason, account rates are listed in their own separate section rather than on the pages for their respective accounts.
Poorly done though as the website may be, it’s also your only option when you’re a WebBank customer. Don’t plan on managing your WebBank accounts from your phone—there are no WebBank mobile apps on the market. There is also, of course, no in-person banking as WebBank does not have in-person branches.
There are also no ATMs or ATM cards, so make sure you know what you’re signing up for if this will make things inconvenient for you. If technology-based banking feels more tedious to you than traditional banking, then WebBank—or any other fully digital bank—won’t be a good fit.
WebBank’s customer satisfaction is decent with an average user rating of over 3 stars. Out of 634 user reviews on WalletHub, WebBank scored a 3.6. Unfortunately, however, user ratings are often for WebBank’s Fingerhut credit accounts rather than for WebBank’s deposit products, making forming an accurate summary of reviews difficult.
For those that are confused, Fingerhut is a mail order corporation offering users the option of applying for credit via a Fingerhut Advantage Credit Account issued by WebBank. This online retailer sells just about any product you can think of at discounted prices on top of approving customers for credit that might not otherwise be approved for credit. They also offer a Fingerhut FreshStart Installment Loan. These accounts can help you build your credit and give you access to the shop’s wide range of products.
Simply put, it isn’t exactly clear what the general consensus is on the overall banking experience provided by WebBank. Because many people that have a Fingerhut credit account might have no experience with other WebBank deposit and savings products, it wouldn’t exactly be accurate to count a review for Fingerhut as a review for WebBank.
But from what has been said about WebBank banking specifically, customers are happy enough with the rates/terms but unhappy with the customer service and accessibility. Many WebBank users are discontent with the customer service they’ve received with this bank and others have said they haven’t been able to receive help at all due to busy phone lines and unavailability of representatives. Users have called the bank “difficult to contact” and the service “very bad” when they are able to get through to a representative. Hopefully, should you bank with WebBank, your experience will be different.
To contact customer service, you have a few options. One, you can fill out the inquiry form on their website and wait an unspecified amount of time for someone to get back to you. You can also call 1-(844)-994-2265, but this line is only available Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM Mountain Time. Finally, you can email customer support at customercare@webbank.com or send a letter in the mail to the address: WebBank Attn: Deposit Operations 215 South State Street, Suite 1000 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111.
Final Thoughts
WebBank is probably a lesser-known online-only bank for a reason. The products and service quality you’re going to get when you bank with WebBank is likely going to disappoint and the uncompetitive rates on their accounts just aren’t worth it currently. Sure, WebBank’s accounts come with minimal fees and rates that are technically above average (a common pro of online banks), but the bank doesn’t have an app and its online platform isn’t comprehensive or user-friendly, which pretty much negates the point of an online-only bank.
It would be one thing if WebBank’s savings or CD accounts were far away and the best in terms of rates and/or flexibility, but at the moment they are just not, so there’s almost no reason to choose them over one of countless “other guys” when WebBank is less accessible, their customer service worse, and their overall usability lower than most.