Ivy Bank Review: Savings and CDs

Ivy Bank’s High-Yield Savings Account earns a highly competitive rate. It has a minimum opening balance of $2,500, which is high compared with that of other online savings accounts with similarly competitive rates. There is no monthly fee, but you don’t want your balance to drop below $2,500. If it’s below that amount, you earn only a 0.05% annual percentage yield. If your balance goes below $10, your account won’t earn interest.

Just be sure you’re okay with an online-only account: With no ATM network available, you can’t deposit or withdraw cash. To access your money, you’ll need to set up a transfer to an external account. In addition, you can only withdraw money to a linked account that you own — don’t expect to be able to send funds to friends and family via a service such as Zelle. Ivy Bank also imposes a limit of six withdrawals per month, and international transactions are not available.

Note that if you want to open a joint account, you’ll need to say so at the time of opening. If you own the account but later want to add someone to it, you’ll need to open a new one instead (other institutions let you add joint owners to existing accounts).

Ivy Bank offers a one-year CD that has a competitive rate. The $1,000 minimum opening deposit is somewhat high compared with that of other online banks. Note that when you open a CD, you generally can’t touch the deposit until the term ends. Read more about how CDs work.

You can reach customer service via phone, live chat and email. Representatives are available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET on Saturday. You can also reach out to Ivy Bank via X (Twitter). In addition, the bank offers mobile apps that let you do basic banking activities, such as transferring money electronically and depositing mobile checks.