Laurel Road Bank Review: Checking and Savings
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- Checking
- Savings
- Customer experience
- Overdraft fees
Overall institution rating
4.5
Laurel Road Bank’s checking and savings accounts have no monthly fees or minimum balances, and the savings account has a high interest rate of 5.00% annual percentage yield. New checking customers can also earn a welcome bonus and ongoing rewards if they meet a direct deposit requirement. The bank is online only, so customers won’t have access to branches.
Best for: Customers who are comfortable with online banking and want to earn a checking bonus and high interest on savings.
Pros
- No monthly fees.
- Competitive rate on savings.
- Large, free, nationwide ATM network.
- No minimum opening deposits.
- Overdraft buffer.
Cons
- No branch access.
- Limited customer support phone hours.
Full review
Checking
Checking
Deposits are FDIC Insured
5.0
/5 NerdWallet ratingLaurel Road’s Loyalty Checking account has no monthly fee or minimum balance requirements, and customers can access more than 40,000 fee-free KeyBank and Allpoint ATMs nationwide. The account comes with a 0.01% APY, but customers can also earn a sign-up bonus and monthly bonus with qualifying direct deposits. For the $100 sign-up bonus, customers must deposit $2,500 within the first 60 days of account opening. For the monthly bonus, customers can earn $20 per month for the first year if they have direct deposits of at least $2,500 per month. After the first year, they can earn $10 per month with the same deposit amount.
Savings
Savings
Deposits are FDIC Insured
4.5
/5 NerdWallet ratingLaurel Road’s High Yield Savings account has a 5.00% APY on all balances and no monthly fee or minimum balance requirement.
Customer experience
4.5
NerdWallet ratingLaurel Road is an online-only bank, so customers won’t have access to branches. Customer service is available by phone Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, and the bank’s website offers a live chat feature. The bank’s mobile app is rated highly in the Apple and Google app stores.
Overdraft fees
4.0
NerdWallet ratingLaurel Road charges a $20 overdraft fee up to three times per day, but the fee only applies to negative balances that are greater than $20. To avoid the fee, customers can link a Laurel Road savings account to cover any transactions that would result in an overdraft, and there’s no fee for the overdraft protection transfer service. Laurel Road doesn’t offer an overdraft line of credit.
Methodology
NerdWallet’s overall ratings for banks and credit unions are weighted averages of several categories: checking, savings, certificates of deposit or credit union share certificates, banking experience and overdraft fees. Factors we consider, depending on the category, include rates and fees, ATM and branch access, account features and limits, user-facing technology, customer service and innovation. The stars represent ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars). Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star.
